Home visiting and community health program staff are uniquely poised to positively impact breastfeeding initiation, support, and especially duration. There are many paths to assisting mothers and many types of certifications and trainings. A summary chart can be found here. A peer-reviewed publication on credentials can be found here.

With the increase in breastfeeding promotion has come breastfeeding initiation. The Centers for Disease Control compiles a breastfeeding data report highlighting data and barriers. The Breastfeeding Report Card for the US shows that while breastfeeding is highly promoted, the percentage of infants still breastfed at 6 months remains low.

Trained breastfeeding counselors can help mothers to identify and overcome barriers to breastfeeding and increase duration. Increased duration benefits women, children, and society and is an objective in the Healthy People 2030 goals.

Current Trainings

Lactation and Breastfeeding Support Training

Breastfeeding Counselor Course

We offer the Breastfeeding Counselor Course in several formats:

three in-person sessions,
three virtual sessions,
and a hybrid course with a mix of live and self-paced learning.

Course is updated annually and the certificate is valid for 3-years.

For information on hosting a training contact us.

The course is designed for those who wish to learn the basics of breastfeeding and lactation management and use strategies to increase initiation and duration rates. This course is intended for nurses, home visitors, doulas, and community-based health educators.

This course is based on the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, with content geared toward community-based providers. The course meets the standards of USBC Core Competencies in Breastfeeding Care and Services, WHO/UNICEF, and the Florida Healthy Start training requirements.

Course Requirements:

Participation in all sessions.
Participants will be required to pass an online post-test after completing the training.
For virtual attendees, you must have computer access with audio, video, internet access, and familiarization with Zoom.

Required text (provided):

The American Academy of Pediatrics New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding (Rev. Edition)

Continuing Education:

FSU Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy is a Florida Board of Nursing-approved provider of continuing education. CE Broker Provider ID #50-4373.

This program is approved for 20 CEUs.

FSU Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy is an approved provider for lactation continuing education. IBLCE provider #CLT123-01.

This program is approved for 20 LCERPS.