Magda writes:

>I know you all disagree with me.  But what about this for a proposition?
>Every
>area of practice needs a spread of views and opinions.  I will sit here, in my
>position of scepticism about these artifacts, croaking away my refrain of
>caution, warning and unease.  You may find it irritating, but if this
>'voice' is
>lost, then I believe a texture to the entire field is also lost.

Difficult for me to weigh in here, as I know you Magda!!! But I agree with
you, and I think the bf world needs us (volunteer supporters, highly
trained - and you and I are, though we now belong to different
organisations  - and highly experienced - ditto) as much as it needs the
'lactation professional', which I know you and I have no wish to become -
that is not meant to sound denigrating in any way.  This is one of the
reasons why the debate recently on the list about qualifications left me
feeling uncomfortable.

In fact, being a lactation professional would not only change the way we
work, but would not be appropriate in the UK where free access to
healthcare is focussed on the health visitor, the midwife and the GP,
rather than the paid-for services of a paediatrician and possibly a
lactation professional.   We do not have *clinical responsibility* for the
mothers who contact us, and this means we work in an entirely different way
(though safely, speaking clinically, and we have insurance via our
organisations that protects us and the mothers we speak to).


The experienced,  trained volunteer supporter - who on the whole knows a
truckload more about her work than almost any mainstream health
professional in the UK,  and just as important knows a lot more about what
she doesn't know -  has different skills in interacting with mothers. This
brings a different perspective to the whole world of bf.

It is no accident that most volunteer counsellors share your unease about
pumps, SNS, finger feeding, scales...we would never say they do not have a
role, but we are inherently *uneasy* about them.

>multi-dimensionsl understanding of what we are doing and we only obtain
>that by
>including all the fringes in our consideration.

Yes - and that is the good thing about Lactnet, that at its best it enables
this to happen.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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