Lactation Essentials for Birth Professionals
An 8-week live interdisciplinary lactation education + mentorship experience for doulas, midwives, and other birthworkers supporting breastfeeding, pumping, and bottle feeding families.
Next cohort begins October 1, 2026
Modern families deserve more thoughtful feeding support.
Lactation Essentials for Birth Professionals (LEBP) is an 8-week educational and mentorship experience designed for birth and perinatal professionals who want a deeper understanding of infant feeding, pumping, lactation, mental health, and nervous system regulation.
LEBP combines expert-led lactation education with live mentorship, real-world case discussions, and practical resources to help professionals support families with greater confidence and compassion.
This experience may be a good fit if you are:
A birth doula or postpartum doula
A therapist or mental health professional working with parents
An infant sleep coach or other provider supporting families with new babies
A bodyworker, chiropractor, PT, OT, SLP supporting infants and feeding
A healthcare or perinatal professional wanting a stronger foundation in lactation and infant feeding
A student IBCLC wanting more real-world clinical discussion
A professional looking for a more nuanced, interdisciplinary approach to lactation education
What’s Included in the 8-Week Experience:
Move beyond theory with expert-led teaching, live mentorship calls, and practical case discussions designed for real-world feeding support.
-
8 weeks of live education and mentorship
2 live call time options each week
Course recordings and supplemental education
Clinical case studies
An interactive, supportive community of birth professionals in Slack
-
Two live call opportunities each week
Collaborative case discussions
Mentorship and Q&A
Practical application of course concepts
Ongoing community and support throughout the experience
Most participants spend approximately 1.5–2.5 hours per week attending live calls, engaging with course resources, and reflecting on course concepts and case discussions. The experience is designed to feel manageable for busy professionals while still offering meaningful depth and practical application.
All live calls will be recorded and shared with participants.
-
Prenatal feeding preparation and education
Lactation physiology and milk production
Hand expression and prenatal colostrum collection
The first month postpartum
Infant weight gain and feeding assessment
Latch, positioning, and feeding mechanics
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders
Neurodiversity, sensory processing, and nervous system regulation
Low milk production and nipple pain
Tongue ties, torticollis, and infant tension
Pumping, bottle feeding, flange fitting, and formula choices
This is more than just a lactation course.
LEBP was designed to help professionals think critically, collaborate responsibly, and better support the complexity of feeding in real life.
Through live calls, mentorship, and case-based discussion, participants learn how lactation intersects with mental health, nervous system regulation, infant development, bodywork, relationships, identity, and the realities of modern parenthood.
Continue Learning Beyond the 8 Weeks
LEBP graduates will also have access to ongoing mentorship opportunities through the Lactation Expert Clinical Mentorship for continued case discussions, interdisciplinary collaboration, and professional growth after the experience ends. Preferred alumni pricing is available.
This creates space for ongoing learning, community, and support long after the initial 8-week experience.
Trusted by professionals who supports families
Hear from birth and postpartum professionals who have learned with Heather and brought that knowledge into their work.
Heather's program helped me feel so much more confident supporting families through feeding challenges and the early postpartum period. I left with a deeper understanding of lactation, but also left feeling more empowered in my roll as a doula and birth professional. Her teaching style created such a supportive environment while still being incredibly informative and evidence-based.
I was truly impressed by both the depth of her knowledge and her ability to teach in a way that felt relatable, practical, and easy to apply in my work as a Postpartum Doula.
What I learned has already inspired me to create detailed handouts to better support families throughout their breastfeeding journey. Thanks to Heather, my lactation knowledge has grown tremendously, and I feel confident to bring these new skills into my work with families.
If you have the opportunity to learn from Heather, I highly recommend it. She is truly a gem.
Diving deeper into lactation with Heather was transformative! Her multi-faceted, evidence-informed approach to lactation helped me gain more confidence and clarity when discussing feeding with parents. The knowledge, nuance, and experience Heather shared shaped my clinical thinking and how I see feeding as part of families' larger perinatal experience. I highly recommend learning from Heather if you have the opportunity!
Join the October 2026 Cohort
The next 8-week Lactation Essentials for Birth Professionals Cohort begins October 1, 2026,
Tuition: $895
Pay in full, or choose 3 monthly payments of $315
Frequently Asked Questions
-
No. Lactation Essentials for Birth Professionals was intentionally designed for a wide range of birth and perinatal professionals, including doulas, therapists, bodyworkers, nurses, student IBCLCs, and others supporting postpartum families.
-
No. This October cohort is an 8-week live learning experience. Participants will also have access to course resources and recordings through Thinkific.
-
Most participants spend approximately 1.5–2.5 hours per week attending live calls, engaging with course resources, and reflecting on course concepts and case discussions. The experience is designed to feel manageable for busy professionals while still offering meaningful depth and practical application.
-
Yes. All live mentorship and case discussion calls will be recorded and shared with participants.
-
Lactation Essentials for Birth Professionals takes an interdisciplinary, neurodiversity-affirming, and clinically thoughtful approach to lactation education.
In addition to foundational feeding education, the experience explores how infant feeding intersects with mental health, sensory processing, nervous system regulation, infant tension, identity shifts, pumping, bottle feeding, and the emotional realities of early parenthood.
LEBP also emphasizes collaborative clinical reasoning, ethical referrals, and supporting families in a compassionate, sustainable, real-world way.
-
No prior lactation certification is required. LEBP was designed to support a wide range of professionals working with pregnant, postpartum, and infant-feeding families.
-
Absolutely. LEBP was intentionally designed with neurodivergent learners in mind and takes a neurodiversity-affirming approach to both education and family support.
As a neurodivergent educator myself, I understand how overwhelming rigid educational structures, information overload, perfectionism, and sensory demands can feel. The experience combines live discussion, flexible learning opportunities, a portal of resources to review at your own pace, and collaborative mentorship to support different learning and processing styles.
-
Yes. LEBP integrates current lactation research, clinical best practices, interdisciplinary perspectives, and real-world application while also acknowledging the emotional, relational, and nervous-system components of infant feeding support.
-
LEBP is not a CLC certification program. However, some professionals pursuing the IBCLC pathway independently may choose to use coursework like LEBP toward portions of their lactation-specific education requirements rather than purchasing a bundled 95-hour program.
Because IBCLC requirements can change and vary by pathway, participants are encouraged to verify current eligibility requirements directly through the IBLCE.
-
Yes, you can opt to pay 3 monthly payments of $315 instead of paying in full. Click the above button to enroll in a payment plan or email us at hello@thelactationexpert.com.

