I think Gail is quite right in that there is certainly a benefit to an 
MD to be iBCLC. There may well a benefit to an RN, RD or other 
credentialed HCP as well, depending on what the employer values. But, 
the IBCLC itself cannot qualify as a credential, as much as most of us 
might have once thought it did. That, in my opinion, is not an accident 
of circumstance, growth or evolution--it is surely by design. As the 
profession grew, it was designed to make it much easier for HCPs than 
for anyone else to become IBCLCs . If it was meant to be a stand-alone 
profession, this would never have been done. If this profession was 
intended to stand on it's own, then anyone in control of credentialing 
would have designed qualifications that took into account the needs of 
mothers and babies and the broad range of backgrounds from which IBCLCs 
might come, rather than using nursing training as a foundation for 
building the credential. That having been done--there was no other 
possible outcome but the one before us now.

  I guess for me, the question is this--what will we do? Will RNs, MDs 
and other HCPs stand beside those of us w/o those credentials and 
demand complete overhaul? Do our fellow IBCLCs see the value in our 
broad range of backgrounds and see that as something to protect or will 
they see it as unnecessary? If we do not completely remodel our 
credentialing as well as our marketing, IBCLC will never be an 
independent profession. I think we are at a crossroads--IBCLC is an 
add-on credential grounded in the medicalization of birth and 
breastfeeding, designed to serve the status-quo or it is an independent 
profession, grounded in our obligation to protect the biological norm 
and designed to serve mothers and babies.

 Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
 Intuitive Parenting Network LLC


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