Lactation Consultant
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Lactation Consultant works with new mothers to teach them how to feed their babies and manage breastfeeding issues. Provides clinical help and emotional support for breast-feeding mothers. Advises mothers on feeding schedules; helps with babies that have slow weight gain.
Job Outlook
There were 130 Lactation Consultant job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 2741 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Health Educator / Coach industry, which includes the Lactation Consultant career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:
Salary
Many new Lactation Consultant jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $64,358.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $70,420.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Lactation Consultant postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $46,632.
Education and Experience
Posted Lactation Consultant jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 15.61% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 40.75% |
| Master's Degree | 7.95% |
| Doctoral Degree | 0.99% |
| Other | 25.76% |
Posted Lactation Consultant jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 62.31% |
| 3 to 5 years | 35.81% |
| 6 to 8 years | 0.83% |
| 9+ years | 1.04% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Lactation Consultant positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (28.38%)
- Management (26.23%)
- Teaching (23.06%)
- Planning (16.31%)
- Research (15.8%)
- Customer Service (14.74%)
- Coordinating (13.06%)
- Leadership (12.26%)
- Computer Literacy (11.02%)
- Writing (9.52%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (13.09%)
- Postpartum Care (24.29%)
- Nursing (58.84%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Clinical Experience (5.58%)
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) (8.78%)
- Neonatal Care (1.48%)
- Childbirth (7.47%)
- Patient Education And Counseling (8.17%)
- Adult Education (6.85%)
- Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) (9.44%)
- Pediatrics (13.3%)
- Obstetrics And Gynaecology (9.68%)
- Direct Patient Care (4.47%)
- Nursing Care (8.17%)
- Auditing (1.31%)
- Clinical Practices (8.66%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (100%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Lactation Consultant skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Breastfeeding Peer Counselor
- Lactation Specialist
- Certified Lactation Counselor
- Registered Nurse IBCLC
- Peer Counselor
- International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
- Breastfeeding Coordinator
- Mother-Baby Registered Nurse
- Family Support Worker
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Lactation Consultant jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- Kaiser Permanente (156)
- HCA Healthcare (69)
- Albany Medical Center (57)
- MedStar Health (33)
- New Hope Services (31)
- Medical City Healthcare (31)
- Hackensack Meridian Health (29)
- Johns Hopkins (26)
- RWJBarnabas Health (26)
- Trinity Health (25)
North Carolina
- Atrium Health (20)
- WakeMed (15)
- Novant Health (12)
- UNC Health (9)
- LifePoint Health (7)
- Cone Health (7)
- Atrium Health Floyd (6)
- Haywood Regional Medical Center (6)
- Aeroflow Healthcare (5)
- Lake Norman Regional Medical Center (4)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.