Why Your Doctor or Nurse Might Not Be An Expert in Breastfeeding.
You probably have a lovely General Practitioner (GP), Paediatrician, Child Health Nurse, Midwife or other postnatal nurse. And if you have concerns about breastfeeding its natural these would be the professionals you would turn to for advice. So it will come as a shock to discover some of these practitioners have less education hours about breastfeeding management than you would expect. And depending on how long it is since they trained, you might be better informed about current best practice in lactation support!
I hasten to add, we are not having a go at these individual practitioners. As students they study the curriculum and that is generally where the huge gaps can be identified.
Its a bit confronting to find out these health professionals average around 2 hours education about lactation in their training. That’s around same time you might spend learning about it at your antenatal class and half the time of a dedicated breastfeeding class for expectant parents.
Breastfeeding education for health professionals tends to focus on promotion of breastfeeding, rather than management of simple and complex problems commonly experienced by the mother-baby dyad during the years of breastfeeding. Many parents experience conflicting or out-dated advice and are left wondering who to trust.
If you have one of those health professionals who recognise the importance of staying current with their knowledge of breastfeeding and are passionate about providing your with the very best lactation support, hang on to them!!
Opportunities for extending knowledge of breastfeeding and lactation are increasingly available, with many seminars and conferences run around the world each year and being available to live stream or in webinar format. Unfortunately some professions are glaringly absent from the audiences and there is a strong gender-bias of the female variety. Doctors in particular are least likely to be represented.
Where the World Health Organization (WHO) Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes is not upheld, professional breastfeeding education is openly funded by infant formula manufacturers, as either hosts, sponsors or exhibitors. Many practitioners attend these without being aware of the conflict of interest.
Professional educational presentations are even available to the public via YouTube, meaning parents might accumulate a greater knowledge of lactation management than their care providers. Food for thought.
International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC)
The original vision for IBCLC was not that they would be supporting individual mothers to breastfeed. Instead, the goal was to support “labor and delivery nurses” who worked with breastfeeding mothers as they established breastfeeding. In Australia and the UK midwives have this role of supporting women in the birthing and postnatal period. What actually happened was that over-worked staff were soon referring patients to see the IBCLCs themselves and the role evolved to become, quite literally, more hands-on.
“The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) was founded in March 1985 using a $40,000 loan from La Leche League International as start-up funding. IBLCE’s founding was in response to the need for standards in the emerging profession of lactation consulting. This new profession had arisen during the 1970’s and 80’s in response to the need and request from mothers for specialized breastfeeding care. During this same time period, there was an increasing body of published information about the benefits of breastfeeding and mother support organisations, such as La Leche League International and the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia (now the Australian Breastfeeding Association), had developed and were utilizing an extensive repertoire of breastfeeding management skills.”
Today, IBCLCs are employed in some hospitals and community health services but, increasingly, they are in private practice.
IBCLC lactation consultants in private practice often provide in-home visits to address breastfeeding issues for a fee.
An IBCLC:
Usually has an undergraduate degree
Must complete 90 hours of education in human lactation
Must have 300-1000 hours of specific clinical breastfeeding experience
Must sit an intensive, rigorous IBLCE exam to qualify
Must have ongoing education or re-sit the exam every 5 years
Must re-sit the exam at least every 10 years
Trained volunteer breastfeeding counsellors and educators offer peer support as mothers to learn how lactation works and manage common breastfeeding challenges.
Peer Support Volunteers
This year I will celebrate 30 years as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor and educator. This month I will attend a two-day conference and a one-day seminar on breastfeeding as part of my professional development. Part of my volunteer commitment is ongoing education in several areas, most notably:
Maintaining and developing your breastfeeding knowledge and your skills in supporting mothers, families, support people and the community.
My role is voluntary and unpaid.
