How to become a Lactation consultant Nurse in India

How to Become a Lactation Consultant Nurse in India: Salary, Eligibility, Jobs, and Opportunities

This would be the right job for anybody looking to provide solutions to myriad types of issues with mothers and their babies-which is, indeed, the role of a lactation consultant nurse. In this context, the role of a nurse is to help the mother with the best practices related to breastfeeding as well as troubleshooting if complications arise. If you have an interest in such a nursing specialty career, you’d be asking how to become a lactation consultant nurse.

Below, we break down the processes that have to be gone through in order to become a nurse lactation consultant, and what generally can be expected of one with this role as well as what their salary may be.

Who Is a Lactation Consultant Nurse?

A Lactation Consultant Nurse is a type of healthcare provider trained in breastfeeding education and support. Some of their jobs are:

  • Education of breastfeeding: Teaching classes, holding workshops, and personal counseling with the new mother.
  • Assisting lactating mothers: Assisting new mothers to position the baby well and prevent any irritation of the nipples and other lactation challenges.
  • Helping with milk supply problems: How to deal with low milk supply and engorgement, among other frequent problems with breastfeeding.
  • Emotional care: Support distressed breastfeeding mothers.
  • Work from offices: Lactation consultants can be taken up in hospitals and clinics, private practice, or even home visit services.

Technically speaking, a lactation consultant gives all the breastfeeding needed support to the new parent and ensures that the mother and baby have an absolutely great time breastfeeding.

Is Lactation Consultant A Good Career Choice?

Being a registered nurse lactation consultant is an exceptional career choice that a person must be passionate about, as a means of care for maternal and infant health, for it also helps nurses go further in improving their skills. so, they can also influence the improvement of families. This is based on the fast rise in breastfeeding advocacy awareness and its practices.

Besides job satisfaction, the job opportunities for lactation nurses are expected to grow. With increasing demands from most hospitals and health care services to hire lactation care specialists, the salary data of lactation consultant nurses demonstrates that such a career can both be fulfilling and financially viable when the professionals involved command highly competitive wages.

Steps by Step Guide on How to Become a Lactation Consultant Nurse

If you are a nurse or an aspiring health professional who wants to become a nurse lactation consultant, here is a step by step guide:

1. Earn Your Nursing Degree

You would become a lactation consultant nurse upon finishing the nursing degree. The routes to a registered nurse lactation consultant are through the associate degree in nursing or BSN and entail at least ADN.

2. Experience as a Nurse

Prior to going into lactation consultant training, you must obtain practical experience as a nurse. Most organizations ask for a year of clinical exposure before you are considered a nurse lactation consultant. This exposes you to first hand practical skills for attending to the patient.

3. Lactation Consultant Training

Several accredited programs exist for specialized knowledge on breastfeeding and lactation support. Such programs would typically consist of coursework on the physiology of breastfeeding, milk production, lactation management, and ethics in lactation care.

4. Lactation Certification for Nurses

You can then be issued a breastfeeding certification for nurses once you finish the training. Among the more popular ones, you have an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) where one needs to pass an exam put by which covers a comprehensive spectrum of the lactation field which includes; breastfeeding techniques human lactation some medical conditions with implications on the process of breastfeeding.

5. Practical Experience

The importance of having direct experience as a lactation nurse in honing the skills you possess is important. You can be an intern under a lactation consultant who has vast experience or volunteer in a health facility. This will help you gather knowledge of real-life breastfeeding problems and their solutions.

6. Continuing Education

The lactation consultant has to seek re-certification by completing continuing education and re-certification tests. A lactation nurse consultant has to remain at par with any advanced research and lactation care techniques currently being conducted in the profession.

Lactation Consultant Nurse Salary in India

Lactation consultant nurse salaries differ depending on various factors, including experience, location, and work environment.

Job titleSalary
Quality Coordinator HospitalINR 909k
Informatics NurseINR 995k
Quality Coordinator HospitalINR 1,118k
Telehealth NurseINR 994k
Trauma Nurse PractitionerINR 1,244k

How to get a Lactation Consultant Nurse Job

  1. Use these methods to search for a position in a job for a nurse lactation consultant.
  2. Apply for any hospitals or clinics. Many of them have a particular lactation department, and mostly they will try to employ professional lactation consultants.
  3. Network with professional organizations: Membership in professional organizations like the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) supports access to job opportunities and communication of changes in the practice of lactation care.
  4. Provide private practice services: Some lactation consultants work independently, providing home visits and consultations to families. This can be very appealing to you if you require more control over your schedule.

The various opportunities for employment of a lactation consultant nurse range in multiple settings.

Conclusion

It’s such a fulfilling career that will make you support healthy thriving mothers and their babies to feed at breast, seeing proper education, training, certification, and direct practice position you well in making meaningful differences for families as a lactation consultant nurse. Whether it serves as the entrance into a nursing career or something one finds uniquely fascinating, the pathway to a career in lactation consultation may prove enriching.

Besides, companies such as Nursing Shala are working to empower mothers by offering educational resources and support for breastfeeding journeys, which contribute to the growing field of lactation consultancy.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What must one qualify in order to become a lactation consultant?

One must be a registered nurse to qualify as a nurse lactation consultant. Additionally, one must get training as a lactation consultant and achieve a lactation certification for nurses like the IBCLC.

2. What qualifications are needed to be a lactation consultant?

Yes, in most cases, however, it is through lactation consultants when trained and accredited by some nurses and other caregivers.

3. How long does it to train to become a lactation consultant?

It may take 2-3 years of school to get after college in nursing plus getting certified by being a nurse lactation consultant.

4. What are the working opportunities of a lactation counselor?

Excellent job opportunities for nursing lactation consultants because the demand for breastfeeding care is mounting in hospitals and clinics.

5. Can a home-based lactation consultant be? 

Yes, many are self-employed; they run private practices by doing online consultations and in-home consultations.

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