Lactation Internships

The Breastfeeding Center is able to offer a limited number of lactation internships every year. Depending on the Pathway you’re using to become an IBCLC, you may need hands-on clinical hours prior to sitting for the exam. We recommend getting those hours in a variety of different settings so that you come into the profession with a lot of varied experience, and we would be happy to be one of your clinical locations if we have the capacity!

Lactation interns will be matched with one lactation consultant on staff to be their mentor. Interns observe and participate in lactation consultations to gain clinical competency in a set list of skills (per IBLCE), as well as assist their mentor with responsibilities related to performing those consultations. All interns are expected to be committed to completing their internship within 12 months.

Requirements for a lactation internship

  • Completion of 95 hours of lactation-specific coursework

  • Commitment to complete internship within 12 months and sit for the exam at the next available exam time

  • Malpractice insurance coverage

  • Interview with our Internship Coordinator

  • Criminal background check

  • Approval of your internship program plan by IBLCE

  • Willingness to write up and present case studies to Breastfeeding Center staff

  • Alignment with the Breastfeeding Center’s mission and vision

Cost of our program

Our internship program does not come with a cost. There are many barriers to becoming a lactation consultant, making it easier for those well-resourced (in both time and money) to obtain the IBCLC certification. Because of that, the field is not as diverse as we’d all hope it would be. With our internship program, we are trying to reduce some of those barriers in order to make the certification and career more accessible for people from all different backgrounds with the goal of bringing more historically underrepresented groups of folks into the field.

If you are accepted into our internship program and you can afford typical internship fees ($1,000-$2,500), we encourage you to donate what you can here. That fund is available for IBCLC-hopefuls who need stipends to make internships work for their families (to cover the cost of childcare, parking, or lost wages, for example).

If you need a stipend for your internship with us, please let us know on your application and we’ll see what we can offer you.

The internship position is currently filled. We accept applications year round, however we wont be reviewing applications until July 2024 earliest.

MISSION

Our mission is to support families from pregnancy through the transitions of early parenthood with relationship-based care, evidence-based instruction and resources, and integrative health services for lactation and postpartum. We're here to help you navigate pregnancy, lactation, and postpartum with greater ease and joy, and provide you the tools to make informed and empowered decisions that feel best for you and your family.

Evidence-based

  • We strive to ensure that information clients receive from the Breastfeeding Center and its staff is researched and evidence-based. We also honor that some very valuable tradition-based practices do not have research to back them up, but do have evidence of efficacy throughout history.

Empowering

  • We help parents to identify their vision of a healthy, thriving family and supporting them to eliminate or overcome the barriers to enacting that vision.

Supportive

  • We support our clients in any way they need to help them make the decisions they deem best for their families and to meet their goals.

Accessible

  • The care that we offer must be accessible and relevant to all, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, immigration status, partnership status, income, or ability. In order to serve our community better, our staff--and the lactation field more broadly--must begin to represent the diversity of the clients we serve. The Center will also work with other organizations in the lactation field to make training, educational opportunities, and employment more accessible to underrepresented groups.

Inclusive

  • Our staff is culturally aware and continuously works to confront our own internal biases. We are intentional about making our services and space welcoming to people from all backgrounds.

Collaborative

  • We work cohesively as a staff to meet our mission. We also collaborate with other organizations to increase both our and their impact.