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The IBCLC© credential opens a door.

Lactation Career Coaching

Clarity Is a Clinical Skill

Working in the lactation field does not come with a roadmap, although many of us find ourselves wishing that it had. Most IBCLCs find their way through a combination of instinct, mentorship, and hard experience, which works, until it doesn't.

Burnout, ethical fatigue, credential confusion, and professional isolation are real features of this work.

So is the pressure to engage with industry relationships and sponsorships that can quietly erode the independence that makes the IBCLC credential credible and trustworthy.

Knowing where you stand — and why — is not a luxury. It is what allows you to make decisions that hold up over the length of a career.

Coaching offers a structured space to step back, examine what is and isn't working, and build a clear plan for what comes next. You don't have to be in crisis for this to be useful; you just have to be serious about your practice and your future in this field.

What We Work On

What you do with it — and how you sustain your practice, your ethics, and your clarity of purpose over time — is a different kind of work entirely. Lactation care is a specialized field operating inside a complex professional and commercial landscape. The decisions you make early in your career shape everything that follows: how you position yourself, which opportunities you pursue, how you protect your credential and the families you serve.

Whether you are working toward IBCLC certification or are years into your practice, having an experienced colleague who understands the field from the inside can make a significant difference.

I offer one-to-one Lactation Career Coaching for lactation professionals at every stage — grounded in sustainable ethics, physiologically-informed practice, and a public health framework.

“Sustaining a meaningful career in this field over the long term requires more than passion. It requires clarity of purpose, strong professional relationships, and a values framework that holds up under pressure.”
— Christine Staricka, IBCLC
  • Honoring what you uniquely bring to the practice of lactation care
  • Finding clarity about what you want to achieve — and building a realistic plan to get there
  • Growing confidence in your clinical skills, your knowledge, and your professional relationships
  • Defining success on your own terms
  • Pursuing leadership in the lactation field with authenticity and ethical grounding
  • Applying your clinical lactation education to real-world practice
  • Understanding the IBCLC certification and recertification processes
  • Navigating the ethics of marketing, industry relationships, and WHO Code compliance
  • Working through difficult cases or clinical questions
  • Preventing and recovering from burnout and ethical fatigue
  • ...and whatever else your practice requires right now
How It Works

Exclusive WhatsApp Coaching: Connect with me 1:1 through WhatsApp — no new app to learn, just a platform you already use.
Personalized Support: Send me your questions, concerns, and thoughts by text or voice messages, and receive responses as voice messages and texts from me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between 9 AM and 3 PM Pacific time.
Your Lactation Career Coach: As an IBCLC since 2009 with 25 years in the lactation field, I bring clinical depth, ethics expertise, and practical experience across multiple practice settings.

Choose Your Coaching Package

1-Month Plan: One month of personalized WhatsApp coaching for $150 USD

3-Month Plan: Three months of ongoing WhatsApp support for $350 USD

1-Month Plan
3-Month Plan

More than Cheerleading

I have worked in the lactation field across hospital, community, nonprofit, private practice, and education settings. I understand the pressures IBCLCs face from the inside — the clinical complexity, the ethical terrain, the professional isolation that can come with being the most credentialed person in the room.

This coaching is not motivational content. It is a practical, values-grounded working relationship with a colleague who takes the IBCLC credential seriously and will help you do the same.

Meet Your Lactation Career Coach

My name is Christine Staricka. I have been involved in the lactation field since 2001 and have held the IBCLC credential since 2009, recertifying in 2014, 2019, and 2024.

Over 25 years I have worked and volunteered across hospital inpatient settings, community outpatient care, breastfeeding support group leadership, local and national professional lactation associations, nonprofit organizations, private lactation practice, and professional lactation education.

I currently hold multiple roles across clinical and international educational settings, working closely with registered nurses, midwives, doulas, postpartum mental health providers, and others committed to the welfare and safety of breastfeeding families.

My work is grounded in three commitments: sustainable ethics, physiologically-informed practice, and public health integration. I have studied conflicts of interest in lactation care and WHO Code compliance extensively, and I bring that lens to everything I do — including this coaching work.

Sustaining a meaningful career in this field over the long term requires more than passion. It requires clarity of purpose, strong professional relationships, and a values framework that holds up under pressure.

If you are a lactation care provider — or working toward becoming one — I would be glad to work with you.

FAQs

How does WhatsApp coaching work?

1

WhatsApp is a free messaging app you are almost certainly already using. You send me voice messages or texts to talk through your questions and challenges, and I respond on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between 9 am and 3 pm Pacific Time. It is an ongoing, asynchronous conversation for the length of your coaching package — flexible enough to fit around a clinical schedule.

I am a lactation student and I already have a clinical mentor. How will this be different?

2

A clinical mentor focuses on your clinical skill development. My focus as a career coach is different: we work on your professional mission, your values, your goals, and the ethical and professional landscape you are navigating. Many students find that career coaching and clinical mentorship complement each other well.

Can we discuss clinical topics rather than career development?

3

Yes. We can work through clinical questions and cases, review IBCLC exam study options, discuss the recertification process, or address any aspect of lactation care and advocacy that is relevant to your practice right now.

I am not sure I am ready for coaching yet. What should I do?

4

Start with the free resources available through my Substack and the Breastfeeding Literacy curriculum — a free resource library for anyone working in lactation care. When you are ready for a more direct conversation about your practice and your direction, I will be here.