As childbirth educators, you already play a pivotal role in preparing families for birth. In fact, beyond birth, you also often prepare families for early parenthood and feeding, too. Expanding your scope to include certification as a Certified Breastfeeding Counselor (CBC) offers a powerful way to deepen your impact.
As a CBC, you can support families more comprehensively and enhance your professional positioning.
Here are some reasons childbirth educators should consider becoming certified breastfeeding counselors:
Enhanced Support for Families in Prenatal & Postpartum Phases
While childbirth education covers labor, birth and early parenthood transition, breastfeeding often spans those periods and beyond. Becoming a CBC equips you to provide evidence-based breastfeeding guidance. And not just the basics, but more in-depth support during early feeding.
Research shows that lactation support professionals increase rates of breastfeeding initiation, any breastfeeding, and exclusive breastfeeding.
By incorporating CBC knowledge into your work, you support families from prenatal education through feeding confidence. You’re also able to provide another layer of continuity of care, something frequently missing from the US maternity system.
CBC Work Aligns with Your Existing Skills and Role
As a childbirth educator you already:
- Teach physiology, basic anatomy, and birth mechanics
- Educate about parental roles, comfort measures, early postpartum transition
- Facilitate partner inclusion and informed decision-making
Becoming a CBC builds on that foundation. You’ll be able to use your teaching skills, your compassion, your ability to translate evidence into understandable language.
Nurses and other childbirth-oriented professionals have reported that adding lactation-certification “fills the gap” and enables immediate, evidence-based support.
Improved Marketing – Set Yourself Apart!
In a competitive landscape of childbirth support, offering CBC support helps differentiate your services. It positions you as someone with specialized training in feeding support, not just birth prep. This can help attract families who seek both birth education and early feeding guidance.
Moreover, many healthcare or birth-service settings value staff with dual credentials for continuity of care.
Improved Continuity of Care for Families
As mentioned above, continuity of care is often lacking for many families in the US. Parents often benefit when their educator transitions into feeding support rather than having to refer out immediately for basic concerns. This continuity builds trust and reduces fragmentation.
When you add CBC skills, you can bridge the gap between birth preparation and early feeding. You can help families feel supported and guided through the complete perinatal period.
Contribution to Better Outcomes & Public Health
As noted earlier, breastfeeding counseling increases both initiation and duration of breastfeeding.
When childbirth educators become CBCs, they can increase their influence. Beyond helping individual families, CBCs contribute to healthier feeding norms at a community level. Improving overall breastfeeding rates is important from a public health perspective.
As a childbirth educator, you’re already plugged into the community. Being able to provide the families you support with lactation support allows you to make a greater impact in your community.
Professional Growth and Satisfaction
For many educators, becoming a CBC offers an opportunity for personal and professional development. It broadens your knowledge, adds credentials, and can deepen your sense of contribution. For those passionate about feeding advocacy, it’s a logical extension of your birth work.
For childbirth educators, adding CBC certification is more than just an extra credential, it’s a meaningful extension of your current work.
If you’re ready to explore the next step, register now and start helping more families have positive birth and feeding experiences.