Jeanette wrote:
>one of the reasons I think there has been an increase in the number of
>people not passing the test is the "fudging" of the 2500 hours.  These
>people know who they are - they "rounded up" their time in contact with
>moms and considered telephone counseling as mother-to-mother contact.  This
>diminishes the value of the IBCLC for all of us, as those who pass with
>less than the necessary time and experience won't give adequate care - and
>the moms will learn this and spread the word that we're NO GOOD.

I think we need to be a bit careful making sweeping generalisations like
the above on a list like Lactnet, with words like 'fudging'. I, for one,
was probably in the category that Jeanette mentions, as a NMAA Counsellor
(no nursing background, but one in science/education/medical technology)
who got much of my hours from telephone counselling. Sure, I've learnt
heaps since having much more opportunity to see mums and babes
face-to-face, but this is what I thought we expected - entry level at
passing the exam, and why we have such thorough recertification procedures.
I might add, that I not only passed the exam first go, but I got one of the
higher marks (from what I gleaned from the analysis one gets sent with
one's results).

Sorry if this sounds a bit defensive, but it hit a raw nerve. I think it
would be a real shame if the only people who could 'qualify' to sit the
exam were health professionals. After all, my understanding (from Chele
Marmet when she was here a few years ago) was that the qualification was
originally set up to enable experienced voluntary counsellors (like LLL
Leaders and NMAA Counsellors) to get recognition and enable them to go
further in their quest to help mothers and babies. Personally, my
motivation was that I kept coming across mothers whom I couldn't help
sufficiently in my Counsellor role, and at the time there were so few
people to refer them to, that I decided the only solution was for me to
become one of those people they could be referred to for help. I think the
profession will be the loser if we deny access to lay breastfeeding
counsellors and LLL Leaders, because of lack of opportunity to get
face-to-face hours.

It was interesting when I was preparing for the exam and meeting with other
candidates from nursing backgrounds. They were more knowledgeable in
certain areas, such as newborn period, premmies, etc that I had to swot up
on, and I knew far more than they did about later problems, after mum had
been home a while, and also significantly, about counselling skills. So we
each had our strengths and weaknesses, and knew what sections we needed to
concentrate on to pass the exam.

Sorry this ended up a rant - I didn't start out for it to go on so long.
Just a bit sensitive.

Joy

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Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
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