Episode 42: Happy IBCLC Day!

I’m your host, Jacqueline Kincer. And today is IBCLC day, it is March 3 2021. And it’s Wednesday. So it works out perfectly because that’s the day I usually try to release episodes of this podcast. And I’m super excited to be talking about one of my favorite things which is being lactation consultants. Now, any of you who obviously, follow me or listen to the podcast know that I’m an IBCLC know that I hold that job near and dear to my heart know that I really try to elevate the work of our profession, because it’s so often goes unrecognized. And today is a day where we get to celebrate all of the IBCLC is around the world. So if you are an IBCLC, and you are listening, I want to say thank you so much for all of the work that you do in your profession, all of the care that you give to your patients and your clients, all of the wonderful collaboration that you do with the rest of the healthcare team.

And all of the hard work you’ve put into your training, to your credential to your continuing education, it really, really does matter. And you are making a huge impact in the lives of families all around the world. So please do please do take some time to celebrate yourselves today. And if you have ever hired an IBCLC, please, please take the time to thank them today. Reach out to them, send a personal message, send a text, leave a review on their Google business page, their Yelp page, that Facebook page, send them a testimonial with your name and headshot and permission to use on their website, record a video testimonial for them and send it to them surprise them. So that they can promote their business and share with others the amazing gift that they’ve given you on your breastfeeding journey.

If you’re a listener of this podcast, one of the most amazing things you could do is go over to iTunes and leave a five star review that helps us podcasts get found by other people who will need really need to hear this information who want to have this kind of support in their lives. If you have tried my advanced lactation formula that’s available on Amazon, and you’ve absolutely loved it, make the time head over to Amazon leave a five star review for me. And that will help my product get found that’ll build trust in the product. Since it’s brand new and doesn’t have a ton of reviews yet, that’ll get more and more people to try it and have it work for them. So I encourage you to do those things to support your IBCLCs in any way that you can. Because we are constantly fighting an uphill battle to be recognized to be respected. I will tell you that in my conversations with other health care providers, they often are really sure that they know what we do. And in fact, many are not even aware that we exist. Case in point.

Last year, some of you know that I was in a very, very serious car accident. And I think it was probably the first visit of my injury doctor, he asked what I did. Now he was an ER physician for 14 years. He’s done functional medicine. Now he’s an injury doctor. And I told him I was a lactation consultants an IBCLC. And he didn’t even know that that was a thing. So there is a lot of work that we unfortunately have to do on an individual level. But I would like to see more work on the organization level or even government level, to have our profession recognized to have it be a standard of care that any family who’s breastfeeding, you know, gets the care and support of an IBCLC because it’s so so important to see these breastfeeding rates rise. So that being said, you know, I just wanted to talk about this as a topic.

And you know, this comes on the heels of a commercial that was recently released by the freedom mom company. And as much as I love that they are showing some of the realness and rawness of breastfeeding challenges in their commercial and you’re welcome to go view this you know it’s it’s a available online. I will say that there’s a lot of things that this commercial does a disservice to specifically the profession of the IBCLC. But really even to breastfeeding moms. Now, I think it was last year or two years ago, they released a commercial showing, you know, Amelie postpartum mom struggling with pain and sitting on the toilet and having used her Peri bottle and recovering from a C section and tears and all the things.

And while that is a real part of the postpartum journey for a lot of us, that’s not what everyone’s postpartum journey looks like. And it also is a very short timeframe, in the grand scheme of things and is not, you know, what’s going on for months and months and months for most people. So this new commercial put out by Frieda mom that showing these breastfeeding difficulties. While I will celebrate it for bringing awareness to breastfeeding in general, and also to breastfeeding problems. Unfortunately, I feel like it reinforces the idea that moms have to figure this out all on their own. The constant theme in every clip of B roll that they use in this commercial is that a mom is struggling. She’s an emotional and physical pain. And she’s trying to figure it out on her own, that she is alone. And then denena, a product swoops in to save the day.

And I will say, That’s great if all you need is a product, and that fixes everything for you. That’s fantastic. But the scenes that are depicted in this commercial, I could tell you as an IBCLC are not things that are going to be fixed by a freedom on product. Now, those products may help to contribute to a resolution of the breastfeeding issue, they may help to relieve some symptoms of breastfeeding issues. But they are not going to fix really the breastfeeding dysfunction. And so I think they actually gave some really terrible examples of things that many moms do when they try to tackle things on their own. And, unfortunately, reinforced a lot of these things that moms do end up making things worse, that lead to early sensation of breastfeeding.

So in particular, it actually starts out with showing a mom trying to latch her baby, and she is doing everything wrong, unfortunately, like it’s it’s actually really painful for me to watch, because the way that she’s compressing her breast and her fingers are right at the nipple, and then she’s shoving her breasts in the baby’s mouth and her postures all wrong, the last techniques all wrong and, and then the baby’s fussing, like, of course her nipples are going to hurt. Of course, breastfeeding is not going to be going well. This is just really not what we want to see. So that’s unfortunate, then it cuts to a scene of a mom who’s clearly in some sort of breastfeeding pain. Again, her baby is in the totally wrong position. The head is tucked forward, it’s over in the crook of the mom’s arms sort of off to the side of her body. These are not things that are going to create painless breastfeeding, unfortunately.

And then, you know, they cut to a scene of a mom showing that she’s not pumping very much milk and she looks disappointed. You know, I don’t know the backstory there. But then there’s a mom holding a baby that’s fussy. And it’s like, for a mom to be upset at herself that she’s not making enough milk. But that’s a fixable problem. Right? Like, you know, hopefully she’s calling the lactation consultant the next day, right because it’s like evening time. Then they cut to a mom in the shower and she looks like she’s distressed. She’s taking a moment to breathe. Another mom who’s on the computer and she’s trying to look things up another mom who’s pumping. You know, another mom who is breastfeeding moms leaking milk, and she seems surprised. And again, these are just things where it’s like showing the mom alone. Even the one with a mom waking up in hearse sure is so through with milk, her partners in sleep asleep in bed next to her. So the constant theme is showing moms who are alone. And one instance of a mom turning to her computer for an answer. And the implication there is not that she’s booking an online appointment with an IBCLC.

The implication is that she’s trying to figure this out on her own and do research right. And let’s let’s just be real about that. Then we cut to a scene of a mom in the shower with an electric toothbrush, and she’s digging it into her breast so firmly that she’s turning her breast red. She has a grimace on her face. She’s clearly grimacing in pain, as she causes herself more pain, trying to relieve a plug duct then she’s got some other massaging device. And she’s doing the same thing with that And it’s like, I would never recommend that I, by the way, if you ever have a clogged duct or a plug duct, the last thing you ever want to do is some sort of firm massage, or dig into your breast or specifically target the area of the clog. Like, there’s a million times better ways to manage that than by doing what you’re witnessing in this commercial. And so what’s really unfortunate is not only are they showing moms trying to figure this out, they’re on their own, they’re actually showing moms doing things incorrectly, that are causing the breastfeeding problems they’re experiencing.

Now, I don’t say that to make it sound like moms are idiots, and they don’t know what they’re doing, and they’re screwing up breastfeeding. That’s not what I’m saying. But what I’m saying is, is you don’t know what you don’t know? And how do we decide to do the things that we do? And we’re trying to figure that out on my honor on our own? Well, we generally learn through example, and I’ve got to tell you, I have a ton of moms, I even had a conversation with a client about this yesterday, you know, they go on YouTube, they’re looking for, you know, videos of how to get a good latch and what have you. And most of the time you watch these videos, and these babies don’t even have good latches, it’s supposed to be an instructional video on how to get a good latch, and the baby didn’t get a good latch.

And so what are moms supposed to think? You know, they’ve got this imprinting. You know, I actually struggle with this. As I was telling my client yesterday, it’s really hard for me to find good stock photos to use for breastfeeding, things like presentations or what have you. Because most of the time, it’s a terrible latch or a terrible position or something is going really wrong there that I don’t want to use that photograph as an example of good breastfeeding. I’ll use it as an example of bad breastfeeding. But I can’t use that as an example of good breastfeeding. And it’s really unfortunate. It’s there’s just a lack of awareness of like, what is a good latch look like? What does good breastfeeding look like? And this commercial only depicts poor breastfeeding. So you know, kind of run through the rest of it with you. So we saw a mom, she’s pouring milk into bags, she’s spilling it in the fridge, pumping spleen, cabbage leaves donor brush, she’s clearly in despair. And then there’s kind of a funny moment where mom’s eating popcorn and she dropped some on her baby’s head. If you’re breastfeeding mom, I’m sure that you’ve dropped some food on your baby’s head at some point, I know I have.

So that’s relatable. And there’s nothing you know bad about breastfeeding depiction in that moment, so that’s good. Then they cut to a mom who stand in front of the mirror completely naked, or at least from the waist up, and she’s squeezing milk from her breasts. And the way in which she does it is totally incorrect. So she ends up like spraying the mirror. That’s not how you do hand expression. And then she’s holding her breasts up and she lets them drop in. And I don’t know if that’s supposed to be like she wishes her breasts weren’t so saggy or what, what’s going on there. But, you know, I don’t think that we need to reinforce any sort of, you know, body shaming, necessarily. Then we cut to a mom who’s cuddling with her baby and a mom who’s sort of teary eyed enjoying breastfeeding her baby, a mom who fell asleep and is checking the baby monitor and it says, you know, the the switches to text at the end and it says care for your breasts, not just your baby, and then it shows their whole lineup of their new products. Um, you know, I gotta really say that.

It’s great that they’ve created products for Breast Care. But if you’re going to be showing ways of doing things to manage breast care that are completely dysfunctional, I feel like the image is going to be burned into a mom’s brain of okay, I’m going to buy the vibrator the breast vibrator from free to mom, and I’m going to use that on my clogged ducts. And the example that’s going to resonate in your head is how the woman in the shower was digging deep into the breast at the area of the clog and making her breast tissue turn red, you’re probably going to do that with that massager, because you’re going to think that’s what you need to do. And, you know, despite what the instructions say, when you get the product, I will tell you that no one reads the instructions. I cannot tell you how many visits I’ve had with clients where they have never once read the manual to the breast pump or it was so confusing.

They just sort of gave up after the first you know, paragraph or step. So, unfortunately, visual, especially emotionally charged depictions of things tend to create an imprint tend to set the stage for our behaviors going forward. And I’m honestly saddened to see the depictions in the freedom commercial because at the end of the day, maybe their products help again provide comfort or alleviate symptoms, but they don’t fix the bad latch. They don’t fix the poor positioning, they don’t fix the improper technique for managing the breastfeeding problems. So it’s I just I struggle I struggle like I like that there’s a weirdness happening On this level, but the awareness is for a product company, things that are developed by people that aren’t lactation consultants that aren’t breastfeeding moms, where there’s an entire profession out there of IBCLC is dedicated to help with all these problems, where you don’t need to spend a bunch of money, trying to figure it out on your own, only to be disappointed that your breasts still hurt, despite their magical claims of nipple, cream or breast.

What if it’s like a sheet mask for your breast, that’s not going to fix the pain that’s caused by your baby’s bad latch, it might feel really nice, it’s like a spa day for your boobs. But it’s not going to fix the pain that’s happening, because you’re unsure of how to get your baby to get a deep latch at the breast, only an IBCLC is going to fix that if you haven’t figured it out on your own. So I struggle, I really struggle like I don’t want to poopoo the brand entirely and the commercial, I do think, you know, there’s some value in some of the products they sell. But again, these aren’t products that if you’re experiencing the issues that drive you to buy these products, I would not expect these products to fully solve that issue, you really are going to need some more advanced support here. And that’s going to be in the form of an IBCLC.

So anyway, that’s sort of my rant, you know, I just, ah, man, I just I really struggle, I do feel like, I do feel like this version of marketing is actually very predatory, because it’s leveraging the emotional vulnerability of newly postpartum moms to sell products. That’s not much different of a tactic than what most formula companies use. And the other problem I have with it is, let’s say you’re pregnant with your first child, and you see this commercial, it’s scary to watch these women who are, you know, obviously acting in this commercial, and they’re doing a great job at it, to watch these women suffer to the point of tears to grimace looks on their faces. That’s not an ad for breastfeeding. That’s an ad for not even bothering to breastfeed to begin with. Because you don’t want to experience that everyone knows childbirth is painful, and painful enough, my fear is that a pregnant woman watches this and she’s on the fence about whether or not she wants to breastfeed.

And, you know, all the book knowledge that she can gather on breast milk and breastfeeding versus formula, and she can, you know, kind of go down this pros and cons list. And then she sees this commercial, she might be like, Wow, I don’t really want to go through that. If it gets that bad, I’ll probably just give up. You know, I mean, maybe she’ll add these products to our baby registry. But it’s going to be a sad day when she uses those products, and it still doesn’t fix the problems. And then what that leads moms to believe is the product didn’t work, therefore, breastfeeding doesn’t work. And that is wrong. To me, that’s wrong. Just because the product has failed, you does not mean that you have failed at breastfeeding. And I really want that to sink in.

There’s time and place for products. And absolutely every IBCLC I know who’s in private practice has got a medical bag full of products that we bring with us to every consultation, and the hospital, they have a ton of supplies that they can use for the patients there. But we’re not handing the product over to you and then letting you figure it out on your own. We’re coaching you through it, we’re teaching you how to wean off of it. We’re, we’re using it as symptom management, just like any other health care provider would do. And it’s unfortunate that, you know, there’s things like, for instance, just just just an analogy here to show a little bit how our profession is is entirely devalued. Okay?

So you can you can go on at, you can buy a COVID test at home, you can buy a COVID antibody test at home, okay, or SARS, SARS, cov, to test, you know, you know, a rapid test and whatever, and you can do that. And there’s a massive disclaimer on there. Most the time, you can’t even order these unless your healthcare provider pay, but somehow ‘s regular people are getting their hands on these pay. There’s a massive disclaimer on there. But no matter what that little line, it kind of works like a pregnancy test. Okay, there’s like a control line. And then there’s a second line if you’re positive for something. There’s a massive disclaimer on there that says that these results are not to be interpreted without consulting a physician. But I could go to Target right now and I could buy strips for testing my breast milk for nutrients or alcohol or what Whatever else that they’re selling these days, and I am not told that I should go to a physician to verify those results. In fact, I can just go buy it at Target.

So how is it that we can buy breast milk testing strips, which by the way, are lacking a lot of, you know, evidence behind them that that’s even anything valid at all. But I can’t go get myself a SARS cov to test at Target. Lactation, and breastfeeding is that devalued, and it’s devalued enough that not only our products push on moms and a lot of time products that are completely unnecessary, but sort of give you an emotional feel good sense, right, but ultimately do nothing to further your breastfeeding journey or your satisfaction with breastfeeding. But there’s no discussion of the actual clinician who is there to help you with this. So that to me is problematic. You know, I

I know I might be sounding cynical, you know, I’m, I’m, you know, I’m not really, I’m not jealous of this company, or other companies who are doing things like this. And speaking as someone who has created a product and brought it to market for breastfeeding moms, I’m very clear. I mean, you can go to the Amazon listing and read like, there’s, you know, I’m not promising you that you’re going to make, you know, gallons of milk more just because you take my product. I’m not saying that this replaces you getting Lactation Support at any, at any point, I could never bring myself to do that kind of marketing, because it’s, it’s unfair, it’s dishonest. And quite frankly, it’s harmful. And so whether or not it’s explicit or implied, there’s a lot of implications. And I’m not the only one who interprets this commercial that way. So anyway, I don’t want to spend a lot ton of time bringing more attention to this commercial in this company. But I do think it’s really important that we have a discussion about the role of IBCLCs.

And that it’s still a profession that needs to be elevated, it needs to be respected needs to be recognized. Again, it’s it’s very often not even known about. And I think that’s really, really unfortunate. I’ve I’ve actually met OBGYN, who don’t know what an IBCLC is, we work with the same population, that’s crazy to me that they don’t even know. And it’s a lot to put on an IBCLC, especially those of us who are in private practice, who are usually, you know, just a one person shop, right? Most of us tend not to have employees or some big marketing team behind us or have a huge practice with lots of different providers, things like that. So it’s a lot to ask of us to be the ones to constantly advocate for ourselves, I would like to see that there was more action on the part of, you know, something, you know, the the national and international organizations that exist, even our board, it’d be wonderful if they did some advocacy work there, I will say that there’s a lot more advocacy work, and appears to be on the surface in third world countries, because breastfeeding, you know, can actually make or break the difference between a baby or child surviving or not, or even a mother surviving or not. We’re in more, you know, advanced countries where we have access to lots of great health care and nutrition and clean water and things like that, that, you know, we don’t have the same level of advocacy because it doesn’t make as much of a difference, you know, if they’re, if breastfeeding happens here or not.

And generally, the breastfeeding rates, initiation rates, at least tend to be higher here, but the exclusive breastfeeding rates end up being much lower, especially like in a country like the UK. So we had Amy Brown on the podcast, several episodes back to talk about that, how in the UK, they have some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. And why is that? You know, they have a nationalized health care system and what have you, but finding, you know, having IBCLCs be a part of that system is still a struggle. It’s still a struggle. So that’s more of an awareness for those of you out there who are not lactation consultants to really recognize the struggles that we have. If you’re a dentist if you’re a chiropractor, if you’re a pediatrician, you’re an OB or midwife, your your any one of the complementary health professionals out there to physical therapists you know, acupuncturist, what you know, you name it.

One thing I would ask of you to do, is even even today, you know, use your platform, whether it’s meetings that you’re having, if it’s social media, if it’s your own patients, use your platform today, and hopefully ideally every day to promote the work of IBCLCs of your colleagues. If you don’t know any make it a point to reach out. Find them in your community. advocate for them, advocate for your patients to see them. If you’re a mom, and you’re listening to this, and you know, you found great help with an IBCLC, you know, make sure that you’re recommending this to your friends, you know, you’re getting invited to a baby shower, you found out your friends do with a baby first, second, third baby. I don’t care what number it is. But you know, make sure that they’ve got access to an IBCLC. If money is an issue, and you’re in the United States, let your friends know about or for yourself. There’s the WIC program, Women, Infants and Children. And many of the offices actually have an IBCLC on staff. If not, they at least have a peer counselor, they have breast pump rentals available. And so this is a wonderful program available to low income families.

Many hospitals have outpatient support groups that you can attend for free, sometimes you can even weigh your baby and do just a quick weight check with COVID times, you know, I’m not quite sure what that looks like at every single hospital, many have put those sorts of things on hold. But at least if you don’t have in person, support groups do virtual, you know, there’s a lot of Lecce League and they’re all around the world. They’ve been around for, you know, decades, and they’re a volunteer support organization, go to them get support, get direction they’ll know about the IBCLC is in your local community. Same with breastfeeding USA. They’re obviously just based in the US, but they’re another volunteer breastfeeding support organization, they’re a wonderful resource to go to get support, to get access to evidence based information to find out about IBCLCs in your community, advocate at your pediatricians office, when you go in for your baby’s well check or a sick visit. If you’ve had a wonderful experience for an IBCLC, make sure to mention that to your pediatrician, encourage them to refer to this person, or you know, say, Hey, have you met so and so?

Well, she was my IBCLC. And she was amazing. I would love if you referred all of your patients to her because she was so helpful for figuring out x, y and z. Now, that kind of advocacy goes a long way. A huge, huge, huge, long way. When you go back to your OB for your six week visit, if you’ve had a great experience with an IBCLC mentioned that to your OB, especially if you’ve had any sort of breast issues like pain or plug ducts or mastitis or something like that, that they would actually be dealing with as well. You know, mention that and say, Hey, I don’t know if you have an IBCLC you refer to.

But I’ve got one and she’s amazing. And I think you should connect with her because she’ll be really helpful for those times, you know, until I get in from a six, you know, until women come in for their six week visits. Or if they’re struggling with breastfeeding. I know that’s not really your area. But here’s someone who can help with that pass along our information. That kind of stuff goes such a long way. And it’s not because you know, IBCLC is or looking for an ego boost or anything like that we’re really not. But we’re trying so hard to get the word out that we are available that we are here to help virtual in person, you know, everyone’s got a different way that they choose to practice during this time. But there are more options available to people than they’re aware of. If you’re in a mom’s group, post about your IBCLC today say hey, in honor of IBCLC day, I just wanted to make a post about you know, there’s a list of IBCLCs in our community if you’re not aware, or here’s one that I worked with, that really helped me, that kind of stuff is huge. So also, if you didn’t know, March every year, but it’s March 2021 right now is Women’s History Month.

And this is just a wonderful time to promote the work of women and the work that they’ve done to change history in very positive ways. And set us up for more success going forward in our lives. You know, whether you want to think about something like voting rights, or, you know, getting into college or you know, things going way back or you want to think about more recent things. IBCLC is our professional, but most likely to be a female driven profession. There are absolutely male IBCLCs or IBCLCs, who don’t identify with any sort of gender. And the work that we’re doing is work that supports women. And when we are able to create, you know, sustain successful breastfeeding for a family. We’re not only helping them in the moment, we’re helping to provide a lifetime of excellent health and a leg up in terms of health and emotional well being for both that mother and that baby.

In addition to that, we’re actually creating generational changes. We’re actually making history in some ways, because we’re setting the stage epigenetically right, we’re setting the stage with a foundation of good health so that, you know, this baby now is one day maybe going to grow up and have children of their own. And their health status is going to affect the health status of their offspring, and so on and so forth. So when I think about women’s history month and IBCLC day, I think these two things are actually really intertwined. And I’m not making this episode about me at all, I really want to speak for all IBCLCs you know, new, seasoned hospital private practice, you know, somewhere in between, there’s so much work going on around the world, that, and I know that there’s so much more work that needs to be done, you know, if you’re thinking that you want to contribute to this field, by becoming an IBCLC, please, please, I encourage you to pursue that. Find a mentor, find someone who can guide you through the process, you know, go to the board, figure out what the requirements are, and go for it. Because we really, really do need more of you, it’s so important that women get the support that they need, that families are really encouraged and getting evidence based information and shown that they don’t have to do this alone.

So if there’s really one message that I’d like to give today, and it’s sort of does come on the heels of that commercial, it’s really that you’re, you’re not meant to do this alone. But you know, if you’re really experiencing breastfeeding problems, IBCLCs are here to help. And that’s what we love doing. We don’t do it, because it’s a great money making scheme or anything like that. It’s it’s really not, you know, most most IBCLC is absolutely completely under charge for their services. And, you know, I would say that, you know, please, please, you know, don’t, don’t try to, you know, sort of get free advice from an IBCLC try to try to show respect, when you reach out to one, you know, and try to honor that, you know, for them to do this work, they have to, you know, make some money so that they’re able to continue to do this work, they’re able to buy the supplies they need, and continue to keep up their certifications and, and pay their bills and provide for their families like this is a real profession.

You know, this isn’t volunteer work, as much as most of us are super passionate about breastfeeding. And we absolutely do help people for free all of the time. It is also a job for us. And it’s a real legitimate career and job. And I would like for it to really be respected as such. So let’s all do our part to do that as well. And if you’re an IBCLC, listening, I encourage you to really charge what you’re worth, really take a good hard look at the amount of time and effort and energy and supplies and all of that, that you’re putting into every single appointment and make sure you are actually making a profit on that. If you’re not consider converting your business to a nonprofit and getting fun funding outside of the people that you help directly, you can absolutely do that. But if you have a for profit business, make sure that you’re actually making a profit, because you can’t continue to make that contribution to society, unless you have some revenue coming in. And you’re able to support yourself doing it.

So please, please know that that undercharging doesn’t serve anyone, unfortunately, and nonprofit is absolutely an option. I think it’s a wonderful way to go. But I don’t think that there’s any shame in being a for profit company either. Because, again, at the end of the day, we’ve all got ourselves to support our families to support bills to pay taxes to pay all the things bills come do we all have them. So anyway, that’s what I wanted to say about IBCLC day. I think it’s a really special group of people. And I will say I so miss the in person conferences, the big hugs the glasses of wine, the fake booms bouncing around everywhere. The fun, you know, little tchotchkes of things that we get or give to one another. The beautiful community, being an IBCLC is very emotionally intense work at times. And there’s a lot of wonderful community that’s been built between us as colleagues, where I feel more of a spirit of cooperation, and a spirit of camaraderie than one of competition. And I think that’s something really special to our profession. And I hope that that continues and grows because if we compete with each other and we devalue one another, we’re devaluing ourselves in our profession. So I love that most IBCLCs are more than happy to share the stage with all the other ones out there. I know I am, I know that I wouldn’t be where I am today, if it wasn’t for those who mentored me, who worked alongside me, who supported me, who were in my community and took a chance on, you know, supporting me and starting and growing my business.

So I hope that I’ve been able to do that for everyone else around me. And it’s a big goal of mine to continue to do that. So, happy IBCLC day, to all of you lactation consultants out there to all of you breastfeeding moms out there. To all of you supportive healthcare providers, or partners or friends out there. Thank you for making the wonderful contribution and doing everything you can to support this fascinating and incredibly important credential. So that’ll wrap it up for this episode. Again, I would just love to remind you to show your appreciation to an IBCLC that you know, today, do what you can to make an effort to promote an advocate for them.

Even if it’s just one day a year, it means so much not just to your lactation consultant, but it really means so much to the people that you’re bringing that awareness to, you might just save someone’s breastfeeding relationship, because you chose to celebrate IBCLC day by giving a shout out recommendation. Oh, you know, what have you to an IBCLC or some sort of breastfeeding support resource. So thank you for being a part of the solution for being a part of the change and the advocacy. The world needs all of us. And we couldn’t do it without you. So I will talk to you on the next episode.