My concerns about our discussion to date relate to the fact that I do not believe that most of us are talking about Non-LCs, but rather about those who are not certified, particularly those who take what has sometimes been called a 3-day wonder course or something even less lengthy. I know that there are many LACTNETters who are not LCs, but who are very skilled. By the same token, several non-certified (ie not IBLCE-certified) are skilled, as well. AND, we all know IBLCE-certified people who know far less than we would like. (We who are IBLCE-certified need to share our concerns about this with the IBLCE Board members.) What it gets down to, then, is how much knowledge certification should stand for and whether, in the absnece of state licensure, not a likely occurrence in this era of movmeent away from licensure and twoard certification, people who are not certified should be designated in some other way. The public has a right to know who are skilled and who are not, who have information and knowledge that can be trusted and so on. Your ideas on this? Speak up , everyone. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% "We are all faced with a series of great %% %% opportunities brilliantly disguised as %% %% impossible situations" - definition of a %% %% lactation consulting service. %% %% Kathleen G. Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC %% %% [log in to unmask] Homewood, Illinois USA %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%