LOIS WROTE:
 
"Dear Melissa, I hate to see you so upset but just a thought, babies  need
to get a good start and in the hospitals there is so much  difficulty
getting that done. Being a hospital LC I can help get a  mother-baby
through this difficult time and being an RN helps me deal with  the
doctors. "      Lois

I work as an LC at a  small community hospital.  I was hired over ten years 
ago on the basis of  my IBCLC status alone.  The previous LC, a master's degree 
perinatal nurse  specialist who six years before that had initiated changes 
in hospital policies  to be in accord with Baby Friendly principles, had 
recommended me for the  position.

Most of the physicians do not know that I hold a  doctorate degree in 
chiropractic, nor that I taught anatomy for several  years.  It does give me an 
advantage as I have an extensive knowledge base  (having studied from the same 
textbooks that medical students did at that  time) and still surprise myself when 
I can recall a particular condition that I  learned about over 30 years ago.  
So I understand Lois's ability to  work with HCPs is enhanced by her RN 
status. 

Yet it is my  extensive reading and attendance at breastfeeding 
seminars/conferences, and the  auditing of a few courses at a local medical school over 
that past 30 years,  along with my workday routine that keeps me informed and 
able to converse with  the HCPs. I first note all the mothers who have delivered 
in my discharge  follow-up notebook.  Then I look at the charts and 
particularly the  histories so I know if the mother is taking or has been taking any 
medications,  any health issues, social issues, etc., and I might read from our 
reference  texts to fill me in on any conditions about which I might want to 
know more  detail. Then I get a report from the nurses on the nursing dyads 
before I visit  with them.

I am sitting the exam this summer and renewing my IBCLC  status (for the 4th 
time) because it is required by hospital policy that a  person holding the 
title of Lactation Consultant there be an IBCLC (and not  necessarily an RN).  
The panel who developed the lactation program had  the foresight to see that an 
LC's job is about the breastfeeding  family and all the work time  is devoted 
to lactation so that the mothers  and babies are well-served.  And they viewed 
the ICBLC credentialed  person as providing that.

Mardrey  Swenson



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