Christina,

I do feel and understand your pain and frustration.  I am answering questions on Internet Forums and personal emails.  They feel the same: sad and frustrated.  Many of those consultants in Russia and other countries can not even advocate for themselves. Simply, they do not speak English. There is no breastfeeding literature translated into Russian at all, except some of the Dr. Newman instructions and 40 h WHO/UNICEF course.  ILCA has been very supportive in this outreach project.  Translation of some materials into Russian was initiated by ILCA already!  This is a huge step in connecting Russian consultants with the rest of the world. 

We could  potentionally have thousands of IBCLCs in Russia. They are young, energetic, smart and willing to work hard. Many of those consultants have amazing hands-on skills.  Their national organization is NFCA (Natural Feeding Consultants Association) of Russia.  It is growing day by day. 

We are starting from a practically ground zero. There is a need in educational courses and mentorship programs, translation into Russian of educational materials and exam itself. You described the exact picture of what is going on in most of the hospitals over there. Many medical professionals believe that they know enough about breastfeeding. I read on one of the hospitals web site:" We are breastfeeding friendly, our babies are brought to mothers for feedings every 3 hours, with a 7 hour rest period at night!"  I am not kidding. The treatment for mastitis is surgery and prescription of Dostinex to stop lactation.

If we have a word "International" behind our names, we need to be considerate of those nations that live in different parts of the world.

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome