Thank you Kathleen for inviting us into your virtual living room all those years ago to talk all things lactation!  I'm glad you'll still be sitting in the living with us so we can continue to gain from your expertise when the spirit moves you.  



As for the RN/IBCLC debate, I was a  peer counselor for years before becoming an RN and then I was an RN for 7 years before becoming an IBCLC.  I think becoming an RN made me a better LC, and becoming IBCLC made me a better nurse.  I now work in a hospital primarily as a postpartum IBCLC, working one day/week as a staff nurse.  I am never assigned to antepartum patients who are considered high risk as the bedside nurse, and I do not float to Labor & Delivery or NICU as bedside nurse because I do not work enough hours as a staff nurse to keep those skills current.  When I do work as a staff nurse, I am always assigned to the couples that are having the most difficulties with breastfeeding.  



At our hospital we have two RN/IBCLCs on the postpartum side and two RN/IBCLCs in the NICU.  All of us can work as staff nurses but rarely do so.  We also have one RN/IBCLC who sees outpatients and coordinates our program; she does not work as a staff nurse.  We also have two RNs in Labor and Delivery, two in postpartum and one in NICU who are all IBCLCs that work strictly as staff nurses.  We mentor a lot of students and other disciplines (like nutritionists) who are not RNs and some of them have been fantastic at the breastfeeding piece.  I have often thought how wonderful it would be if they could even work in a relief position for us.  



I would be in support of non RN's working as LC's in the hospital.  That being said, being an RN makes my job as the LC so much easier as I can provide care for mom and baby without having to involve her nurse for things like CBGs, pain meds, lanolin, etc.



Anne Duret, RN IBCLC

Springfield, OR



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