I agree with you Kathy...it needs to be harder not easier to become  
board certified...

A hospital near me hired an IBCLC...I don't know how she managed to  
acquire her IBCLC but she didn't even grasp the basics...
She knew it too and once she filled the IBCLC spot she practically  
hid from the breastfeeding mothers...
This gave the credential no credibility with the physicians so when  
she finally left they didn't bother to fill the open position with  
another IBCLC...
They hired an RN with *an interest in breastfeeding* who openly  
admits she knows nothing, but the hospital feels it can tell the  
mothers they have a *lactation nurse*

I would not be opposed I think to a new credential offered to people  
who are already health professionals who regularly care for nursing  
mothers and/or babies...
It might be a way of cluing them into the speciality...letting them  
know what they don't know...which to me is one of the biggest  
problems we face- practioners who think they know everything that  
needs to be known about breastfeeding because they nursed a couple of  
babies or their wives did, and they don't refer appropriately,  
hanging onto the mother until the mother abandons breastfeeding or  
referring to an IBCLC only after things become so bad that the  
breastfeeding relationship is almost impossible to salvage...
Jen O'Quinn IBCLC

On May 5, 2006, at 7:46 PM, Kathy Eng wrote:

> http://www.iblce.org/documents/PressRelease_1_000.pdf
>
> Has this new credential from IBLCE been discussed since the press  
> release? I for one sent in my survey saying make it harder not  
> easier. At most of the hospitals near me, the "LCs" are not IBCLC.  
> Or even close to becoming one. The market for IBCLCs seems to be  
> shrinking here and it is very difficult to make a living doing  
> private practice (some of this comes from the poorly skilled  
> competition who can not solve mother's problems and some comes from  
> mothers and physicians not caring about BF.)
>
> Like to know what others think, although I think this is a done deal.
>
> Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC
>
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