Dear LACTNETTERS:
        I want to share with you the WIN/WIN situation I'm now involved in. Because I
need counseling hours for July 99 exam, I volunteered my time as a
leader/counselor for a neighborhood nursing mothers group. As their trust and
confidence in me has increased they are using me as a resource for all their
counselors. I keep close contact with the Moms assigned to me and freely (and
for free) make home visits so I can see the problem and hopefully help solve
it. Other counselors call me when they are stuck on a tough problem and are
unsure how to proceed. I make home visits to these Moms as well. I give the
"Getting Started" talk to expectant Mothers monthly, attend Mother support
group meetings, and have taken on the job of continuing education during
monthly counselors meetings. I am now beginning to send letters to the
Pediatricians/OB-GYN's of the patients I've seen. This is great practice and
hopefully I will become favorably known in the community. The experience I'm
getting is invaluable to me and the hours are really accumulating. The Nursing
Mothers Group is very happy to have me. And the Moms have access to home free
home visits by an LC. We are all winning.
        I've written this as a suggestion to other IBCLC wanna bees like me. I had
the good fortune to do a clinical internship at Pennsylvania Hospital in
PHILA. under the mentorship of Sue Carson and Tammy Arbeter. (Breastfeeding
Nirvana.) But I know clinical internships are not plentiful. And there is no
amount of book learning that substitutes for hands on experience. I strongly
recommend this as a solution for those needing hours.
        I would also like to ask the help of IBCLC's out there that have an effective
form letter that they use to report to Docs. Would you please share them with
me? I would be very grateful. I've never believed in reinventing the wheel.
Please send sample letters via Pvt. E-mail to [log in to unmask]
Sincerely,
Susan Ann Slear (IBCLC wanna be) from PA: the state that loves you back.