I'm catching up after spending last week volunteering for Tall Ships Races,
working that pesky day job, and traveling to another city to recertify as an
IBCLC, all while my son was visiting for a week before he takes off for the
school year in France.  (whew, no wonder things seemed hectic :-))

I have some thoughts on the dilemma faced by breastfeeding mothers who are
planning to take the IBLCE exam.

The IBLCE exam is always the last Monday in July and one must apply way
ahead of time in order to sit the exam.  Pregnancy generally lasts about
three quarters of a year.  Neither birth nor the exam date comes like a
lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky.  The only people who might be
surprised to find that taking the exam and mothering a breastfed infant are
incompatible, are those who are expecting their first baby between the time
they send in their exam application and the end of July.  If your baby is
already born when you apply, it will be considerably older by the time exam
day rolls around.  The sessions really do give ample time to complete each
section of the exam, even if you are taking it in English and it's not your
native language, if the performance of my colleagues is any indication.  If
you already know that you need extra time due to reading difficulties or
other challenges, perhaps the year you also have an exclusively breastfed
young infant isn't the best year for you to certify.  If you are
recertifying after 10 years and have just had your first baby, you deserve
to take the time off and enjoy living the life you have spent years helping
other women to experience.  Re-certify next year and you will likely do even
better than you would if you did it now.  If your baby in July needs you so
much that you can't be away for 90 minutes at a stretch, odds are good you
won't have another new baby next July either.
If you are breastfeeding an older baby at the end of July, chances are
excellent that you can finish each session in well under two hours, and go
out to whoever is staying with your baby while you are in the room.  There
is a minimum 45 minute break for lunch between the two sessions.  It is
possible to leave the room to use the toilet outside the scheduled lunch
break, and if you are really worried you could arrange to see the baby at
that time too.  You can eat with one hand while you feed the baby - that's
what you probably do all the time at home anyway, right?  In any case you
have months in which to think through which options might work for you.
Because I work with babies, I automatically focus on them and I am easily
distracted from almost anything else if there is a baby in the room.  I love
babies, plain and simple.  I appreciated the quiet of the exam venue we had.
In my experience, mothers of breastfed babies are so focused on the baby
that they may not be aware of the effect their child is having on the
surroundings.  This is as it should be.  We all know how uncomfortable it is
to be around a mother who isn't focused on the baby.  Maternity leave exists
for a reason.

The exam situation is anxiety-producing for a lot of candidates.  I don't
think IBLCE have chosen an unnecessarily restrictive line with their
policies.  There's always next year.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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