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Lactation Information and Discussion

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Subject:
From:
Katherine Lilleskov <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:08:23 -0400
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To me the incredibly ironic aspect of all of this, is that as a new RN 90% of the most useful information for actually doing my job was taught to me by other RN's who either officially or unofficially oriented me to my new job. I had taken all of the anatomy and physiology and sociology etc etc. It did not help me one bit in the birthing room to know that I could name the bones in the hand....which at that point I couldn't anymore because I had forgotten everything. 

There is no way on earth that taking these courses is going to make anybody a better LC. Especially the ones working in the hospital...in the hospital you are working with such an early stage of the lactation process that all of the detective work can't even be really done. So even if in some way, it might be useful to have those courses, the place where they will be least useful would be in the hospital where many of the RN iBCLC's work.

As mothers and babies journey throgh the proces of lactation the waters can become very murky and not uncommonly it is necessary to do medical detective work...where is her milk...is it her pituitary, her thyroid, her PCOS etc etc.Why is this baby have difficulty latching? But what LC's need is either to be guided by an experienced LC who can train her the way I was trained as a new nurse or targeted training which focuses on doing the necessary detective work to be a good LC. That education would involve courses in the physiology of the brain and breast as they relate to lacation. The oral anatomy of the newborn mouth and the anatomy and physiology of the gut of both mother and baby.  We do NOT need to spend a year learning how ATP provides energy that fuels the cells of the body and how mitochondria function....It's idiotic. I thought it was stupid for nursing since it did not make me a better nurse and even stupider for this. 

And my last point in this rant is that it is very unfair to have people take useless course work but even more so when the courses are going to be expensive and they are preparing for a career which does often not even pay the rent! So while I resented having to spend a lot of time learning things I KNEW I was going to immediately forget while being trained to be an RN, at least I knew I was going to come out and make a competetive salary. I am working as an LC because I am passionate about the field but I know that I could not afford to take all of those courses to do this, because it would take so long to pay for them. So you are not only excluding people in other countries, you are excluding people who have less money than their more fortunate sisters. This whole thing is so unfair.

To sum up....we should be spending our time improving the mentoring options and also thinking outside of the box and coming up with education that targets the needs of LC's and their clients not the generalized stuff that everybody has to take and nobody uses!

Kathy Lilleskov RN IBCLC

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