I agree with Karyn-grace that the standard should be the IBCLC.  I'm working
toward it and hope to get there before they stop letting people like me
(with no healthcare background) get in there after a certain number of
contact hours and educational pre-requisites.

I struggle with the CLC that is not the IBCLC because I have seen many
dedicated people with this title, but it is misleading to those not in the
know how or whether these CLCs have been trained.  I am refraining from
putting myself out there as anything more than a breastfeeding support
person until I pass the IBCLC exam.  I'm walking proof that someone can have
a lot of knowledge and the clinical skills to apply that knowledge, but
until I have IBCLC after my name, I'll just keep being a clarinet-playing
lactation junkie who lives for the moments I can serve mothers and babies as
a volunteer.

I'm very proud to be a La Leche League Leader because I feel it encompasses
so much more than breastfeeding knowledge, and I believe so strongly in the
mothering element that LLL stands by... but at the same time I'm chomping at
the bit to get in there and roll up my sleeves with those cases I encounter
that are outside of the normal course of breastfeeeding.  I also wish I was
in a position (a respected position) to dialogue with local medical
professionals about those aspects of lactation they do not understand.   

I almost cry with pride when I think of a dear friend of mine, since high
school, who has gone on to be a doctor and has become a huge breastfeeding
advocate since having her son 15 months ago.  Other doctors actually listen
to her, so she's writing papers and developing curricula (she taught an
elective course on breastfeeding for 1st-year medical students at Georgetown
this past semester!!!!) and speaking out about breastfeeding.  She makes me
very happy when she calls me to ask about how she might address a patient in
her clinic with a breastfeeding issue she doesn't quite understand. :)

Anyway, it is devastating to me to hear about IBCLCs who are being
undermined and overtly ousted.  This is a very necessary paramedical field
we are in!  I believe (and my husband wants me to write a book about this
someday) that breastfeeding and human milk for human babies is the very
foundation for fixing all the ills in the world.  Every single one of them,
from violence to cancer to war and ulcers...how can every baby in the world
be breastfed without trained, experienced professionals available to provide
truthful and accurate (not greed-based) information and offer solutions to
the challenges mothers encounter (or think they encounter because of the
greed-based information they've been exposed to)?  Maybe it sounds crazy,
but I think a perfect world begins with breastfeeding.  (This from a woman
who didn't receive so much as a drop from her own mother, because in 1973 it
was just assumed she wouldn't breastfeed and no one even told her about the
options.)

--Diana in NY (very tired, drowning in pregnancy hormones, and frustrated
that good people like Margery have to go through what she went through after
a lifetime of professional service)

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]