CLAP

Caring for and feeding babies is a learned art as much as it is a biological process. Skilled, kind, knowledgeable support is crucial for lactating parents. The Community Lactation Access Project is dedicated to training support people in every community, at multiple access points for parents.

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The mission of the Community Lactation Access Project is to provide training to all people who have found a space to fill with lactation support. Every voice has value and every person who seeks to help will find a place for the support to spread.

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By learning with an experienced IBCLC and community lactation support person, class participants gain more skills to support families through the lifecycle of lactation, to communicate effectively with and counsel parents during a stressful time, and to work in the circle of perinatal support as effective change agents.

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Class participants have the following backgrounds:

• Midwives, doctors, nurses and others in the healthcare field

• Peer lactation counselors

• Specialists in perinatal mental health

• Childbirth educators

• Birth doulas

• Postpartum doulas

• Community lactation counselors

• IBCLCs (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants)

• NICU staff

• Interested and invested community members:​

  • Administrators

  • Refugee people

  • Those working with refugee people

  • Immigrant people

  • Those working with immigrant people

  • Emergency / disaster responders

  • Community health workers

  • Institutional staffers

  • Clergy​

  • Public Health specialists

  • First responders

  • Teachers

  • Human Resources personnel

  • Wellness coaches

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Each course is customized to meet the diverse needs of the participants taking the course.

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As course founder, Gina Penka Corriveau endorses the Innocenti Declaration and therefore expects quiet, fully breastfed or chestfed babies “in arms” to be allowed to remain with their parent in the meeting rooms and virtual meeting rooms. Any nonseparating dyad is welcome to class.

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This course has been awarded contact hours for IBCLCs including 5 hours of Lactation-specific Communication Skills. 

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Topics covered in this 55-hour lactation support course include:

• The dyad and why it matters

• How it works: The anatomy and physiology of lactation

• Recognizing and helping with common challenges during lactation

• Evidence-informed methods of care for the lactating dyad

• Other ways to feed a baby when direct feeding isn't possible

• Normal lactation and variations of normal

• Birth practices and lactation

• Understanding ages and stages during lactation

• The lifecycle of lactation, breast changes, and infant development

• Biochemistry of human milk

• Milk banking and milk sharing

• Supporting the dyad with special situations

• Lactation and the use of medications

• Communication skills and counseling skills

• Legal issues commonly encountered in lactation

• Ethics and the lactation helper

• Fertility and lactation

• Exam readiness: preparing for the IBLCE exam

• Effective lactation teaching skills for adult learners

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