I can understand where you are coming from. But those of us who work around tertiary centers where we are encouraging ALL mothers and babies to breastfeed, not just the ones where it is easy, need the higher level of expertise and care and personal assessment that comes from experienced IBCLC's. As a retiring consultant, I can safely say that one of the big needs is MORE expert care, not less for those cases. The first-line LE's (which is a better term to me than CLC), should be competent to help with simple latch, the easy management and early support, but they should also be competent enough to identify problems and refer on quickly, not allow a situation to devolve to where it is difficult to salvage. They should know the risk factors, the old yellow and red flags, to get things on the right track. IMHO. A good model is understanding the normal so well that the abnormal sticks out like a sore thumb. Just like good midwives do. There is no substitute for book learning sealed with hands-on training. My son is a welding instructor for the union here and his students are excellent because of this dual line of instruction. Lactation Consultants should be no less well trained. He says it takes 5 years to be minimally competent and 10 to be an expert in his field. It should be expected no less in ours. IMHO.
-----Original Message-----
From: Lactation Information and Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jacquie Nutt
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2014 1:14 AM
Subject: CLC/IBCLC
Thanks for the clarification of Nikki's post, Karleen. The CDC outline of the credential is, of necessity, brief. Knowing that the CLC course is a week long puts that into perspective. It sounds a lot more within reach of people who may not have the breastfeeding background of the lay counsellors and IBCLCs.
I know that I wouldn't have met the pre-requisites for becoming an IBCLC under current regulations, or at least not without a lot of expensive
courses. I think the IBCLC credential has perhaps gone in a different
direction from what was envisaged in the 1980s... maybe not a bad thing, but to many enthusiastic breastfeeding supporters these days, it seems like a mountain too hard to climb.
There is a role for several different niches of lactation support. As we know, even a supportive peer can help. My first encouragement for successful breastfeeding came from a rather uneducated young mother when I was pregnant, and I remembered her words for years afterwards.
Often it boils down the individual's caring and ongoing education (to avoid giving misinformation), not necessarily the letters after her name.
However understanding what the letters mean indicates the level of help a person *should* be able to give.
Most of the mothers I see don't need a high level of skills, just support
to get over a small crisis of confidence. And there is occasionally the
stuff that most of us encounter only a few times in a lifetime, ouch - "and that's what all the training was for!"
Best wishes
Jacquie Nutt IBCLC
South Africa
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