Being a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor (CBC) is a professional career choice. Your role in supporting new parents is vital. That said, there are many amusing parts of the job. Finding the positive and amusing aspects of your work can be a great way to focus on the joy of supporting new families.

While supporting new families is a passion inspired career, a job is still work. Taking time to focus on the fun aspects can help you continue to see the passion in your work.

You might be a CBC if:

You Have No Problem Talking About Breasts

Gone are the days of being a bit shy about saying breast, nipple, or areola. Nope, you are so used to discussing breastfeeding, you forget not everyone spends their days discussing breastfeeding.

In fact, you might find yourself outside a store taking a client call and forgetting that people around you aren’t used to hearing about breastfeeding so much. Of course, that won’t change the conversation because you’re all about normalizing breastfeeding. Kids around? Perfect! It’s great for feeding to be normalized while they’re young.

You Cup Yourself To Demonstrate Feeding Positions

As a CBC, you’ll spend lots of time showing parents how to feed. Demonstrating a football hold, cross hold, and more, you might instinctively cup yourself while chatting. You won’t think much of it, but sometimes you’ll get funny looks while chatting.

Of course, by the time you do this instinctively, you’ll no longer care about the looks. You’re still just working on normalizing breastfeeding.

There’s An Urge To Praise New Parents

Once you work with enough families, it’s engrained just how much work being a new parent is. You know how often all the attention goes right to baby. As the CBC, you’ll be drawn to the parents and want to praise them for doing all they do in the early days.

You know what it’s like for parents to struggle with feeds, wake frequently, and all while healing from birth. Your passion for helping new families often shows in providing encouragement and support, even to strangers in the grocery store!

You Offer All Breastfeeding Parents Water

As a CBC, you know that milk is a supply demand process. While excessive hydration isn’t needed for a good supply, you know the importance of hydrating. Staying hydrated can help new parents feel their best while feeding baby.

And with how frequently baby feeds, it’s easy to forget to drink enough water. You might also keep straws on hand knowing how hard it can be to navigate drinking with one hand while balancing a newborn at the breast.

CBC’s become like the restaurant server constantly topping off your glass of water so you’re never without. You might get so used to it, you’ll offer water to everyone, from little kid to grandparents.

You Find it Difficult Not To Walk Up To Every Pregnant Person Or New Parent

You know that unsolicited advice is the last thing any new parents wants or deserves. However, you face a strong internal struggle wanting to chat with everyone you see who just might benefit from CBC support.

Of course, you hold yourself back, knowing how much unsolicited advice new parents get. However, the moment there’s a safe pause in the conversation to let people know all you have to offer, you gently share what you do.

Most importantly, if you see parents getting unsolicited advice in a way which makes them feel bad, you step in to ensure they get reminded how well they’re doing!

As a CBC, you get to turn your passion for support and lactation into a real career. It’s a serious and important role. However, we definitely see the humor in how much we talk about our passion in a world that isn’t always aware of normalizing breastfeeding.