Breastfeeding Counselor - Certification Requirements

With Childbirth International you can get started right away and complete your training with complete flexibility and convenience. You DO NOT have to attend a workshop. There is no additional charge for certification and no requirement for membership or recertification. Certification as a Childbirth International Breastfeeding Counselor is for life! Once you have successfully completed all the requirements you will be eligible to apply for certification as a Breastfeeding Counselor with Childbirth International.

You will receive a comprehensive set of study guides which build up to form an impressive reference library that you can refer to again and again. Each study guide contains a variety of reading material, learning activities and exercises which you complete in your own time. The course is made up of three modules - Communication, Physiology of Lactation and Lactation & Counseling Skills. As each module is completed you simply submit an on-line evaluation form.  

To gain experience and put some of your new found knowledge into practice, you will support women for a total of thirty hours. After you have completed your support, you will write to your trainer and tell her what you learned from the experience. This may be the value of some of the skills you used, the experience of working with the family, or simply describing the personal satisfaction of being able to help establish a breastfeeding relationship! These support hours can take place any time after you begin your training. You can use a combination of different forms of breastfeeding support to count towards your support hours, including face to face support, telephone support, teaching breastfeeding classes and facilitating mother to mother breastfeeding support meetings. The minimum time requirements for support are as follows:

• Minimum 30 hours support must be provided

• Up to 4 hours of telephone support may be included

• Up to 6 hours of teaching breastfeeding classes or running a breastfeeding support group may be included

• A minimum of 20 hours of face to face support is required

The second assignment is an open book test of multiple choice questions on different aspects of the physiology of lactation. You can use any reference materials, including your student manuals, to research and find the answers to the quiz. A pass grade must be accomplished for each test to be eligible for certification.

The third assignment is related to providing breastfeeding support. You will be required to answer a number of short answer questions on dealing with common problems you will come across as a Breastfeeding Counselor and how you would handle the problems. This assignment will also ask you to prepare a teaching plan for a 2 hour breastfeeding class. The course materials will assist you in learning how to plan and teach a class. A pass grade must be accomplished for each this assignment to be eligible for certification.