How can I become a Lactation Consultant?
As a registered nurse, you need to have 45 hours of breastfeeding education courses and a minimum of 1000 hours providing direct breastfeeding assistance within 5 years of when you take the exam. If you work in L&D or a postpartum unit, you cannot count all your hours worked as that because you are not spending your whole shift doing breastfeeding teaching. It can take that entire 5 years to get all your hours in unless your employer is supportive and provides you with a preceptorship with other lactation consultants so that is all that you do for an entire shift, etc., then you only need 500 hours.
