I get the question a lot from my peers, people around me, friends, fellow colleagues and people who I meet.
They ask me “how did you become a lactation consultant or a lactation specialist, when your history and your background is in retail/business.”
I have decided to share my story with you. My hope is that it may help you understand that you don’t necessarily have to have a healthcare background, or really to have any specific background, for that matter, to become a lactation professional.
I think it’s important to start with my why. Many of my fellow lactation professionals are like me and have discovered a passion for breastfeeding that stemmed from their own troubles and difficulties, and not necessarily receiving the help that they needed. Maybe they did receive the help that they needed but it was a little late. They, like me, want to take their knowledge that they’ve gained and help other moms.
Starting with Pain
With my first child, I did have feeding difficulties, the first two weeks were extremely painful and very difficult. After the first couple weeks, it got better and more normal. I thought, “okay, my nipples just had to get used to this.” Now I believed the myth that nipple pain was a normal occurrence with each breastfeeding journey.
I heard a lot of people saying, oh, there are tongue ties involved. They weren’t necessarily diagnosing my child, but just out in the social media world and facebook groups. They would say have you had your child checked for tongue tie? And I thought it was just a thing that people said, like a fad, and I didn’t take it seriously. Lo and behold, my first child did have a tongue tie and I really didn’t know enough about it. But I didn’t have any pain anymore, and feeding was going okay and I didn’t really want to do anything about it.
Taking a Turn for the Worse
Well about eight months in I hit a stressful time in my life. My supply dipped and I thought it was done for, so I started supplementing. Upon supplementing, I hit that vicious cycle. Now you’re supplementing, baby’s not feeding as much, and now you are going to make less milk, so you have to supplement more, and the cycle continues.
So if I would have known the right steps to take, I would not have had to supplement my eight month old baby. I didn’t know who to ask. So, I asked on Facebook groups and other social media. Asked people that I thought would know the answer, be able to help me and nobody was really able to give me a clear cut answer. I didn’t really know what an IBCLC was at the time; No one had mentioned what La Leche League was. I didn’t know what Breastfeeding USA was so I did not seek out any of those resources that would have been helpful. Partly, I think it is just because it’s not talked about very much in the community.
Breastfeeding for the second time around
Fast forward to my second child who was born three years after my first. I was experiencing difficulty starting out. I actually had a nurse in the hospital tell me, “Oh, this is your second child, you know what to do.” I just broke down and said I don’t remember I don’t remember. Because we don’t. I mean we’re in that moment and just not remembering exactly what to do. Right there, I just felt like there was not very much help. And in the hospital again, a lactation consultant came through and just basically said the latch looks good and you’re great. But, the pain began again and lasted for about two to three weeks. The most awful and excruciating pain. And my second son also had a tongue tie that was interfering with his ability to feed and latch.
We need more Lactation Support
But I did get help this time. I was in a peer support group, and I cannot tell you how invaluable a peer support group can be. It was women who were in it at the same time. The ladies in the group either had the same or similar questions. Some of the questions, I found, I had already overcome. Because I was in this group every week, I was able to help other moms too. I decided at that point to research what it takes to become a lactation consultant. Thankfully, I was very surprised at the results.
A Decision Made
I thought, “Okay, there is easily an option to become a lactation consultant for those in healthcare.” I thought I was going to have to go back to school to become an RN and was not really interested in doing that. So I began the journey. Here I am a m two and a half years later, and sat for my exam last fall. So it’s been a journey! But I will tell you, it is possible for someone who was not in healthcare before to become a lactation consultant.
Every Drop Counts
I was able to go on to successfully breastfeed my first until exactly 12 months (even though I supplemented from 8-12 months). For my second born, I breastfed for 16 months until he self-weaned. Mostly, weaning was mentally challenging for me. Whatever your breastfeeding goals are, the main thing is that you have a support system to help you meet it. Even if your journey doesn’t look like you pictured, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort you are putting in to get to where you want to go.
If you need guidance or support from an IBCLC, take it from someone who’s been there. I am here to help support you! Contact me to set up an appointment.
If you want to learn more about how to become a lactation consultant then stay tuned for my next blog post. It will be about the steps I took to become a lactation consultant and the pathways explained.
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