I must second the comments of Cynthia Dillon Payne who asked why the LC
must be a graduate of an accredited school or nursing or have a BA/BS in
the health field.

In our upcoming revision of Breastfeeding and Human Lactation will be NEW
information about private practice *and* hospital-based LCs.  Information
in one section will derive from interviews of women in these situations.
Of great interest is that not all are BA/BSers from health fields, and not
all are nurses.  ALL, however, provided much helpful information about how
they practice, the kinds of situations they are confronted with, etc. It is
clear that being a nurse or a health field graduate in no way guarantees
that the person will be a good LC.

I urge LACTNETters to remain open to the possibility that the most
effective profession is one that allows/yea, encourages a wide range of
prior experiences.  This only adds to the richness of the assistance
provided.

From an historical standpoint, when MDs were not yet governed by the
outcome of the Flexner Report (1910), many represented a variety of
experiences. Not all were good; hence, the subsequent recommendation that
they graduate from an accredited university.  The IBCLC exam as an
entry-level minimal competency certification could be viewed as similarly
identifying those who should be recognized as LCs.

PS  Please do not ask when this revision will be available.  Neither Jan
Riordan nor I know this yet. When we do, we will let you all know!

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.com/~kga/lactation.html
LACTNET archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html