In a message dated 5/24/2005 9:42:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
I really feel for those that are trying to get a mentor and can't find
anyone, If we want this profession to go forward the clinical skills need to be
there and the best way to learn is under the direction of an experienced
person. I would not go see a doctor or chiropractor that did not have clinical
skills, why should we be any different.
I have been following this thread very closely because am in the middle of
all of this currently. I have spend a considerable amount of money and far
more time than my family cares to talk about in pursuing the pre-reqs to sit the
exam. I thought I would be able to sit this year but will have to sit next
year. There were no IBCLCs around when I started counseling mothers. I was
on Active Duty in Korea and the only LLLL was two hours away.
Currently there are very few IBCLCs here that I would want to work under as
I have cleaned up or attempted to clean up the wrecks they have created. I
know I have more experience in more varied situations than many of the IBCLCs
here but I cannot sit the exam. I teach in-services and teach classes, do
private consults and read, read, read. All of these situations I had to go
create, I had to just walk in the door and say, "I will do this, when and
where." It has always amazed me that no one ever wanted my credentials (BA in
History, nursed two kids), no one watched me in the hospital rooms to see what I
was (or was not doing). I didn't know much when I started but boy you learn
a lot fast. I had one IBCLC to turn to for advice and, of course, LACTNET.
That said, I know that there are many, many mothers who receive very, very
bad or dangerous advice from RNs and LCs and MDs. That is not to say that
there aren't persons with those same credentials here who are very
pro-breastfeeding but they are few and far between. If someone is in this situation, not
in a large city or near a large city and there are no specialists, what do
you do?? There isn't anyone here (that I have found in 3 years here) who does
CST for infants. Docs here tell moms that their breastmilk is poisoning
their babies (i.e. jaundice), that breastmilk is not needed after 6 weeks. A
mother was told OVER THE PHONE that the reason her milk supply didn't come in
(this was 7 days pp) was because she had insufficient glandular tissue and
would never make more milk than she already had. She doesn't have insufficient
glandular tissue. No one ever asked her about retained placenta. Her OB told
her running hormone levels was a waste of her time and money. At day 20 her
milk supply began to increase. But because no one ever took seriously her
lack of milk supply prior to that we really don't know what happened or why.
She was ready to quit (day 10) when she called me. I don't have the answers
she really needed at the time she needed them, I had to do some research and
there was no one else in town to call who I thought would have the answer (I
called a few of them anyway).
The point being that in the areas where breastfeeding needs the most help we
have the fewest resources and the largest hurdles; how does one get the
mentoring one needs and from whom? As was stated earlier, just passing the exam
doesn't a good LC make. So how does a novice get the mentoring needed from
someone who is qualified to be the mentor? What ARE the qualifications for
being a mentor other than re-cert?
Frustrated,
Christie Pillado
El Paso, TX
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