I stand corrected in thinking that I could not join ILCA if I wasn't a
"lactation consultant."  Apparently, anyone who pays the dues can be a
member.  So, now that I know that, will I join?  Absolutely not.

If ILCA will GUARANTEE not to have any sponsors at future conferences who
are ever -- at any time, in any place in the world -- violators of the WHO
Code, then I will happy to join or just to contribute money to help fund a
conference.  Til then, they won't get my money.

I also absolutely do not buy the argument that lactation consultants need to
have these exhibitors at the ILCA conference in order that they can learn
about the products that their clients might use or ask them about.  For
sure, the mothers aren't going to conferences and seeing the fancy display
booths and videos.  But anyone can go spend an hour in the baby aisle of
their local grocery store, Wal-Mart, Babys 'R Us, drugstore, etc., and check
out the new products available to mothers.  You can see them advertised on
TV, and in new parents' magazines.  In the US, most big cities and many
smaller ones have a Borders or a Barnes & Noble -- bookstores with
coffeeshops -- where you can go sit with a cup of coffee and read the
magazines for free, for as long as you want.

Electric pumps certainly have their place in the world, and have helped many
a woman get a supply going or maintain a supply for a baby in NICU or with
congenital feeding problems.  I wish electric pumps had been available to
the public in 1985 when my son Peter was born -- he might have gotten much
more than 4 months of partial breastfeeding.  Nevertheless, the average
American mother now thinks that every new mother NEEDS an electric breast
pump in order to breastfeed.  I know someone who had a baby a month ago, and
before she delivered she was talking to the local IBCLC about which pump she
should buy -- even though she is planning to exclusively breastfeed at the
breast and isn't planning on going back to work for a year at least.  Yet,
she was absolutely convinced that she HAD TO HAVE a breast pump.  Ditto for
expensive specialty clothes that she could nurse "discreetly" in.

If ILCA is not able to support itself and put on conferences, then it needs
to fold, or be reorganized.  I realize ILCA considers itself an
international organization, but I suspect the vast majority of members live
in the US, and are not able or willing to travel to overseas locations like
Australia, or even Mexico, to go to a conference.  Whose idea was it to have
the conference in Sydney?  It is very expensive to fly to Sydney and to stay
in Sydney, and the plane ride is positively grueling.  Why not have several
smaller conferences, one in Australia, one in the US, one in Canada, one in
Europe, etc., with local speakers?

I work now for a non-profit membership organization, and it would LOVE to
have lots of money to provide more services, put on conferences, etc., but
it is not willing to take money from anyone that might compromise the
services they do provide.  So, they do what they can on membership dues,
selling subscriptions to publications, etc.

Kathy Dettwyler



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