Dear Friends,
I have been avidly following this SoP discussion and share everyone's dismay over the IBLCEs intention etc...  I am due to recertify in 2007 and don't see it as a choice. 

In my humble opinion, here in Israel we need the letters IBCLC after our names in order to differentiate ourselves from so many others who call themselves, breastfeeding counselors or LCs without any credentials or perhaps a much lesser credential, i.e., having completed a basic lactation management course (and that's in a good case.)  Though too often women don't realize that there is a difference every once in a while a woman will ask me if I am IBCLC before making an appointment with me or ask me what the difference is between a "certified lactation consultant" and someone else.  More often I will tell the woman the difference between an IBCLC and the so called LC who she spoke to earlier, to encourage her to listen to my advice over someones erroneous advice, or to protect the good name of our profession by pointing out that the other person isn't actually part of it.

I too need to know who's an IBCLC and who's not.  When a woman calls me from an area I don't go to, I will refer her to the IBCLC there.  If I know the LC in her area, great, but if I don't, I will base my referral on the fact that she is an IBCLC. 

We have been working hard here to have the IBCLC recognized as THE credential for breastfeeding help, for making people aware that there is professional help available and for building our ranks.  The IBCLCs of Israel must be women dedicated to breastfeeding, no one is getting a pay raise for becoming IBCLC or for that matter, the first choice at the few non Private Practice jobs out there.  I don't see how we can drop the IBCLC, no matter how tempting it is in light of this crippling SoP, the costs of recertifying, the bureaucracy....  without causing serious damage to the LC profession in Israel.

Which means of course, working with the IBCLC to have this SoP changed.  Thank you all for the letters you've been writing to make this happen, guess I had better get writing too.

Chayn Fogelman IBCLC Israel

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