frankly, i am less worried about someone taking the exam without "proper"
credentials (and jeanette has a very good point about other possible
background knowledge someone possesses that we may not be aware of) than i am
of people who possess all the "right" training, experience and background to
take the exam, but perform poorly in practice.

i think this is the core question that comes up time and again on lactnet
when discussing qualifications. i tend to think of it as "how to interpret
professional ethics and how to have adequate knowledge to practice." i feel
strongly about having a credential that defines this profession (ibclc) but i
feel shocked sometimes by the practices of those who have that credential and
don't practice in a way that i feel is appropriate.

 i know, i post about this a lot. formula pushing lactation experts; ones who
dismiss anything less than supplying a baby's complete nutritional needs at
the breast as not worth the effort; people with elaborate justifications for
giving out pacifiers; those who say that breastfeeding past a certain age is
abnormal; those who interpret everything in a conservative judgemental
fashion that means that breastfeeding is automatically sacrificed; those that
never mention the risks of formula or that the milk bank is ONE BLOCK down
the street (okay, there are several hospitals in that neighborhood, so i am
not singling out one in particular).

how am i supposed to integrate this problem with what i require of myself?
how to "compete" for business with people operating quite differently than i
do? how to convince doctors and parents that i am not "making this up" (see
post about getting negative reviews for teaching some truth about formula in
breastfeeding classes, and also about epidurals)? how to gain credibility in
my local community?

from day to day, mother to mother, even hour to hour, i am not sure how long
i will continue to try to reconcile these two realities that are so jarringly
different that surely they must have separate languages, different foods and
atmospheres. perhaps our society is rapidly ending, as shown by the random,
thoughtless cruelty imposed on mothers and babies (don't even say the words
"hospital bath" to me0. maybe i will not always be up to the challenge of
pointing out that the emperor has no clothes; perhaps i will chose my family
and myself over the constant process of fighting the big lie.

 see? even someone who was breastfed, who breastfed her children, and
absolutely hates to see a single drop of something different in a baby's
mouth, suffers the bad side effects of formula.

carol brussel IBCLC

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