JAMIE RAY, RN, IBCLC

• Job: OB community education manager, DeKalb Medical Women’s and Infant’s Service in Decatur.

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BARRY WILLIAMS/ AJC Special

Jamie Ray is OB community education manager at DeKalb Medical Women’s and Infant’s Service.

• What I do: “I supervise a staff of eight nurses, lactation consultants and prenatal educators, and spend part of each day talking to new moms.

“We provide prenatal childbirth classes, OB tours, breastfeeding classes, newborn care, infant CPR, assistance for breastfeeding mothers in the hospital and afterward, and [we] facilitate ‘Baby Talk,’ a weekly breastfeeding support group. Together, we help educate, prepare and build families.”

• What got me interested in this: “I didn’t have the best experience in my clinical OB rotation in nursing school — too many patients who didn’t have happy endings, so when I became pregnant with my first child in 1981, I was terrified.

“Instead of encouraging me to get take classes and read, my doctor told me that he’d take care of me. Fortunately, the birth went normally and I had read ‘The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.’

“With my mom and a dear friend’s help, I made it through the first weeks of being a mom. Later, I realized that my doctor should have encouraged education, so that I would have known what to expect. I didn’t want another woman to have to go through childbirth and early breastfeeding without being equipped for the job.”

• Best part of my job: “Empowering women to give birth, feed and nurture their babies. I love being the wise, older woman in a young woman’s life. I love seeing a new family fall in love with their baby. It’s an honor to be allowed to be a part of a family during this special time and to help a couple get to know their baby’s needs and bond with him or her.”

• Most challenging part of the job: “Dispelling old myths and inaccurate breastfeeding and parenting information. New moms hear so much that isn’t true — you’ll spoil a baby by picking it up so much, breastfeeding is too time-consuming and your breasts will sag, etc.”

• What people don’t know about my job: In today’s society, most employers prefer their breastfeeding instructors to be certified as an IBCLC (international board certified lactation consultant).

• What keeps me going: “The success you see in a mother’s eyes when she realizes that her child is actually nursing, and the ‘thank-you’s.’ ”

• Preparation needed: Many lactation consultants are OB nurses, but not all of them. It requires no college degree, but some college courses — such as anatomy and physiology and human growth and development — are required. To become an international board certified lactation consultant requires 1,000 documented hours of helping women breastfeed, the recommendation of two IBCLCs and passing a national exam.

• Salary range: Private consultants can charge $100 to $175 per visit. Hospital nurses working in a lactation center would average $22 to $32 an hour.

By Laura Raines, Pulse editor. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to pulseeditor@ajc.com.