First: seet ease has a risk factor of increasing possible NEC in preterm
infants and abnormally raising blood sugar in all infants. There actually
are recommended protocols for use within the hospital as it's design was for
a comfort measure during painful procedures... not a lactation aide!
Unrestricted use in the hospital setting should demand proof of benefit on
why it is being used in this manner.
 But I find this topic interesting if you add it to the discussion on LC
competency.
 My weird brain put the two together in this manner :
 Sweet ease and candidate hours are both a basic way of trying to address a
problem. Anyone can throw on sweet ease or fudge their hours..... ( and the
fudging isn't only found in the hospital based community) yet we all see the
demand is to prove that it doesn't hurt to do............
IBCLC competency  is some thing we all need to now address as a professional
organization.
  To begin as a candidate requires either the personal accountability/
integrity or failing this, the mandated guidelines to insure our success and
creditability. 
 If we all believe that this is an issue- the board needs to change their
framework and incorporate steps to have each candidate also complete a
mentored relationship before entitlement to the IBCLC designation. 
Candidates could still sit the test taking based only on hours signed off
but should be given only some sort of provisional certification until some
mentored clinical experience is under their belts.
 Otherwise, we face remaining a "sweet" bunch of letters that will in the
end count for very little professionally.

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