I need 45 hours of education to sit the IBLCE exam - what do you recommend?

To qualify to sit the IBLCE examination you must obtain an amount of education - the program or course you do must cover all of the disciplines examined as outlined in the Blueprint published by IBLCE. Take the time to read through this blueprint - and make sure that whichever education program you choose covers all of the listed topics. Discussions with other lactation education providers helped cement our own position that 45 hours simply is not enough to cover all the information a Lactation Consultant needs to know in order to be prepared to give the best care and advice to those who put their trust in us.

You may have noticed on the IBLCE website that while they have set 45 hours to be the minimum, they highly recommend a course or program of at least 80 - 150 hours, noting that students who complete the more comprehensive programs are more likely to pass. The Exam is set at a university Masters level, so you can imagine how in-depth you need to study each of the disciplines.

Our BreastEd Series is the program we have developed that is used by hundreds of students to prepare each year. This program is AARC-approved, indicating that a committee made up from both IBLCE and ILCA have approved it as a quality, comprehensive program for preparation for future IBCLCs. The program consists of 10 online courses, each taking about 12 hours to complete.

If you enroll in the whole series at once, you'll be enrolled in all 10 courses for 12 months, allowing plenty of time right up to, and after, the Exam to review the topics at your leisure. You can, of course, complete them at the pace that suits you, having them finished well before the Exam, but still having access to the tutors, your colleagues and the content. Everything is online, including the final assessment. A workbook is printed from the program, completion of it providing you with an excellent resource, but not having to be submitted.

If you feel like chatting to some people who have or are going through this process, you may wish to join Health e-Learning as a member (free) and explore our Community Forum - you could ask if there are any LCs in your area who might be able to help you, or ask for advice on how others became LCs.

In what order should I complete the BreastEd courses?

You can complete the courses in whichever order you like, however some courses do flow on nicely from others. We recommend completing the series in the following order: BE01, BE02, BE03, BE04, BE07, BE09, and then completing BE05, BE06, BE08, BE10 and Ethics in any order after those.

Which courses should I sign up for first?

This depends on you: your current knowledge, and professional situation. For advice, you can ask at the Community Forum. Your question will be seen not only by Health e-Learning's trained staff members, but also by your peers in the lactation community, including a lot of Health e-Learning's prior students who have been through the courses themselves. This means that you'll hopefully get a highly balanced view from many different points of view.

Any information you can provide about your experience will help you get a better-tailored response, for example, if you are an LLL Leader, a midwife in Australia, or just have a keen interest in Breastfeeding. Also be sure to read to see if anyone else has asked the same question!