We feel passionately that every breastfeeding parent deserves high quality lactation care that is affordable and accessible. We also believe that IBCLCs in private practice have great value and should be able to practice their craft, support all families who desire help AND make a good living. What we are seeing and hearing from IBCLC’s all over the world, is that having a profitable private practice is more of a dream than a reality. One of the goals of this website is to help make that dream a reality. And, ultimately, to help more breastfeeding parents achieve their goals and help more infants have access to human milk.
IBCLC’s have all kind of training in how the breast makes milk, how to help a baby efficiently get milk from mother, how to help mothers increase milk supply and how important breastfeeding is to the dyad as well as the health of communities. Continuing education on all things breastfeeding is readily available in the form of text books, conferences and online webinars. What is NOT readily available is the nuts and bolts of how to move from obtaining one’s IBCLC status to actually create a business.
While we believe that the reputation of someone who excels in their field will often be rewarded with increased business; it is not always the case with the IBCLC in private practice. Many families don’t know how to access breastfeeding help. They may not even know there is a profession specific to lactation. To top it all off, in many countries, health care is expected to be covered by one’s insurance. And, generally speaking, the private practice IBCLC can not contract with insurance companies. So if parents do seek out lactation help, often the first question is: “Do you take my insurance?”
In addition to the insurance question, we recognize that most of us did not come from a background in business. We are really good at helping with breastfeeding, but the nuts and bolts of running a business is an entirely different story. It’s become clear as we have spoken with others in our field that there is very little education available regarding how to actually do a lactation consultation or how to create a business. Those of us who started our practices before the age of the internet and social media literally had to “make it up.” It’s crazy to think about that but it’s true. We didn’t have mentors—we didn’t have examples.
So how do we hope to change the status quo?
*Provide some real tools to start your practice or jump start your current practice
*Help you with the nuts and bolts of managing the consultation and your day
*Help you with marketing to other disciplines—especially health care providers
*Give IBCLC’s and physicians the tools to make lactation services profitable.
If we help you increase the number of clients you see every week, we’ve increased access for families who need expert breastfeeding support. If we can help physicians incorporate lactation care into their practices, even more families have access. Ultimately, that is why we are here!
We want to hear from you! Why are YOU here?
