If you're an IBCLC or planning to become one, 2025 brings an important new change!
Starting in 2025, the IBCLC Commission requires training on the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (the International Code—more commonly known as the WHO Code).
Here’s what you need to know—and how our course, Unpacking the International Code, can help you meet the requirement with ease.
The New Requirement
- For New applicants.Beginning with the April 2025 exam, two of your 95 required lactation-specific education hours must focus on the International Code.
- For Recertifying IBCLCs.Whether you are recertifying by CERPs or by exam, two hours of International Code training are required. If you are recertifying by CERPs, these two CERPs must be part of the 5 required E-CERPs.
Why It Matters
At LER, we applaud the IBCLC Commission’s decision to prioritize education about the International Code. Understanding the Code is essential for supporting families in their infant feeding journeys. Here’s why:
- Protecting Parents’ Choices.Predatory infant formula marketing erodes parents’ confidence, presents misinformation, and creates barriers to breastfeeding success. The International Code ensures families can make informed feeding choices free from commercial pressure.
- Understanding Marketing Tactics.The strategies infant formula marketers regularly use—like leveraging common new-parent fears about insufficient milk supply, aligning themselves with trusted healthcare providers, and making misleading claims about their products—can deeply impact breastfeeding success.
- Recognizing New Threats.Formula companies post content on their social media accounts 90 times a day, reaching 229 million users — three times as many people as are reached by posts about breastfeeding from non-commercial accounts. And the technology allows marketers to target parents in profoundly personalized ways at critically vulnerable times, often with information that looks more like help from a professional than like advertising.
Marketing is powerful, but so is knowledge. As an IBCLC, your skilled lactation support empowers parents to meet their feeding goals, and by understanding the International Code, you can serve them even better.
Get the Info You Need — And Fulfill Your Requirement
Our 2-hour online course, “Unpacking the International Code,” covers:
- The history and basics of the International Code
- What the Code covers
- The most pressing compliance issues
- How to apply the International Code in your daily practice
Taught by Lisa Mandell, MBA, IBCLC, a seasoned private practice lactation consultant with expertise in marketing, this course awards 2 E-CERPs and is designed to meet the IBCLC exam and recertification requirements.
Enroll Today
Ready to meet your 2025 International Code requirement? Enroll in “Unpacking the International Code” and earn 2 E-CERPs at your convenience!
Special Note to Current LER Students:
If you are sitting for the exam in 2025 and have completed our 95+ hour Lactation Consultant Training Program, you have already earned the two required hours of International-Code-related content, thanks to International Code content in the lessons “Politics of Breastfeeding" and "Legal and Ethical Concerns." However, we strongly encourage you to consider additionally taking Unpacking the International Code”!