I have been following the reaction to the SOP with much interest. I am not a LC, nor a LLL; years ago I qualified as a BC with the Israel Childbirth Education Association, a daughter organization of the National Childbirth Trust of England. Due to health reasons I let my certificate lapse, only to find that I couldn't re-qualify because they'd changed the requirements. Simply, I don't have a college degree. I continued to advise, read journals, and go to courses, workshops and seminars. I consistently refer up when I see I'm over my head. Two years ago, when my youngest child went to school I hoped to become an IBLC but the requirements for documented hours for a person without a degree were impossible for me to fill anytime in the reasonable future. I am a writer and I lecture occasionally and I cannot volunteer instead of working. While I can appreciate that the IBLC needs to maintain a high level of professionalism in order to garner points in the world of modern medicine, I wonder at what point you lose more than you gain. I am just the kind of person the IBLC has succeed in keeping out of the profession. I would be sorry to see all of you wonderful people leave. Yael Edelstein *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html