First, since I am a very infrequent poster, let me reintroduce myself. I am a peer counselor and group leader with Nursing Mothers, Inc. in the Maryland/Delaware/ Pennsylvania area (and mistress of our website.) I nursed my one and only child till January, a month before his 4th birthday. I am also an IBCLC wannabe, which is why I am on Lactnet in the first place. My area is not particularly bf friendly, yet we have a small, but growing, group of IBCLCs. The discussion on credentials is of extreme interest to me, as someone who has NOT sat for the exam but intends to when I have accrued the hours and experience. I would love to have access to more clinical practice, but in our area, NO ONE helps out at the hospital unless they are an RN and we have no nearby programs for study. Despite all these hurdles, I am passionately interested in learning all I can to prepare me for being a professional in this field. My local support organization has started an LC study group, with IBCLC mentors. This is where the "six degrees" comes in. If anyone in the States has heard of the "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" game, they will understand. For others, this is a game where anyone in the entertainment industry can be linked to the actor Kevin Bacon through no more than six films, where someone is in a film with Bacon, then in a film with someone else, etc. My "six degrees of Lactation" relates to Terriann Shell, recently of Alaska. Sue Kappel recently posted that she was inspired by Terriann to get "the initials after her name". Sue got me into Nursing Mothers in the first place, and then inspired me to want to get a set of my own initials. So I have 2 degrees of separation from Terriann. Anyone else want to join? Email privately at: mailto:[log in to unmask] Lisa Schulz-Sunkler My homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/4480/ Nursing Mothers: http://members.tripod.com/~NMInc/