Community Opportunities with MILC
There are several ways to get involved with the MILC at Women’s Birth and Wellness:
Milk Donation
One of the most precious gifts you can give is the gift of your milk. Donor milk is lifesaving for premature and medically fragile babies. Milk donations also enable us to offer limited supplies of donor milk to birth center patients with a medical need.
Milk donors go through a screening process (similar to that for blood donors) and milk is tested, pasteurized, and processed before it is dispensed. We are fortunate to have the WakeMed Milk Bank in our community. Please contact them if you are interested in becoming a donor.
Shadowing
We welcome shadowers and students, with the understanding that patients must consent to their presence. Clinical shadowing involves spending a full day with one of our board-certified lactation consultants and observing LC visits (with the consent of the patient).
While we are happy to offer this service, we also recognize that we need to balance the extra time and energy needed to coordinate and host clinical shadowing with our other program needs. We ask that individuals interested in clinical shadowing go through the following process:
- Attend a tour of the birth center to become familiar with its philosophy and services. Tours are offered regularly and can be scheduled by calling (919) 933-3301.
- Once you have attended a tour, complete this form and return it to the MILC coordinator at milc@ncbirthcenter.org.
- Once the MILC coordinator has reviewed your forms, she will contact you to set up 6 hours of volunteer time with WBWC. Volunteer tasks are mostly clerical, and MILC may have special projects that also need volunteer time (for example, revising patient handouts on various breastfeeding topics, doing community outreach, etc.) If we have a project available that you are particularly excited about, we welcome additional volunteer hours!
- Once volunteer hours are completed, the MILC coordinator will set up a clinical shadowing day. These days are typically 8:30am – 5:30 pm. You are also welcome to observe our breastfeeding and pumping classes, which are 2-hour classes offered regularly on Thursday evenings.
If you are interested in learning more about the process of becoming a lactation consultant, visit the IBLCE website to understand the various educational pathways: http://iblce.org/certify/pathways/
A Pathway 2 program is offered locally through UNC-Chapel Hill: http://cgbi.sph.unc.edu/what-we-do/education-and-conferences/mrtti/
Research
All of us at MILC have an interest in breastfeeding research, whether we are doing the research, writing, or just trying to keep abreast of the latest news. Connect to our Facebook page for opportunities to participate in research projects in our area.