Julius posted from a pediatrician:

<< I am having trouble with lactation consultant's usurping my role as the
 > baby's
 > pediatrician.  They have the attitude that they know more about
breastfeeding
 > than I do and hence, they present themselves to the parents as the
 > knowledgeable expert at my expense.  >>
 > >>

This is a major problem.  I agree with Cindy that most LCs know more about
breastfeeding than most peds, and most peds know more about pediatric medicine
than LCs.  I personally spend somewhere around 50 to 60 hours a week on
lactation (either with mothers, teaching, going to conferences, reading,
speaking, writing about it -- whatever) and have done so for the past 14
years.  I would hope in that period of time I would have learned more about
breastfeeding than another health professional who received 1 hour of
lactation training (maybe) in medical school, and has to deal with 100's of
other conditions in his/her practice, from juvenile diabetes to chickenpox to
diaper rash to developmental issues with children to bedwetting to asthma to
leukemia to kernicterus to cerebral palsy to broken ankles to ----- !!!!

The reason the pediatric practice hired me to work with their practice is
simply because I know more about lactation than the pediatricians in the
practice do.   Furthermore, pediatricians learn about babies -- not mothers,
breasts, physiology of milk production, mastitis, maternal yeast (yes -- there
is pain in the breast caused by yeast) and much of what they know about
nutrition for infants comes from the friendly formula companies.

Oh dear.  Why cannot these dear people understand that we work together as a
team -- that no one is trying to usurp anyone else's practice -- but that LCs
have their place on the health care team in caring for both mothers and
babies.   There is more than enough work to go around.  And most LCs have the
luxury of spending a hour or more with a mother and baby to evaluate the feeds
-- I don't know of ANY physician in our health care system that could do that
for even three mothers a week in his/her practice.

Jan Barger -- whoops -- a button got pressed here!