The Lactation Consultant in Private Practice: The ABCs of Getting Started: The ABCs of Getting Started

by Linda J. Smith

So, you think you want to be a lactation consultant, open a private practice, and earn a good living by helping mothers and babies breastfeed? This is the book for you! The Lactation Consultant in Private The ABCs of Getting Started by Linda J. Smith is a user-friendly orientation and guide to the lactation consultant profession for those interested in running a full-time, profitable, and long-term lactation consultant practice. Author Linda J. Smith presents her original “ABC” sequential format of essential skills necessary to start a successful practice in three balanced Attitude, Business Skills, and Clinical Skills. Each section begins with an overview, contains a “pitfalls and problems” chapter and two examples of successful private practices from around the world.

361 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2002

Reviews

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really great book with tons of info. Some of it was a little dogmatic in how to approach a private practice, but this field was so new at the time of writing and continues to be such. The only reason I didn't rate it higher was the vast amount of out-of-date info. A whole chapter trying to help you decide whether to own a computer or not and lots about third-party billing. This is an area of great interest right now as insurance companies scramble to be in compliance with new health care laws where breastfeeding support is supposed to be available with no cost-sharing to clients. I like her voice and loved that the chapters were written by different people that all maintained private practices. The resources were a little out of date, but the information was still accurate. I'm glad I bought and read this one all the way through. It made me ask some hard questions about my goals that I needed to have fleshed out to define what I want in my private practice. :-)

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and a must read if you are considering being a lactation consultant in private practice. When I pass the IBLCE exam I will be working in private practice right away. I work as a lactation educator teaching breastfeeding classes and this gave me ideas to set everything up so that when I am practicing as an IBCLC (hopefully by the end of the year) I can get off to the right start. It is dated so it lost a star for that. I really wish they would release a revised edition and include ideas to go paperless rather than a section on purchasing a computer (which I totally get was relevant when this was published :) ).