A few days ago I had written a post concerning hands on help.  Since then
there have been quite a few responses.  Thank You.    Now I feel I need to
do some clarifying after reading the latest post (which was very helpful).
The poster asked the question:

"This also caused me to contemplate the idea that one could sit for the
exam
without this type of skill base?
Does this concern anyone else?"

I had mentioned in my post that I do not have much hands on experience.  I
also mentioned that I am  an LLL Leader that is eligible to sit for the
IBLCE exam this summer.  I can see where this doesn't sound too good!  It
is true that this was my first hospital experience, but it was not my first
experience with one-on-one.  Most LLL Leaders and other volunteer BF
counselors do not have a lot of hospital experience unless they are a nurse
or lucky enough to live near a hospital that is excepting of volunteer
counselors.

My experience a few days ago shattered my confidence for a brief while, but
after thinking about it and reading all of the responses here I feel much
more confident that I really did know what I was doing!  I am not saying
that the nurse in this situation did anything wrong.  We just have
different approaches.  I actually feel that if I could do it over I could
have gotten the mother to latch the baby on--since the baby was very
willing in this case.  With my LLL experience I could have come up with
several different approaches that could have resulted in the baby nursing
and the mother feeling confident that she could latch her baby on herself.
Although I was very comfortable working with this mother and baby I must
say I was a little intimidated to be in the hospital--a feeling that would
quickly go away after a few times!

After five years as an LLL Leader (plus the necessary CEUs) one is
qualified to sit for the IBLCE exam.  If a Leader, such as I, lives in an
area where the volume of calls is a little low then she wouldn't have the
same experience as a mother living in an area with many opportunities to
help mothers.  Although, after five years of helping mothers I feel
confident in saying that I do have quite a bit of experience-- just not
hands on with mothers in the hospital.  Because of the type of work I do as
a Leader and the reading I do to keep up-to-date I feel that I could
readily apply my knowledge in a hospital setting.  Any newly certified
person is going to have a lot to learn in their field, but they have to
start somewhere.  Even though I am not going to sit for the exam this
summer I feel that LLL has prepared me well enough to pass the exam and go
on to be a good LC.

Although, this brings up a good point.  If there are any Leaders or other
breastfeeding counselors out there that  would like more experience before
becoming an LC then I would encourage you to talk to your local hospital.
You can never have too much experience.

I realize this is long, but I feel I misrepresented LLL and I wanted to
clarify a few things.  I am new at posting to Lactnet.  The responses I
have read have really helped me.  I have just subscribed to TLC and I am
looking forward to that.  Thank you everyone for your time.

Christine Lichte,  LLL Leader

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