Hi everyone!

      Some of you probably saw me opening my mouth at ILCA Conference Town
Meeting.  It is very important for us to continue to promote breastfeeding as
the gold standard, but I think we have plenty of organizations that support
us with this task.  I will not rag on ILCA.  We need to look at how far our
profession has gone since 1985.  We just had 750 people at the ILCA
Conference (despite the expense) and 2500 people just took the last IBCLE
exam.  This is quite a leap in such a short period of history.

       My purpose is not to condemn, but to look toward the future.  I
believe that our biggest goals, both individually, and within our ILCA and
ILCA affiliate organizations is to promote the IBCLC Lactation Consultant as
the "gold standard" in lactation care.  People need to know that the IBCLC
certification is the ultimate level in breastfeeding support.  In many of our
U.S. hospitals today, an RN who worked in a podiatrists office for several
years with no lactation experience would be hired over a non-RN IBCLC with 10
years experience.

       We need to educate the professional and lay community.  Most people
don't even know what an IBCLC is?  My question to you is how can we manage to
raise our reputation in the world at large?  What do we need to do to make
sure that the IBCLC credential is recognized as a superior standard for
lactation services.  How do we make sure that mothers and medical
professionals ask for an IBCLC???

Debbie Albert, Ph.D, IBCLC
Tampa Lactation Counseling
Tampa, FL

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