Bravo, Barbara W-C for an eloquent posting on the LC profession. I agree
wholeheartedly with the following paragraph (quoted below). Everyone doesn't
need to be a specialist; we desperately need LLL and the wonderful
mum-to-mum/immersed in the culture of breastfeeding the meetings provide,
and warm mum-to-mum telephone support. What a mother learns in an LLL
meeting cannot be conveyed by an LC who is perceived as an expert and is
only one person.
OTH, a Leader or peer counsellor cannot necessarily expect to be seen as an
expert because she can ably handle the normal course of breastfeeding and
the difficulties that arise. There are too many situations where the usual
skills just aren't enough and at that point, her expertise is not enough. I
see the two (peer support/LLL and the LC profession) as totally
interdependent, but very different, and we need to take pride in what we do,
and what we do especially well. I would hate to practice as an LC in a place
that didn't have LLL or something like it--it would make my job much more
difficult. I also would no longer like to function as an LLL Leader in a
place that didn't have an LC where difficult cases could be referred.

>A lactation consultant, as I see it, SHOULD be a specialist.  Her/his
>expertise should combine the discipline of lactation physiology with
>counseling, and there should be basic knowledge of infant oral-motor
>function.  The role of such a specialist is to assist intelligently in the
>situations where enthusiasm, basic breastfeeding knowledge, and moral
>support are not enough.  The reason why I have such prickly opinions about
>who should be calling themselves an LC stems from the fact that if everyone
>who is enthusiastic about bfg. calls themselves one, it devalues the term,
>and will ultimately require us to go back round and re-invent the profession
>again under another guise.

Please let's not have to reinvent! This has been a difficult-enough birth as
it is!



Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River, Alberta, Canada