By MiShaun Taylor
The first step to choosing a lactation consultant is to realize the difference between a consultant and an educator. Lactation consultants bring expertise to the table that they bestow on young mothers, or mothers who are breastfeeding for the first time. Lactate counselors handle issues related to women having difficulty feeding their babies.
This distinction is important as it will save you time when searching for your consultant and it will ensure that you have top-of-the-line-support and help when and where you need it. If you develop problems with your breastfeeding activities, then a counselor would be applicable. Until then, however, a consultant will give you the expertise and advice necessary to help this process be as smooth and effective as possible.
Another tip is to make sure that your chosen lactation consultant has the same approach to breastfeeding as you do. If you are generally nervous or shy about breastfeeding, you should not choose someone whose approach always seems to showcase what you are doing. If you are relatively unencumbered by the process, choosing someone who is on the prudish side will not suit your needs, either.
Personality, like in any professional arrangement, is important, as is approach. You want someone who you can connect with, who will understand where you feel vulnerable or nervous, and who will be able to give you the help you need. Taking advice from someone you do not like or feel comfortable around will make that process much more difficult; while enjoying the personality of the person will make you much more likely to listen to them and their advice.
Your doctor can provide you with names and numbers of women who specialize in this area. They also can give you tips based on their feedback from other mothers to whom they provide healthcare. Women going through this tend to mention to their doctors any problems or approaches that they disagreed with or found troubling. Asking your doctor or the head nurse at your doctor’s office will likely allow you to glean “inside” information as to who they would go with in this situation and why.
Once you have narrowed your options down, you need to make sure that the person you are choosing or thinking of choosing has enough experience. It is fine even if they have not been a consultant for very long, but you want to make sure that they have the experience necessary to answer your questions and help you make equipment and technique choices based on their experience and not what they read in a magazine or learned from a book. This is not to say that your chosen consultant should absolutely have decades of experience, but you want to be able to rest assured that they have handled most of the basic issues that arise with breastfeeding first hand.
Finally, as you make your final selection, realize that this process needs to remain special and “new” to you. This makes it important to go with someone who understands your excitement, hesitancy, respect and questions. Having that personal connection will make the process of selecting the equipment and adopting a technique that works much easier.