I for one will be very upset if the examining board turns the requirements
for becoming an IBCLC into a college graduates only club! I look at the
IBCLC much like I view the CPM. What is the CPM some of you may ask???
Well let me explain (and someone correct me if I miss something).
You can become a midwife (in the US) many different ways. You can go to
nursing school and then to a special midwifery program and become a CNM
(Certified Nurse Midwife), you can apprentice with someone and not get
"formal" training and then hang out your shingle or you can go to school in
a program, attend some births, apprentice a bit and then call yourself
midwife. The latter of the two would also allow you to sit for the CPM exam
with enough experience. The CPM doesn't require that you have any sort of
degree, just the experience of attending births, helping moms, etc. There
are some midwives who will never sit for the CPM, does that make them less
of midwives because of it??? No. The midwife I had for my daughter's
pregnancy didn't have a CPM and I wouldn't have traded her for anything.
Some areas have the distinction LM, which is Licensed Midwife. The point
is... CPM or not, being a good midwife is all that matters in the consumer's
eyes. I live in a state where midwifery has been practiced for many many
years among it's religious population (and now is becoming a little more
mainstream), at the last conference I was at, we were discussing state
statues, and the president of our association wanted to make it perfectly
clear that when we seek protection under the legislature this upcoming
session, that it's protection for ALL births, not just those attended to by
CPMs. We have some very knowledgeable midwives in our state who have been
practicing for 50+ years, what would be the incentive for them to go and get
initials after their name? and for that matter, the women who have
apprenticed under them and are practicing... initials only give you prestige
among the community that holds those initials, not among your clients.
And as for the argument that IBCLCs should be able to write scripts, NO WAY!
Especially when we have situations where abx are prescribed far too often.
Again, that would further medicalize something that for 90% + of the
profession doesn't need to be medicalized. The homeopathic and other
natural medicine counselors on this list will tell you that it is a rarity
to need a script for anything, and having a DEA license would only make it
worse in many cases.
We don't need letters after our name to be competent, or even to imply
competence, what we need is to get moms to breastfeed their babies, and it
doesn't matter WHO does that, a friend, a LLLL, a WIC counselor, a CLC, a
pedi, or an IBCLC. Stop feeling so threatened by the rest of us and let's
get back to the job at hand. Perhaps some of the focus in educating the
public should just be that it doesn't matter who is helping as long as the
info is correct and the mom is nursing! By cramming a certification like
IBCLC down everyone's throat, then we may be falsely getting the public to
think that IBCLC's are right 100% of the time, just like they sadly at times
think MD's are right 100% of the time. Those in alternate professions have
been screaming for decades for recognition, but you know they still just go
on, doing their work, teaching people, converting who they can.
Melisa
~*~*~*~*~
Did you hear? Breast is Best!
Certified Lactation Counselor
Student Midwife
Alternative Medicine Counselor in Training
Childbirth Educator
www.nurturingmama.com
Mom to Harry who changed my life,
Jacob who changed my spirit, and
Elleanor who changed my soul.
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