If you’re a healthcare professional interested in earning your IBCLC, you’re in good company! More providers are discovering the rewards and opportunities that come with becoming a lactation consultant.
When you’re ready to explore becoming an IBCLC, LER is here to support you all the way. To get you started, here are five key facts you’ll need to know.
1. Healthcare providers from a diverse array of disciplines become IBCLCs.
Nurses and physicians who work with parents and babies are some of the top professionals who pursue IBCLC certification, but many other healthcare providers become IBCLCs as well—our students include dieticians, physical therapists, speech pathologists, pharmacists, and more.
If you are a healthcare provider passionate about working with families and the lifelong wellness of your patients, the IBCLC may be a great fit for you!
2. You can use the IBCLC to open doors.
Earning the IBCLC equips healthcare providers to offer the highest level of lactation support for parents and babies, as well as to help with the most complex lactation challenges.
For many healthcare providers, the IBCLC also unlocks new professional options.
For example, nurses who add the IBCLC to their credentials position themselves to climb the clinical ladder as opportunities arise, perhaps even choosing to pursue an IBCLC role full-time.
Pharmacists, physical therapists, speech pathologists and others often find they can combine the IBCLC with their existing expertise to create a unique niche—allowing them to contribute in exciting new ways and enjoy new challenges.
3. You may have already fulfilled some of the IBCLC exam requirements.
If your profession is on IBCLC Commission’s list of recognized healthcare professions, you have already met the IBCLC exam requirement for health sciences education!
That list includes: dentists, dieticians, midwives, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, physical therapists and physiotherapists, physicians and medical doctors, and speech pathologists and speech therapists.
LER has options for you to fulfill this requirement online, whether you already have some lactation education or need all 95 hours.
Our instructors—subject-matter experts active in their fields from around the world—provide in-depth, evidence-based content that will prepare you for the IBCLC exam and for clinical practice.
Discover our lactation education options
here—there’s a course that’s right for you.
4. You may be able to earn clinical hours while you work.
The final requirement for IBCLC exam application requires you to earn clinical hours helping lactating families. As a healthcare provider, depending on your current setting and role, you may be able to earn these hours while you work.
Our blog,
“Can I Count It?” has the info you need to determine whether your current work can be used to accrue clinical hours.
Regardless of your current role and setting, LER offers a way to earn your clinical hours, through our Clinical Lactation Internship Program and our HOURS Program. Explore which option works best for you by visiting
this page.
5. You can fit earning the IBCLC into your life—and LER can help.
As a healthcare provider, we know your life is already busy and full! We can help you fit the rewarding achievement of IBCLC certification in and meet your goal.
Our courses are delivered online and on your own time, and enrollment comes with a year of access, so you can work at your own pace.
Once you’ve fulfilled the requirements, we’ll make sure you are ready to ace the IBCLC exam. Our
exam prep options come with access to QBank, our state-of-the-art practice question tool with nearly 600 instant-feedback questions, aligned to the exam content and fully referenced.
Let’s Create a Plan Together
At LER, we’re thrilled to see so many healthcare professionals becoming passionate about lactation care—you contribute to the health of parents, babies, and future generations. If the IBCLC is your goal, we know you can achieve it.