I personally think that the value of the IBCLC profession lies more towards 
the "professional" and medically oriented than the lay or peer helper type 
of skill.  I don't mean we need to be doctors but we sure need to know what 
is normal and what is becoming a problem on a higher level than a peer or 
lay type helper would know.  I am not bashing peer or lay type helpers here, 
I am pointing out a knowledge or skill difference only. (I have been an LLL 
Leader since 1992 and I work for WIC so I know the value of peer helpers.)

Look at how RN nurses have been replaced in doctor's offices and for some 
hospital work by "medical assistants" with lower education. It is a matter 
of getting a worker for less money but it doesn't always serve the public 
best. And the public still thinks the office person is a nurse when they are 
not.

What do we want for the lactation professional to be thought of like? An RN, 
of course. What is the lactation professional thought of as now? More like 
an MA in my experience. Which in reality, maybe we are.

Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC -- a non RN who taught herself but who doesn't think 
the future of the profession lies in members being only self taught.

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