Melissa,
New York City has no cows,only buildings ; )
 Yes We do have a clinical supervised hospital program for future IBCLC.
I had been attending the Beth Israel Hospital breastfeeding centers program
for about a year.
The two IBCLC  organized entry through the hospital volunteer dept.
I had to be interviewed by the two IBCLC, then you have to  become a
hospital volunteer to
enter the "bf program".
It was a very unstructured program. I already had a background working with
bf mothers without  seeing alot of the clinical type problems as a
postpartum doula and read the text books and all of the reading list
reccomended by IBCLC and many CERP approved workshops and seminars.
 You would love this program with your experience and background.

 As well as all the great advantages to such a mentorship arangement,
There are some disadvantages to this type of learning for both the mentor
and student.
The disadvantage on top of my list as the student was the lack of time the
LC had in her day. She barely had time to pee, let alone eat lunch or breath
between clients.
Answering my questions always had to wait. I had to keep notebooks of
observations and questions.
The #1 disadvantage for my mentor was her lack of time to give me.
Sometimes We would talk on the phone when she got home to her 4 children and
i got home to my family and doula service business.

The 2 lc's trained the nursing staff, and tested the staff of their
knowledge in a practical hands on observation.
One did rounds every day , taught new mothers bf class in the mornings, and
did all the hosp. consultant and NICU bf problems..
The other lc saw a whole day/evening filled with clients that were
discharged, and the center was open to the public.
They also ran a warm line that had at least 30 calls a day.
They provided 24 hour beeper coverage when they went home.

The hospital really got their monies worth from them!

They both had huge responsiblities to their
employer and the mothers,babies and students.
I guess they felt there was a value to having students and training others
to get hands on experience in a supervised setting.
 I personally think it was
very selfless of them to become mentors/educators.
The money they started charging was minimal compared to the value of their
knowledge and time
passed on to the students.
I will always be in debt spiritually to them for what they taught me.


I can't decide if I want to bother documenting my bf training . I have a few
credits left to complete a Very long ago education as a Fine artist. Having
the BFA would take off thousands of  BF practice hours?????
This rule make no sense to me !!!
I also think for me the IBCLC test makes no sense these days.
As a doula service owner it presents a conflict,  I can't see my own clients
as a IBCLC
 and get paid for my services as such, or have the doulas in my service
refer our clients to me  as a IBCLC.
 I'd rather give the referrals to my friends who are IBCLC, and lurk on
Lactnet and give my  opinion to my local IBCLC pal.

Any Ideas for me out there?
Since I Solved your problem, Welcome to New York Melissa.
Rent for a small 2 bedroom apartment in
 Manhattan near Beth Israel haosital is apx. $ 2,500. per month.

Good luck,

Ruth Callahan