Dear all:

I have to say that among the many misleading things I have had to read about IBCLCs, the worst is when other breastfeeding helpers perpetuate misinformation about IBCLCs.  

Recently on Facebook I found misinformation about IBCLCs that I found quite appalling.  

The first piece of misinformation what that there is only one organization which has a competency based exam, which by omission of the IBLCE exam implies that the IBLCE exam is not competency based.  In fact, the exam that was claimed to be competency based only measures short term retention from five or ten days or course work whereas the IBLCE measures what is retained after both course work AND practice.  While this false claim was deleted from their Facebook page along with my pointing out the lack of veracity to those claim -- it was seen by many.

The second piece of information that was misleading is that the USLCA is trying to block RNs and MDs from coding for lactation services for women to receive reimbursement from their insurance companies in the United States.  Again, having read a letter written by the USLCA about adding an additional code for IBCLCs there was absolutely no language to block practitioners with other credentials from coding appropriately under a variety of existing codes appropriately for those practitioners.  The information about codes that RNs and MDs can use for lactation care are so easy to find that an enterprising client of mine found these herself and sent them to me.  Furthermore, there is a code for lactation education as well. 

Some have proposed that the perpetrators of this misinformation are doing it for marketing purposes. All I have to say is shame on those who perpetuate misinformation about IBCLCs and shame on those who advocate for lowering standards so they can make a profit. Women deserve the best care we can provide and you do not achieve that by putting out deceptive information about those who strive to gain as much education and supervised experience as possible so as to better service women.  

High quality clinical care goes hand in hand with the wonderful innovative work done by those orginal La Leache League mothers who created the viral spread of peer support before viral spread was being used to describe what they did.  The plethora of counseling opportunities is breathtaking, but all should look to La Leche League as the original model from which to extract the lessons of what does and does not work. 

Looking to other areas of care -- one would not say that we should seek to eliminate emergency medical technicians because lay people can take a CPR course and save the life of someone who experienced cardiac arrest.  Nor would those who took CPR course expect to be reimbursed by an insurance company the way an EMT would.  Similarly, you would not say that we should seek to eliminate paramedical assistants because EMTs can save a life -- or eliminate emergency room physicians because paramedics can save a life -- or eliminate cardiac surgeons because emergency room physicians can save a life. And then of course there is the rehabilitation of that patient with dietary and exercise and other lifestyle changes to support a return to better health.   All levels of care are important.  And in the United States different levels of care are coded differently.  All these various levels of care play an important role in saving lives and returning function.  Does anyone feel that it would be appropriate for an EMT to claim that they are the same as an MD because they all save lives from and therefore it would be preventing them from practicing if they had a different code from an MD?

I sincerely hope that those who have been trying to drag IBCLCs down rethink their strategy.  It behooves no one.

Sincerely, 
Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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