Recognised Breastfeeding Support Counsellor Organisations

The term “breastfeeding support counsellor” is used to identify individuals who obtain their lactation care experience in the following ways:

• Paid or volunteer breastfeeding support counsellors who work within the following health care delivery organisations:
  • Hospital
  • Birth Centre
  • Community Clinic
  • Lactation Care Clinic/Practice
  • Primary Care Practitioner’s Practice/Office

Hours earned at the above locations are calculated at an hour-per-hour rate and may be determined by using the Lactation Specific Clinical Practice Calculator.

• Volunteer, accredited breastfeeding support counsellors with organisations that are specifically listed below.
  • Hours earned after January 1, 2022, will be counted on an hour-per-hour basis.
    • For the purposes of examination application, these hours may be combined with the flat-rate hours completed in 2021 or before, to total at least 1000 clinical hours for Pathway 1. As part of the current requirements, please note that the clinical hours cannot be older than five years from the date of the examination application submission.
    • These hours can be calculated using the Lactation Specific Clinical Practice Calculator.
• The Breastfeeding Support Counsellor Organisation must provide:
  • structured training programmes for their counsellors which includes comprehensive education in breastfeeding and lactation management
  • a Code of Ethics or Professional Conduct
  • structured supervision for counsellors, with an appropriate level of training
  • a continuing education programme for counsellors

The health care delivery organisations listed above (e.g. hospital, birth centre, etc.) and the following organisations meet the criteria to be defined as recognised breastfeeding support counsellor organisations:

We understand that not every breastfeeding support counsellor organisation which meets these criteria may be on this list. To learn more about how organisations can apply to be on the list, please contact the region that serves you.