Thinking of taking lactation consultant exam? need some help with research beforehand

[faddle]

Ladies who wanted to breastfeed their babies, I have 2 questions for you:

1. Did you have problems when BF which a qualified counsellor/consultant could have assisted with
2. Would you have been prepared to pay for the services of a lactation consultant if a qualified person had been available in your area?

I've been working as a peer supporter pretty much full time for the past year - I'm wondering whether to go the whole hog and study for the lactation consultant qualification, and possibly aim to do this as a career - its a truly amazing job which I love.
My question is, are there actually enough people out there breastfeeding who need the help and are prepared to pay for it, in order for me to make a living?

Interesting question!
1)Yes did have probs. Sought out advice from midwives and bfc.
2)Possibly as a last resort if I wasn't get support from voluntary services. Having said that I'm not sure I knew that lc's existed when I had my first 2 LOs.
HTH

I had no problems with it at all, but if I had I would have been willing to pay a specialist consultant. I just wonder though, between GPs, districts nurses and advice women can get here etc, would it you be able to make a carreer of it? I think it would be a fantastic thing to do though. I gather that most women don't exclusively bf, which I think is a pity, and so many seem to give up in the first few weeks. But I would say go for it, the more help out there the better.

Hello,

I had my first DD in Sydney, Australia where there are many private lactation consultants. I had trouble BF with DD1 and despite help from the midwives and the hospital lactation consultant I ended up leaving hospital with a damaged nipple and using a nipple shield. After a week or so I wanted to stop using the shield but the district nurses didn't really have enough time to spend helping me. There were other voluntary agencies to speak to but I called a private lactation consultant and she came to my house and spent 2 hours with me watching me feed and discussing breastfeeding. It made a huge difference to me and I got rid of the shield less than a week later and BF for 10 months. There is a list of 20 (I think) private lactation consultants in Sydney that I was given a list of and contact details for as I left hospital.

Along with advice the main thing she gave me was confidence in how I was holding and attaching the baby.

I have reflected on her advice when BF DD2 and now just starting with DS1.

I would say go for it if you live near a city or large towns and distributed a contact leaflet through the maternity hospitals it would be worthwhile.

I was lucky enough to have been able to breastfeed both of my babies with no problems at all but my sister has had some problems with slow weight gain etc and has been bullied into giving formula supplements. If she was remotely receptive I would quite cheerfully pay for the services of a LC for her.

faddle - you need to check you fulfill the pre-exam requirements to be a lactation consultant, and this can be quite hard for volunteer supporters/counsellors to do (though if you have worked full time you might have done this).

You'd need to check if IBCLE (the awarding body) recognises peer support training as sufficient, but more than this, you need to have worked in bf support and to have acquired 1000 hours of supervised work with breastfeeding women, and 45 hours minimum (recommended is 8-150 hours) of bf training in addition to this (and on top of your ps training).

www.iblce-europe.org/Start_1.htm

Good luck though - no idea if you could make a living, to be honest. There are a few private IBCLCs in the UK so it must be possible for some!

8-150 = 80-150

1. Yes - had loads of problems with DS and less with DD (more like loads of questions with DD)

2. I paid for a lactation consultant to help me with DS - £120 for 2 hours. I still gave up the next day

i would have liked to have had an hour or so of one to one support with DD but my experience with the first lactation consultant put me off

this time i have used my local breastfeeding cafe a lot but i still would have liked someone to visit my own house

Hi Tiktok - are you an IBCLC yourself? Just curious about the wording on the website hoped you might be able to clarify - It says "1000 hours paid or volunteer support in a supervised setting" -does that mean that I need 1000 hours of supervised support or that the work environment should be supervised ie proper guidance and training etc?
I have done the required 45 hours on top of the peer support training.

No, faddle, I'm not an IBCLC. You'd need to get in touch with them to clarify, but I take it that the 1000 hours would not mean you have to be literally, physically supervised, but that you work under supervision ie within a team or in an organisation. But ask them - I would think they'd be delighted to welcome you

sorry, just being nosy, I wondered since you are very well informed, and have heard your name mentioned as being a fount of BF knowledge
I dont post on here much myself, too much angst, and with it being a joint AF and BF board, its all too easy to offend.