Lactation Program Review: 

Certified Lactation Educator (CLE) Training Program

through  CAPPA Academy

 Reviewer: Anonymous

        October 15, 2015

How long did it take you to complete the program?  3 months (accelerated program)

What year did you complete the program? 2014

Certification or Certificate Offered – Certified Lactation Educator (CLE)

See Scope of practice for a Certified Lactation Educator (CLE)

Delivery of Program – Combination of an in-person 20 hour Lactation Educator Training over a period of 3 days + certification requirements via CAPPA Academy (now completely online). CAPPA now has traditional, distance and accelerated options for those wishing to certify. See here for details.

CAPPA’s current Lactation Educator Training locations, times and dates

Books & Materials Required – The initial three-day training provided a manual and handouts that corresponded with the PowerPoint. After taking the 20 Hour Course, individuals who certify are required to read the manual (provided) and four additional books from this list and one of the following texts in its latest edition: Hale and Hartmann’s Textbook of Human Lactation OR Jan Riordan’s Breastfeeding and Human Lactation (preferred textbook).

Cost of Program (Including books, materials, application fees, etc.) – $400 (early bird) + $55 CAPPA Membership + $35 Hug Your Baby +$175 CAPPA Academy = $665 + cost of 5 additional books. Fortunately for me, my employer paid for the course.

If you don’t want to be certified and just want to take CAPPA’s 20 hour Lactation Educator Training, then you just pay the cost of the 3 day workshop (usually around $400) and all other materials are provided for free.

# of L-CERPs, Nursing Contact Hours, CEUs, CPEs, etc. offered – 21.5 L-CERPs (guaranteed through 2015).

Do this program’s hours meet partial or full requirements for the IBCLC exam’s lactation specific training requirement?

Yes, partial (21.25 hours).

If yes, how many hours of lactation specific training are counted for the IBCLC exam?

It counts for 21.25 hours towards the 90 hour IBCLC exam lactation education requirement.

What did you like about the program?

• Supportive.
• Good start before diving deeper into IBCLC training.
• Good basic training for the floor nurse.

What did you dislike about the program?

This program did not always use strong evidence-based practice and interpretation of studies.

How rigorous/time consuming did you find the program? Very easy!

Would you recommend this program to others?

Yes, but not as a stopping point. What the CLE knows is nowhere as deep as what the IBCLC has to know.

Knowing what you know now, would you take this program again? 

Yes. I needed to complete CAPPA Lactation Educator program for my job.

Do you feel the course and/or certification helped you obtain your goals?

Yes. I went on to test for my IBCLC credentials and changed my field of expertise in nursing.

Does your program/credential require you to recertify? If so, how long does the credential last and what is required to recertify? Yes, my CLE credential is good for 3 years. I need 15 CERPs to recertify – all of which can be earned at the annual conference, which is FREE to all CAPPA members. You can read more on CAPPA’s recertification process here.

Would you like to write a review of a Lactation Training Program that you’ve taken? If so, don’t be shy! You can access the review form directly from Galactablog. Or directly online via Google Forms here.

**Disclaimer – The views and opinions expressed in this review are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Galactablog. It’s also important to note that these views are not the only source of information about this particular lactation training program. See here for more program details on CAPPA, along with comparison of similar Lactation Training Programs. If you’re interested in Lactation Training Programs that offer a clinical practice component, see here.