In the discussion of whether it is necessary, beneficial, or neither for
IBCLCs to be RNs as well, it's striking to me that until Linda Smith's
as-usual-to-the-point post this afternoon, the only "other" credential
anyone's been posting about is RN.

I know this is because so many hospitals require it -- a real-world reason.

But my intuition is that even if what you NEED to be a good IBCLC is only
that, IBCLC, there are certainly many, many kinds of other knowledge can also
help you in your practice.  That's why so many IBCLCs on the list have also
spoken so highly about receiving training in cranio-sacral therapy, or Wolf &
Glass's oral-motor seminars, or herbology, or etc.  That's part of what we
mean, I think, when we say that IBCLC was meant to be a minimum credential.


We have a bunch of MD-IBCLCs and DO-IBCLCs on the list.  Surely their two
areas of specialization -- neither necessary for the other! -- each enrich
the other.

Ditto, for more examples, the several RDs among us, and OTs.  And for that
matter ditto the several anthropologists and lawyers and teachers among us!
And ditto the many, many parents.

This, btw, is my hesitation when we complain about professionals who
"practice from personal experience" instead of based on research.  Definitely
research is an indispensable underpinning, and we revise our understanding of
our personal experience in the light of research findings.  But having
outside experience -- in our personal lives and in their adjuncts, our other
professional training -- always enriches and informs our "research-based"
experience.

So while I *strongly* agree that IBCLC, not RN or anything else, ought to be
a minimum credential to hold yourself out as an LC, that isn't to say that
more learning -- formal or informal, medical or other -- can't enrich and
improve our practice.

Elisheva Urbas, NYC
writing "you" in this post since I am neither RN nor IBCLC and not likely to
be either anytime soon!

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