This program is for... anyone who has an interest in supporting infant feeding to be successful, including Doctors/Midwives/Health Visitors...Osteos/Chiros/ Maternity Nurses...Birth Workers/Doulas
Accredited Infant Feeding Training for Perinatal Practitioners
Start your journey as an Infant Feeding Coach™
Infant Feeding Coach™ Program
Registerable with FEDANT as a Breastfeeding Counsellor and designed to support practitioners working towards IBCLC certification (subject to meeting IBLCE eligibility criteria).
Professional Infant Feeding Training for Clinical Practice
The Infant Feeding Coach™ Program is a structured, mentored training pathway for practitioners who are serious about developing clinical competence in infant feeding support. This is not a short online course.
You will develop:
- Case-based clinical reasoning
- Scope clarity and ethical decision-making
- Confidence managing complex feeding cases
- Structured supervision and reflective practice
If you work with families in the perinatal period and want to practise at a higher level, this Program provides the depth, mentorship and accreditation to support that step.
The training is available through two pathways: the Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program, or the Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway which includes additional certifications in perinatal coaching and infant tongue-tie support.
Program Starts 3rd September 2026
Limited cohort places. Early enrolment includes immediate access the pre-course Microbiome Certificate.
Who is this Program for?
This Program is designed for practitioners who:
- Work with pregnant families or parents of newborn infants
- Want structured, evidence-informed infant feeding training
- Are ready to deepen their clinical reasoning beyond basic support
- Value supervision, accountability and professional standards
- Are working toward specialist practice or future IBCLC registration
This Program is suitable for midwives, IBCLCs, doulas, osteopaths, health visitors, peer supporters, allied health professionals, and committed individuals seeking to build a professional practice in infant feeding support.
Many practitioners also choose this training as part of their preparation for the IBCLC exam, as the program provides structured, lactation-specific education aligned with IBCLC competencies (subject to meeting IBLCE eligibility requirements).
This is not a short, purely self-paced online course. The program includes live teaching, supervision and assessment to ensure practitioners develop real clinical competence in infant feeding support.
Serve your clients at a much higher level.
Deepen your clinical knowledge and confidence
Avoid common errors in infant feeding support through structured, supervised training
Two Training Pathways
At the heart of this training is the Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program — a comprehensive, clinically focused program designed to develop deep competence in infant feeding assessment and support.
The Core Program forms the foundation of the entire pathway and provides some of the most in-depth virtual training available for practitioners supporting families with infant feeding.
Practitioners who successfully complete the Core training qualify as an Infant Feeding Coach™. Graduates may then choose to register with The Infant Feeding Academy as a Registered Infant Feeding Coach™, and may also register their qualification with FEDANT as a Breastfeeding Counsellor. As with all professional registrations, maintaining active status requires ongoing CPD.
For practitioners who wish to extend their scope further, the Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway builds on the Core training and includes additional certifications in Perinatal Coaching Skills and Infant Tongue-tie Support, together with further professional development through Progress & Mastery.
Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway (Core Program + Additional Certifications)
The Advanced Pathway includes the full Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program together with additional certifications in Perinatal Coaching Skills and Infant Tongue-tie Support for practitioners who wish to extend their clinical scope.
How is the program delivered?
Online Distance Learning
Live & Pre-recorded
The Program combines compulsory live interactive teaching with structured pre-recorded modules. Content is released in stages to build knowledge progressively, allowing flexibility while maintaining clear expectations and professional standards.
Regular Assessments
and Evaluations
Each module includes structured assessments to ensure understanding and application of learning. Workbooks, practical assignments and module quizzes culminate in an online examination, demonstrating applied competence rather than passive attendance.
Monthly Mentoring
Sessions
Compulsory monthly mentoring sessions provide supervised case discussion, reflection and guided feedback. These sessions strengthen clinical reasoning, clarify scope of practice and build confidence in real-world application.
Your Infant Feeding Coach™ Journey
IFC Training
The Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program forms the foundation of the training pathway.
By successfully completing the Core training and assessments, practitioners qualify as an Infant Feeding Coach™. Graduates may then choose to register with The Infant Feeding Academy as a Registered Infant Feeding Coach™, and may also register their qualification with FEDANT as a Breastfeeding Counsellor.
Practitioners following the Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway complete the Core Program alongside additional certifications, leading to Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Accreditation.
Application and Practice
Throughout the year-long Program, practitioners are encouraged to apply their learning in real-world settings through structured case studies and reflective practice.
This stage of the training helps translate theory into practical decision-making when supporting families with infant feeding challenges.
For practitioners who would benefit from additional clinical exposure, the optional VIP clinic day at The Infant Feeding and Tongue-tie Clinic (Tunbridge Wells) provides an opportunity to observe consultations and consolidate practical understanding.
Progress and Mastery
Following completion of the Core training, practitioners move into Progress and Mastery, the ongoing professional development stage of the program.
This includes monthly mentoring sessions for case discussion and guided reflection, together with access to live and recorded advanced masterclasses exploring more complex infant feeding scenarios.
These sessions support continued clinical development while maintaining connection with a community of practitioners committed to improving infant feeding support for families.
Investment & Enrolment
Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program - Starts 3rd September 2026
The Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program is the foundation of the entire training pathway and provides comprehensive professional training in infant feeding assessment, clinical reasoning and practical feeding support.
Over the first 16 weeks practitioners complete structured live teaching together with guided study and practical application, developing the skills required to support families confidently with infant feeding challenges.
Successful completion leads to qualification as an Infant Feeding Coach™. Graduates may then choose to register with The Infant Feeding Academy as a Registered Infant Feeding Coach™, and may also register the qualification with FEDANT as a Breastfeeding Counsellor. As with all professional registrations, maintaining active status requires ongoing CPD.
Following completion of the Core training, practitioners continue their development through Progress & Mastery, with ongoing mentoring and advanced learning opportunities within The Infant Feeding Academy.
Choose your preferred payment option below to secure your place.
Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway
(Core Program + Additional Certifications)
The Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway includes the full Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program together with additional certifications and ongoing professional supervision.
– Infant Feeding Coach™ Certification
Develop advanced competence in infant feeding assessment, clinical reasoning and practical support strategies.
– Advanced Perinatal Coaching Skills Certification
Learn structured coaching frameworks that help parents make confident decisions and navigate complex feeding challenges.
– Supporting Families with Infant Tongue-tie Certification
Understand oral function, assessment principles and how tongue-tie fits within wider feeding support.
– Infant Microbiome Foundations
Explore the developing infant microbiome and its relationship to feeding, immunity and early health.
– Progress & Mastery Supervision
Ongoing mentoring and advanced masterclasses supporting continued clinical development.
Choose your preferred payment option below to secure your place.
COMBINED PROGRAM: Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Program & Accredited Tongue-tie Assessor Award
Advance Your Clinical Skills with the Accredited Tongue-Tie Assessor Award
Designed for midwives, osteopaths, IBCLCs and other registered health professionals working with a paediatric caseload who wish to expand into structured oral assessment and tongue-tie evaluation.
This combined pathway includes everything within the Advanced Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway, plus:
– Accredited Tongue-Tie Assessor Award
– Dedicated mentorship to consolidate oral assessment skills
– A 1:1 in-person clinic day with Dee Bell, RM, IBCLC and Specialist Tongue-Tie Practitioner
This option is suited to practitioners seeking extended clinical scope and hands-on assessment competence.
Choose your preferred payment option below to secure your place.
Re-certification
and ongoing Professional Development
To maintain your qualification, graduates are required to engage in continued professional development (CPD).
Practitioners must complete five relevant CPD activities and five case study reflections every two years to retain active status.
This ensures standards remain high and practice remains current, evidence-informed and professionally accountable.
For practitioners who are unable to access sufficient case studies due to personal or professional circumstances, refresher courses, clinic observation days and an assessment pathway are available.
Preparing for the IBCLC Examination
If you are aspiring to sit the IBCLC exam, the Infant Feeding Coach™ Pathway provides structured, lactation-specific education aligned with IBCLC competencies.
This training supports practitioners building the knowledge, clinical reasoning and professional confidence required for IBCLC progression.
IBCLC candidates must meet the current IBLCE requirements for health sciences education, lactation-specific education and clinical practice hours.
Practitioners remain responsible for ensuring they meet all current IBLCE eligibility criteria. Full eligibility requirements can be found on the official IBLCE website.
'Thank you Dee - you are the most brilliant and knowledgeable educator I have come across. I have undertaken countless courses throughout my midwifery career, particularly in infant feeding, including IBCLC education.
This Program Is For You If...
- You work with pregnant families or new parents and want to strengthen your clinical competence in infant feeding
- You are committed to providing evidence-informed, person-centred support
- You want structured frameworks to guide assessment and decision-making
- You value professional standards, accountability and continued development
- You are ready to deepen your knowledge and practise with greater clarity and confidence
Led by Experienced Clinicians
Dee Bell, RM, IBCLC Midwife and Specialist Tongue-Tie Practitioner Over twenty years supporting breastfeeding and infant feeding dyads.
Dee Bell, RM, IBCLC Midwife and Specialist Tongue-Tie Practitioner Over twenty years supporting breastfeeding and infant feeding dyads.
Olivia Hinge, Midwife, IBCLC Clinician, educator and experienced lactation specialist.
Olivia Hinge, Midwife, IBCLC Clinician, educator and experienced lactation specialist.
Take a sneaky peek at our program...
“The Infant Feeding course is such an incredible course. It is packed full of information, observation videos and resources about breastfeeding and bottle feeding. The business module is not to be missed. Becoming an Infant Feeding Coach™ has massively benefited my patients in my paediatric osteopathy clinic. Dee is a superb teacher and creates a genuinely supportive learning environment. I highly recommend it.”
If you work with pregnant families or new parents and want to support infant feeding with clarity, competence and confidence, this Program is designed for you.
'The Infant Feeding course is such an incredible course!! It is packed full of information, observation videos & resources about breastfeeding and bottle feeding infants. It also includes a really informative business module which is not to be missed. I loved every part of this course & becoming an IFC has massively benefited my patients at my Paediatric Osteopathy clinic. Dee is a superb teacher & her passion for infant feeding is contagious! She creates a supportive learning environment throughout the course where you feel part of a community from the start. I highly recommend it!'
Infant Feeding Coach™ Core Program - Syllabus Overview
Module One: Before Birth
Steps to Success:
- Amazing Milk - The benefits of breastfeeding, anatomy of the breast, composition, nutritional value and immunology of breastmilk
- Understanding skin-to-skin - What, When, How and WHO!
- Colostrum Collection - Handexpressing and storage of colostrum and breastmilk
- A Birth Plan to Support Breastfeeding
- Preparing for the newborn journey
Module Two: The Newborn
Born to feed:
-
Birth and the initiation of Breastfeeding (Skin-to-skin and breast crawl)
-
Milk Transfer - Supply and Demand
-
Early and Frequent Feeding
- Hand Expressing and Giving Colostrum
- The begining of the newborn journey
Module Three: The Fourth Trimester
Secrets of the first 12 weeks:
- How Babies Breastfeed
- Positioning and Attachment
- Problems and Solutions - Understanding Breastfeeding Challenges
- Slings and Carriers - Understanding the Benefits of Carrying and it's Impact on Breastfeeding
- Mix feeding - Bottle feeding and more
Module Four: Professional Practice
Including:
- Starting out, or adding infant feeding to your existing business
- Join Birth, Baby & You as an Infant Feeding Coach™
- Supporting your clients and mentorship
- Scope of Practice and referrals
- Moving on to 'Progress and Mastery'
Advanced Practitioner Training
Additional Certifications
- Advanced Perinatal Coaching Skills Certification
- Supporting Families with Infant Tongue-tie Certification
- Infant Microbiombe Foundation Course
Masterclasses and Workshops
Beyond Birth:
- Introduction to Understanding Reflux, Colic & Unsettled Babies
- Managing Slow-Weight Gain and Insufficient Milk Supply
- Low Milk Supply: Too little too late?
- Induced Lactation: When lactation doesn't necessarily follow birth
Over the duration of the Program, you will develop the knowledge and practical skills to support families through real-life case application and structured clinical reasoning.The teaching format allows you to integrate learning alongside existing professional commitments, while implementing your knowledge into practice as you progress.
The course is designed to fit around your other commitments, such as work and family life, BUT BEST OF ALL, you can start implementing your knowledge to support your clients immediately!
“Our teaching is grounded in evidence, reflective practice and person-centred care. The purpose of this Program is to elevate practitioner knowledge so families receive truly informed, confident support.”
If you are ready to do something different in your business that will make a transformational difference to postnatal women AND make you more money at the same time, then sign up now....
It's time to transform lives and support families to create positive stories for generations to come!
Fully Accredited Infant Feeding Coach™ Program Course starts 3rd September 2026
With a full years' support within: The Infant Feeding Academy!
Hear what people are saying about this program...
Whether you are new to infant feeding, or a more experienced practitioner, this course will empower you with the confidence to provide optimal feeding support to the families you serve, elevating your knowledge to specialist status around Infant Feeding, and the Fourth Trimester.
'As a doula and antenatal teacher I have spent the last 17 years supporting families bring their babies into the world and establish breastfeeding. This course has not only inspired me to keep doing what I do, but has filled so many gaps in my knowledge. I've learnt so much, and am already using a lot of this new knowledge with birth and postnatal clients. It's absolutely fantastic to see parents' faces when they understand for the first time why there baby should be kept with them, undisturbed after birth until they've had their first feed, or how milk production works and how to ensure they have a good milk supply. There's so much great information here to share and I am so very thankful that I am doing this course and to Dee for being such a supportive and brilliant instructor!'
Our Infant Feeding Coach Program™ is an online course which consists of a mixture of live and self directed learning elements:
- A 16-week program with unlimited access to pre-recorded sessions, so that you can take the lessons at your own pace
- 13 live interactive teaching sessions (80% attendance required. All sessions are recorded for you to review or catch up with)
- Membership to the Infant Feeding Coach™ Collective Facebook community, for you to interact and be supported by other like minded professionals
- Workbook and course materials, designed specifically to support and intergrate your learning
- Small group supervion and mentoring calls to answer specific questions and provide accountability and community
- Bonus workshops from leading experts, such as Olivia Hinge (IBCLC), Gabi Parkam (LGBQT+)
- Business module to support setting up your Infant Feeding Coaching Business and manage your business finances
- A full years access to the IFA Hub - Royalty free support material for you and your own clients
- Collaboration with other Perinatal Practitioners
If you are ready to do something different in your business that will make a transformational difference to postnatal women AND make you more money at the same time, apply now!
F.A.Q.
Frequently asked questions about our Infant Feeding Coach™ Program:
No you don’t need any previous qualifications, we train from beginner through to experts in the field of Infant Feeding. However, this is an accredited course, and therefore written course work is required to a reasonable academic level (if you are not sure if you meet this criteria, please just drop us and email and we will book in a clarity call for you to explore whether this is the right course for you).
Yes of course, if you would like to discuss if the program is a good fit for you, then please email us at info@theinfantfeedingacademy.co.uk
Yes! We would be happy to send you out the schedule.
If you are unable to make one or two of the live sessions, please just let us know and we will see if we can make alternative arrangements for you.
please email us at info@
We want to ensure this program is right for you, please click here to complete the short application form and we will be in touch.
We have 13 live sessions and we ask you aim to attend all of them. This program provides an accredited qualification, and therefore we need to ensure you are engaging and understanding the program content before we award the Infant Feeding Coach™ title. We do however understand that sometimes life gets in the way, so ask that you try to miss no more than 1 live session during the program. Recordings of all the live sessions are available online within a few days.
We offer one scholarship place on each of our core Infant Feeding Coach™ programs to a person supporting infant feeding as part of their NHS role. Applications open a few months before the course begins – please check our Instagram to find out more.
We also provide 12 monthly instalments plans, in order for you to spread your payments over the year.
Absolutely not!
This is one of the biggest differences between our and other course providers such as NCT.
We do not believe that you need to have breastfed yourself in order to be an amazing Infant Feeding Coach™
Many of our IFC’s have not breastfed their own children for a variety of reasons. Or may not have had children themselves
The 16 week program provides 20 hours of group work and approximately 30-35 hours of self-study.
You will also be asked to read one of the recommended reading books.
The advanced training, following completion of the 16 week course, provides a minimum 12 hours supervised/mentored themed sessions with general Q&A, and 12 hours of masterclasses, expert led workshops and advanced learning materials.
There are 20 hours of group work and 30-35 hours of self-study. The workbooks cover many aspects of the OPS themes: A=Communication and patient partnership, B=Knowledge, skills and performance, C=Safety and quality in practice, D=Professionalism
In addition to this you will be asked to read one of the recommended reading books.
This is a distance learning, blended program consisting of live and pre-recorded online lessons.
The course contains slide presentations, videos, quizzes, practical assignments and marked workbooks, as well as live tutorials (over zoom).
Laptop or tablet, printer, pens and notebooks, internet access/WiFi and a zoom account.
You will be able to provide an infant feeding support service, either as an add-on to your current practice, or as a service in it’s own right. This may be provided both antenatally and postnatally, including: The mechanics of breastfeeding and milk production, how to achieve optimal positioning and attachment, the signs of effective milk transfer, the importance of skin to skin contact, responsive feeding, bottle feeding, expressing, creating a feeding plan, feeding assessment, supporting challenges such as sore nipples/nipple damage, mastitis, thrush, engorgement, insufficient milk supply, and more
Yes, absolutely! We not only train you in infant feeding support (please see above) but we also have a business module as part of the program to get you off to a good start.
Yes, you will be able to support families both one-to-one and in a group environment.
You will attend the Birth, Baby & You Infant Feeding & Tongue-tie Clinic in Tunbridge Wells and work along side Dee Bell RM IBCLC and Specialist Tongue-tie Practitioner throughout a clinic day, assessing and supporting 5 feeding dyads.
Accommodation is also available on request.
We have both 6 and 12 month payment plans available, so you are able to spread the payments for the program.
You will also be able to put your new skills into practice from the get go to enable you to increase your income and see the rewards immediately.
We want to be sure that this is absolutely the right program for you, please fill in the form below and we will book in a call.