At the risk to starting a flaming war (NOT my intention), I must object to
the assumption that only RNs would pick up on some serious conditions.

In my time (as a non-RN; never have been an RN) I have picked up on cleft
palate (not identified in pediatric exam), failure to thrive not paid
attention to (more than one of these), Hirschsprungs, heart problems (AFTER
I raised concerna bout baby's color, heart defect was identified and baby
had surgery within the week(!)), broken clavicle (had gone more than 2
weeks unidentified why baby refused to nurse on one side and cried in pain
whenever held on that side), and hypotonia.

I am not suggesting that all non-RNs will know everything an RN/LC knows,
but surely those of us in the field who come from a variety of backgrounds
can learn to work TOGETHER, in CONJUNCTION with one another and learn from
one another and BROADEN the ways in which each of us looks at mothers and
babies breastfeeding.  I have always viewed the breadth of backgrounds in
lactation consulting to be a BONUS, not a hindrance.  If we all do not
share this view, LCing will quickly go the way of childbirth education in
so many places, where only RNs can teach the classes and what is taught is
limited to what is ALLOWED by the MDs who would prefer mothers don't know
about epidural effects and the like.  Having begun teaching mothers as a
childbirth educator when they were still very much independent entities, I
still weep at what has happened in the past 25 years to that wonderful
group of committed individuals.

Will LCdom become an ICEA (non-RNs and non-medical approach) and ASPO (RNs
and other licensed individuals and highly medicalized approach) who really
don't talk much to one another?  I surely hope not.

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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