I believe telephone counseling takes a high level of skill and experience.
 Your information is limited by not being able to see the home, mom, and
baby.  It worries me that peer counselors are expected to make assessments
over the phone.  We had an inquest in Ontario last year into the death of a
healthy term infant at 11 days of age.  The baby died because it was not
fed enough.  Parents had talked to health care providers on the phone, but
no one had seen the baby.
        The inquest recommendations from this case are excellent, and include
babies and moms being seen by health care providers, not just phone
consults.  Several years ago I was led down the garden path by parents who
told me everything was rosy when it was not.  I think people sometimes are
in denial about anything being amiss with their babies feedings--They want
everything to be wonderful to the extent that they honestly don't see the
problem, and will tell you the baby's having wet diapers, etc. when it's
really just a smear of cream.
        If you do phone consults, document every conversation in a standardized
form.  Certainly, there are times when you don't need to see the baby, but
with a newborn, I want to see them.
                                        Paula Conning, BScN, IBCLC
                                        Orangeville, Ontario