I guess this issue is one of EVERYBODY's "hot buttons"! Jan says (among many
other wise and well-reasoned things): "What I would like for everyone to
do -- since you asked, Cheryl, is to sit for the board exam as soon as they
are qualified to do so!"
Well, what *I* would like is for employers who want to be able to say they
are BF-friendly, or have "lactation consultants" on staff, or simply want to
provide the best care for their mothers/babies/families, is to:
1) pay!!! Pay to help a person already on staff get the preparation to take
the exam, or do whatever is possible to help her accumulate hours. Support
staff to go to conferences, to take the 5-day wonder classes, to do whatever
it takes. Once they're accredited, pay them on an appropriate scale.
2) make the IBCLC credential part of the job requirement, if they're serious
about providing the best care. This doesn't mean freezing out the CLCs & the
LLLLs & the other credentials; I think that Jan's suggestion about having a
title for a person preparing for the exam, with a reasonable timeline for
reaching that goal (and we *know* it can take a long time!), is excellent.
Perhaps we should work on that idea with IBLCE or whoever. I don't think
that "incipient IBCLC" period should be rushed, either - there's no
advantage in hurrying, because until you have a lot of contact hours and a
lot of didactic training, you won't have a really qualified candidate
anyway.)
Look at nursing, for example - not everyone who is interested in caring for
patients wants to become an RN, and there are other things she can do to use
her unique skills and interests without being in any way "less than" an RN.
BUT, when a hospital needs to hire an RN, that's what they hire, and that's
what they pay for, and if you're not an RN, however excellent you may be in
your skills, if you're not one (or haven't registered to at least take the
boards) you can't get the job.
Isn't that pretty much how it works in most professions? And especially
those professions that require board certification? I see living proof every
day in my own community that BF skills are obviously not valued - "yes,
BFing is a very nice thing, and yes, we want to be able to say to our
clients that we have 'lactation counselors' on staff, but no, we don't want
to *pay* them!" (subtext: it's a woman's line of work, and it's just about
women & babies, so how important can it be? And what do they need well-paid,
well-educated experts for anyway - isn't it just a natural function? And
besides, not that many women continue BFing after the first couple of weeks
anyway, so why bother putting money there, for such a small # of people?)
Feeling a little bitter, after our BF Coalition mtg today. Grrrr! Well, when
I'm Queen of the Universe, we can all go home and play with our other toys -
Jan's gonna have a bookstore (and maybe invest in the cabbage market?), I'm
gonna play with beads all day!)
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