As doulas, we offer our clients immense support and education. We provide prenatal education, continuous labor support, and we even assist with immediate breastfeeding initiation. However, did you know you can become a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor and offer them even better care?
When you become a certified breastfeeding counselor (CBC) you will have the skills to support beyond the first couple hours of breastfeeding. As a CBC, you will be able to help them from first latch through weaning (regardless of how long they feed).
CBCs have the skills, knowledge, and scope of practice to:
- Provide prenatal lactation education
- Assist with initial latching
- Support through breastfeeding initiation
- Provide pumping education and support
- Help with basic problem solving with common breastfeeding challenges
- Recognize when additional support is needed (e.g., referral to an IBCLC, pediatrician, midwife, etc.)
- Help parents understand typical feeding patterns
- And more!
As a doula, when you become a CBC, you will be able to provide more support for your clients. You will also have an additional source of business, making it easier to turn your passion for birth work into your full career.
Why Should Doulas Become a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor?
Research already shows that families who use doula care are more likely to initiate and continue breastfeeding. As a doula, you are already making a difference in breastfeeding rates, a public health concern.
That said, as a doula, your scope of practice limits the amount of lactation support you can provide. When you become a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor, you can expand your scope of practice.
Birth and early parenthood are times of extreme vulnerability. Doulas with additional certification can provide their clients with continuity of care when lactation challenges arise. For new parents, the ability to work with a familiar person can make the difference between seeking support or choosing to go it alone.
Expand Your Career Opportunities
When you jump into doula training and become a certified doula, you take the plunge in turning your passion into a career. However, one thing many doulas notice is the limit on the number of birth clients they can accommodate each month.
Given the nature of needing to be on-call, for those seeking a full-time career in birth work, diversifying services is often needed. Many birth doulas teach classes, provide lactation services, or provide postpartum care to supplement the number of births they can attend each month.
When you become a CBC, you can expand your career. This additional certification allows you to see breastfeeding clients in between your birth clients. It is also a job which can at times be done remotely via video calls or even regular calls.
When you love birth work, any additional services make it easier to turn your love into a full-time, sustainable career.
Make a Difference in Public Health
As a doula, you know the stats. You know the evidence behind the population level improved outcomes when more babies are breastfed. Also, you know the important benefits women have when they breastfeed.
As a doula, you play a huge role in supporting clients in early breastfeeding education and initiation. However, as a CBC, you will have additional skills to truly impact breastfeeding rates. In many US hospitals, we see breastfeeding initiations rates at 80-90%.
However, by three months just 46.9% are exclusively breastfeeding. At 12 months, just 35.9% were still breastfeeding at all. Despite desire to breastfeed and evidence to support exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months, it is clear families are not getting the support and education they deserve.
Whatever a family’s personal breastfeeding goals are, whether three of twenty-three months, they should have adequate support and evidenced-based information. As a CBC, you can provide them with both. As a doula, you can provide some lactation support, but the additional CBC role allows you to support them well beyond initiation.
Ready to expand your career? Register today and start providing more for your clients!