Along with Jan and several others, I, too am ready to
move to wherever they are paying $125/hour for the
services of an IBCLC! (Okay, I'll stop teasing
Elishiva now!)
I am also wishing I were living wherever the CLE cert.
programs are only 4 days long! Mine was 4 months in
length: 12 class meetings and 50 hours of clinical
time to complete, plus we had to attend/observe one
breastfeeding class. The program qualifies students
to teach the "basics" of breastfeeding (A&P,
techniques, etc) and to provide support/education to
breastfeeding families. My current CLC program is 9
months long (18 class meetings and 150 hours of
clinical time, plus 2 long-term patient projects,
during which you must follow a bfing patient for a
minimum of 60 days). It focuses on more complex cases
when one may need to integrate some "bells and
whistles" into the plan to assist the MOB in
initiating or sustaining BF.
It has been a tough program, but I am grateful (now
that it's almost OVER...LOL!). I am surprised at how
much teaching I have done during my clinical time that
is very basic, i.e., if you don't get the baby
stimulating your breasts, your milk supply will be
less than it could be...no, you do not need to give
the baby water...yes, it is okay to leave the baby on
the breast for as long as he/she wants to suckle...all
issues that were addressed in the CLE program. BUT,
when I need it, I am sooo happy to have some (growing)
knowledge of the bells and whistles component, which
is due, in part to the fascinating posts available on
Lactnet.
Don't know why, just had to get my foot in this one!
Carole
(who decided to wait until 2002 to sit for the IBCLC
exam---long story)
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