Image of woman breastfeeding with support person smiling at herLactation Counselors assist Healthy Start teams in many ways to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Lactation counselors may be part of the Healthy Start team or community partners. They include Certified Lactation Counselors (CLCs) and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants® (IBCLCs®).

This page was developed to have a dedicated online space to access resources and information for CLCs and IBCLCs® in Healthy Start. It serves as a repository of resources, examples from the field, and online trainings to help you promote, protect, and support breastfeeding in your Healthy Start community.

 

Breastfeeding Brief & Discussion Guide

 

This practice brief describes what Healthy Start lactation counselors have seen in the field as factors that make it harder to breastfeed (barriers) and factors that support breastfeeding (facilitators). It can be used with the Increasing Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration Discussion Guide and Breastfeeding Resources for Healthy Start Programs for a short (under an hour) staff development activity that you can do with your entire Healthy Start team during a staff meeting or other team meeting.

 

 

Check out these recorded webinars on breastfeeding.

 

Download this one page handout developed especially for Healthy Start programs.

This one page handout, shows 10 ways that family members and friends can support breastfeeding moms. The handout can be given to Healthy Start participants during home visits or group sessions. The poster size version (11″ x 17″) can be hung up in your Healthy Start offices or waiting room.

 

Learn about one Healthy Start program’s quality improvement efforts to improve breastfeeding at 6 months.  

Check out this case study of how Detroit Healthy Start and Midwest Healthy Start used quality improvement principles to increase the percent of women breastfeeding at 6 months. They’ve shared their process and lessons learned, including some action steps that anyone can take right now to start improving on any measure (hint: look at your data, and start small!).