Lactation Program Review: 

Healthy Children’s Center for Breastfeeding’s  

Lactation Counselor Training Course

By Anonymous, CLC, ALC &IBCLC

Submitted December 25, 2017
Published on November 4, 2018

How long did it take you to complete the program? 5 days

Certification or Certificate Offered – Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC)

Delivery of Program – In-person

Books & Materials Required – The Pocket Guide for Lactation Management by Karin Cadwell, 2nd edition (can be purchased on Amazon from about $25-$35 or purchased at class for $55). A course guide with an outline of all instruction along with a resource appendix is free and included in course costs.

Cost of Program (Including books, materials, application fees, etc.) – $600-800

# of L-CERPs, Nursing Contact Hours, CEUs, CPEs, etc. offered – 45 Nursing contact hours, L-CERPs, CPEs; 4.5 CEUs for CNMs

Do this program’s hours meet partial or full requirements for the IBCLC exam’s lactation specific training requirement?  Yes, partial hours (it meets 45 of the required 90 hours of lactation education).

What did you like about the program?

• Gave a good basic knowledge to answer questions of the pregnant or nursing mother.
• Gives the CLC a good starting range of information on many aspects of lactation.
• Allows an RN or other medical professionals to add to their current knowledge base and support breastfeeding.

What did you dislike about the program?

• This is a basic knowledge course, it does not actually teach enough to start a practice to assist a mother who is struggling or has a special need. This is enough information to hold a support group or discuss basic questions about lactation.
• The CLC scope of practice is very muddled and unclear. The instructors will not discuss comparison to IBCLC and make it clear that they feel their teaching is equivalent and encourage private practice. See here for Healthy Children’s comparison paper between CLCs and IBCLCs.

What would you change about the program?

• Be more understanding and informative that this is a basic knowledge course and does not give the amount of information needed, the scope, or the ability for a CLC to start a practice to help mothers with problems concerning lactation and instead gives the ability to answer basic questions for “normal” cases only.
• The CLC would be excellent for those looking to answer questions about lactation for pregnant mothers or hosting in support group settings. Advanced, specific, or “abnormal” individualized patient care should be referred to an IBCLC. The scope and ability must be set very clearly and not over exaggerated.

How rigorous/time consuming did you find the program?

• Extremely, the exam is comprehensive and involves a great deal of information that may have only been given a brief allotment of time to be taught.
• Participants should understand that they should study the information they were taught each day after the course time.

Would you recommend this program to others?

Yes, depending on their intentions in the field and their prior knowledge base.

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

I would. This was a great starting point for my path to IBCLC.

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

• I do, it gave a good amount of basic knowledge.
• Overall this was a good stepping stone and would encourage it as such.
• I do not recommend taking only the CLC if intending to private practice helping mothers with lactation problems.

Does your program/credential require you to recertify? If so, how long does the credential last and what is required to recertify? Yes, every 3 years. Recertification requires 18 hours of continuing education.

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 reflect those of Galactablog. In order to remain objective and unbiased, Galactablog does not endorse or associate with any program in particular. It is the reader’s responsibility to confirm program details (cost, dates, # of hours offered, program requirements, etc.) with the program itself. 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 Healthy Children’s Lactation Counselor Training Course, along with a comparison of similar Lactation Training Programs. If you’re interested in Lactation Training Programs that offer a clinical practice component, see here.