Thank you Jeanette, I too love to see collaboration in working groups for a common cause and I think these collaborative groups need to be made of a variety of backgrounds, united by the common passion for protecting and promoting breastfeeding.  I don't consider myself a lactation expert.  But as a pediatric dietitian working with young children and newborns, it was important for me to learn more about lactation since, unfortunately (and ironically) we learn very little about breastfeeding and breast milk in dietetics majors.  The CLC program was a perfect fit for that.  Not for me to work primarily with helping mothers who are dealing with breastfeeding challenges, but for better understanding of lactation so I can identify what resources a mother can use - including referring to an IBCLC when yellow and red flags are present.  I truly enjoy being able to participate in committees and taskforces as a dietitian, who happens to also be a CLC.  I can see how some can abuse the level of training a CLC program offers, but I have to defend the majority of CLCs who have a passion for breastfeeding - a passion that allows them to make that referral to the IBCLC when problems exist.  
At our hospital, there are a few of us CLCs (RD and RNs) who all have our own roles in supporting postpartum mom regardless of choice of feeding, but are still able to provide basic support to breastfeeding moms.  But ultimately, we all understand that the best people to help those mothers are our wonderful IBCLCs.  
Also, I remember clearly at the last day of training when a good amount of time was dedicated to letting the group know what next steps needed to be in place should any of us in the class want to pursue IBCLC in the future.  Regardless of what the wording says in their statements on HealthyChildren website, at no point during training we were led to believe that training was the only training we needed to be the expert in lactation.  IBCLCs were mentioned throughout the training as the referral to be made when necessary.

Tina

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