About once a week I receive messages asking me how I became an IBCLC, so I’ve decided to write it all down in one handy article that I can just link to.
Firstly, not only did I have no medical background, I also had no education at all worth speaking of. I was an early years worker with a handful of vocational qualifications. I certainly didn’t meet any of the prerequisites to apply for the exam. I was also a Mother to 2 small children and on a very tight budget. For at least a year I believed that becoming an IBCLC wasn’t possible for me unless I retrained as a Midwife or a nurse – which I had no interest in perusing. Then I became aware of a fellow ABM Breastfeeding counsellor in a somewhat similar situation who was about to sit the IBLCE exam – and she directed me to a great facebook group called LC Exam Health background courses info – link here – https://www.facebook.com/groups/IBCLChealthbackground/?ref=br_rs and suddenly this world of possibility opened up to me. Many of the courses being talked about inside this group started at £50 and all of them were remote learning – at home, on your laptop or smartphone, while the kids watch CBeebies in the background!
Here are the courses I took – I was audited as well so these were all approved by IBLCE in 2017, for the April 2018 exam. Some of them are no longer available but I believe people inside the above group have found alternatives.
https://www.stonebridge.uk.com/course/child-psychology This Child psychology course was the most expensive. Its currently £383, but Stonebridge hold sales very frequently and I paid closer to £280 for mine. Bear in mind that this covers 3 of the 14 requirements – Growth and development, Psychology, and research.
https://www.sophia.org/online-courses/human-biology This Sophia learning Human Biology course also covers 3 requirements – Physiology, Anatomy, and Biology. Its priced in USD but equates to £257.79
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-sociology-utpermianbasinx-soci101x-0?fbclid=IwAR0rVU1bpffIbAnhcL13_8ZHyJnn9rRzZQC-zHcHyBAMICnJpEzmA6Iin3w Here we have Sociology from EdX at a grand total of £38.31
The Nutrition course I took was also from EdX – unfortunately it no longer seems to be available.
https://www.lactationtraining.com/iblce-additional-general-education-package This covers the smaller “general Education” requirements for £77.30 – Documentation, medical terminology, Ethical considerations, occupational safety, and infection control.
The last thing you need is basic life support, which I did for free with a quick google. I already had emergency first aid training but it would have lapsed before I sat the exam, so I wanted to be doubly sure. If you have been trained in CPR for your work, its very likely this would be accepted.
Next up I needed my Lactation Education. This is 90 hours of very specific training and it must be LEAARC approved. I did mine through Lactation Education Resources https://www.lactationtraining.com/lactation-consultant-training-program for a hefty £780, which to be blunt, went on to a credit card with a huge amount of turmoil around “What if I fail this exam?!”
Alongside all of that prep, I had been quietly accruing my 1000 clinical hours. The big breastfeeding charities in the UK (Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, NCT, and LLL) are all (As far as I know) approved for giving volunteers a set rate of 250 hours per year telephone support or 500 hours per year face to face support. (The year must run from January to December – NOT 12 months from when you started – AND only full years count.) If you work in breastfeeding support for the NHS you are also awarded 500 hours a year. My training was through Real Baby Milk CIC and they were also approved to offer 500 hours per year. You need someone willing to sign off on your hours if asked during an audit.
Once I had all 14 health sciences, 90 hours Lactation education, and 1000 hours of clinical supporting time, it was time to apply. The exam application is open twice a year, in March to May and then September to November. The application costs £500 and you may be selected for audit, in which case you need to upload all of your certificates through their online system and wait up to 2 weeks for someone to get back to you with the go ahead.
Once approved, you’re going to want to start studying! The process is crazy and stressful, but there are some great resources out there, including online programmes such as:
https://www.health-e-learning.com/courses/lactation-exam
and
https://www.breastfeedingoutlook.com/
Here are the text books I used:
Wambach and Riordan: Breastfeeding and human lactation
The Core curriculum for lactation consultant practice
Counselling the nursing Mother
The Lactation Consultant exam review by Linda Smith
The Breastfeeding Atlas
Supporting sucking skills in the breastfeeding infant
The exam itself is held across the country in Pearson Vue centres. When you are approved to sit the exam, keep an eye on your spam email as you are contacted by Pearson Vue to choose your location and book your exam. They take security very seriously, which really added to my nerves on the day! The exam is 4 hours long, divided into 2 two hour segments, and you can take a break BUT the clock doesn’t stop if you do. I completed my exam in 2 hours comfortably, but if you are in anyway lacking in confidence with computer skills then it could take you considerably longer.
The wait for the results is excruciating, I won’t lie – not least because no one quite knows when the results will be uploaded, and / or mailed out. We got out results at the end of June – after a 10 week long period of anxiety and impatience. Try to keep yourself busy and distracted! I scored very close to 91% and I will never forget looking at that on screen message telling me I had passed. It was instantly and totally worth all of the work, stress, and fear.
I was fortunate enough to have an informal mentor throughout the entire process, and I strongly recommend you find someone local to you willing to answer very weird lactation questions, and to help reassure you during the build up. There are some great student LC groups on Facebook, but I had to turn them off both in the weeks before the exam, and then again in the fortnight before we got the results because the anxiety of others wasn’t helpful for my own fear!
I hope this article is informative. Please do check out the facebook group and links I’ve included. I am in no way affiliated with any of them – I have simply listed the route that I chose to take based on cost and ease of access from a laptop at home while juggling small children!
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