I have to add my voice to Melissa Brancho's recent posts about getting started in the
lactation consulting field. I am also a BSC student who is not an RN and not employed in
the health care field. I am having a heck of a time getting practice hours to be able to
eventually sit for the IBLCE exam. As an LLL Leader I do have contact with breastfeeding
women but the hands-on is pretty minimal. Most of what I do is phone helping and leading
meetings.

I had originally planned that when I finished the BSC course, I would do consults (at a
fee lower than the one Board certified LC in my area) as an extension of my pump
business. I may have been naive but I didn't even think about malpractice insurance
until a friend (and fellow BSC student) reminded me of the risks involved and told me
that you must be Board certified to get malpractice insurance (please correct me if I'm
wrong). It seems a bit like a vicious circle because I can't practice without insurance
but I can't get certified without practice hours! What is someone who is not already
employed in the health care field to do to get practice hours?

Also, about those with college degrees needing less practice hours--this has been a
peeve of mine for awhile. So much so that I wrote to the Executive Director of the IBLCE
about it. I did receive a response but I'm not very satisfied with it. Why would someone
with a degree in something like Art History be better prepared and need less hands-on
training than someone who had taken a comprehensive lactation course, attended
breastfeeding conferences, and done a lot of reading?

I would appreciate hearing (reading?) what others have to say about this.

Kim
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kim Balzer, La Leche League Leader, Student Lactation Consultant
Sebastopol, CA

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children."
                                        -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~