I sat for the exam to re-certify this year.  I found it subjective and very 
basic. I keep current on new research and information and expected at least 
some of the newer research over the past 10 years to be on the exam. I had 
to remind myself that it is an entry-level exam.

That being said, I am not happy with the direction IBLCE is taking our 
profession.  I 100% agree with Karleen Gribble post. There are many La 
Leche Leaders, WIC peer counselors and lay counselors without formal 
education or a credential in healthcare who are extremely knowledgeable and 
talented in lactation and who have a passion for helping mothers.  I would 
like to see a reasonable pathway for these to become eligible for the exam 
of IBCLC, NOT a second credential. I would like to see Pathway F brought 
back as a prerequisite.  I would also like to see supervised clinical time 
for all candidates in areas where there are other IBCLCs to precept 
candidates.  Having supervised clinical time should be a goal that as a 
profession we are moving toward being part of every pathway instead of 
efforts to make a second credential or having to already have a healthcare 
credential in order to sit the IBCLC exam.

I’m also not happy with the new Scope of Practice 
http://www.iblce.org/documents/IBCLC_Scope_of_Practice_9-2006.pdf and its 
wording.  This Scope of Practice reduces the IBCLC to the level of a lay 
counselor.  If this is all we can do with our expertise, experience and 
education in lactation, why should we even want to become an IBCLC or renew 
our certification?  The mothers that come to me are the mothers facing far 
greater challenges in breastfeeding than the average mother.  These mothers 
need a clinician who can help her with a care path to overcome her unique 
challenges and be successful at breastfeeding.  I am not going to sit on my 
hands, give a little verbal advice, then stick out my hand for payment of 
services and send the mom off on her “not so merry way” without the help in 
my heart I know I could have given her because in order to give her that 
much needed help I would have to violate my profession’s Scope of Practice. 
Whoever wrote this Scope of Practice is badly out of touch with what we as 
IBCLC do that helps mothers be successful at breastfeeding.

I have been patience with our young profession and the obstacles a young 
profession must overcome to gain recognition and reimbursement of services, 
but my patience is running thin as I see the direction IBLCE is taking us.  
My hope for a strong well-established allied healthcare profession, which 
is recognized as the Gold Standard in lactation help, is now becoming 
dimmer instead of brighter.

Regards,
Pat Lindsey, IBCLC
www.patlc.com
 

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