This is in response to the woman who is thinking about studying for the exam
on her own.  Well, when I took the first exam (back in the dark ages of
1986) there were no courses available.  This was a new certification and no
one had jumped on the training bandwagon as of yet-probably since there had
been so few people taking the exam that no study plans had been formulated
yet.  I retook the exam in 1993, since I had allowed my certification to
lapse because I had not used it in a couple of years.  I also did not take a
course at that time.  I am not a nurse, nor am I medically trained.  My
education is in pschology and education.  I taught Special Ed before kids
and am Montessori trained.  Anyway, I think that a relatively on the ball
person with time BLOCKED OUT FOR STUDY can reasonably be able to study on
their own and pass the exam.  We all know if we can be self disiplined
enough to get the work done and there are no shortcuts.  You need to do the
work-it won't jump into your head by itself.  I set aside 3-4, two or three
hour blocks a week when I went to the library to study for about 6-8 weeks
before the exam.

Soapbox time-We have gotten to a point in this world where we no longer
trust our abilities to learn on our own without someone spoonfeeding the
info to us a little at a time.  We really need to trust that we are capable
of reading and digesting information.  Some things we need to learn by
watching but that is why we need a certain number of clinical hours in order
to sit.  Soon we're going to be taking courses to teach us how to do laundry
and wash a car!!!  After all there are classes we can take to teach us how
to play with our babies!!

Jumping off the soapbox now.
Barbara Leshin-Zucker
Higland Mills, NY

P.S. Thanks for all that GREAT stuff about legal issues and visitation.
Once I finish gathering all the info, I'll put something together on the Net
for all of you.
Now, anyone for the second question about getting a MA in something related
to breastfeeding?