The thing that sets the IBCLC apart from other designations using the
letters 'LC' in combination, is that the body who certifies IBCLC is NOT the
same body who educates them.
The IBLCE (international board of lactation consultant examiners) is
independent of any educational institution, just as the body that certifies
schools of nursing, not to mention the various State bodies (referring to
the US now, which seems to be the only place this flora is so diverse) that
authorize individual practitioners in those professions whose members are
licensed, are independent of the institutions that prepare people to apply
for such authorization.
This is the essence of the IBCLC credential's purported credibility.  I am
unclear on the mechanism for getting 'certified' as a lactation counselor;
is there an independently administered exam, which is the same for everyone
striving to become a lactation counselor, developed according to the
stringent psychometric principles underlying the IBLCE exam, that one must
pass in order to call oneself certified?
Because if 'certification' is something that automatically follows on
completion of a one-week course, then it is quite different from the
certification given after, say, state boards for a given profession, or the
bar exam, or the IBLCE one.  
It should be a no-brainer to realize that an institution may have a vested
interest in producing as many 'certified' whatevers as they can, and,
lacking an independent assessment of their candidates, the certification
tells us nothing more than that they did what they needed to do to get the
certificate at the end of the course.  We have to find out what their
program required before we can judge whether that suits our needs.  It does
not assure the user of the CLC's services that an independent body has
determined that this person can be expected to have the minimum competency
to be able to provide safe care, nor does it provide sanctions, as IBLCE
does, for responding if the person proves to be unworthy of the
certification.  

OK, so the general public doesn't know the difference.  That is no excuse
for us to pretend it isn't there; we are the ones who are SUPPOSED to know,
but it is our own confusion about it that makes me qualify the IBCLC's
credibility with the word 'purported'.

Sorry I am feeling so grumpy this morning,
Rachel Myr 
Kristiansand, Norway

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