It is true that a hospital LC could be limited if all she deals with are newborns the first 2-3 days of their lives. I have been fortunate to be able to do outpatient consults and run nursing moms groups. I wish I had had the long term nursing experience with my own children. One of the reasons I am who I am today....I wish I could go back and fix my ignorance. But I know my daughter, one day, will nurse her children the way they were intended to be nursed, she will join La Leche League, because she has heard me through the years, she has written papers on breastfeeding, she has debated the pro side in a speech class, I have learned from my ignorance and passed my knowledge on. I know I have made a big difference in my sister-in-laws experience. She made it 9 months with her first (I didn't think she would last a month) and I am hoping and praying the second little boy gets a minimum of a year as her first has asthma. I had really tried my best to educate my brother and my sister-in-law sending them LOTS of info on the hazards of formula, etc. They still fed the new baby 2 ounces of formula once by the time he was 4 days old! I cried! All of my information and education and how it changes his gut, his brother's asthma, etc. and they were PROUD to tell me he had only had 2 ounces! Anyway, I am off topic here. Unless LC's work with older babies we are limited. I am a terrible test taker so when I resit the exam in 2005 I am sure my scores won't be the best. I don't have the drive to score those A's I did in college but I know my skills. I still have lots to learn but I have been exposed to lots of challenging nursing issues through the years and there is nothing like hands on experience. Pam Hendrix, BA, RN, IBCLC Hospital Based in S. Florida *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html