Susan wrote:
 
 
As a non-nurse IBCLC, I rather resent the tone of the  article.

Personally, I'd prefer that this hospital keep their RN IBCLCs  and hire 
more non-RN IBCLCs to work with non-medical cases.  I don't know  the 
population this hospital serves, but most moms don't need the skills of an  RN to 
get them started on breastfeeding."
 
And this is what posted to our local lactation listserve with the link to  
this article:
 
 
This is so wrong on so many levels. But I think that it  is important to 
add that I do not agree that being an RN or other medical  professional n
ecessarily means one will be a good lactation consultant.  Many of the best 
IBCLCs I know are not nurses. Unfortunately, many  hospital-based RN IBCLCs see 
only babies in the newborn period and would  not have the experience with 
working with lactation issues that come up with the  older baby. During the 
first 15  years or so of the IBCLC  certification process, most candidates for 
the IBCLC exam were breastfeeding  counselors from La Leche League or 
Nursing Mothers Council. They had  years of experience with all ages of nurslings 
and had seen  complex nursing issues that are not always manifested in the 
early days.  Nowadays, most candidates for the IBCLC exam, at least in North 
America, are  medical professionals of one type or another. Being an RN 
myself, I always try  to minimize the "medicalization" of breastfeeding by 
trying to have more of a  counseling role. Too much "hands on" and "doing" for 
mothers does not always  help them to develop or use their own inner 
strengths, and/or help them to feel  confident in their own abilities. Unfortunately, 
the one thing that I  feel that is a "medical" issue, tongue tie and its 
effect on breastfeeding, is  not looked upon as being significant or worthy of 
being fixed. Sigh..feeling sad  for the mothers and babies in the Worcester 
area.

 
Mary-Jane Sackett, RN, IBCLC
Pittsfield, MA (about 1.75 hours west of  Worcester)



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