>
> Jacquie,
>
This is so beautiful:
"...if everyone is relying on Pumps, Pills and Providing guidance, the
inestimable talents of the mothers and
babies are lost."
May we please all quote you? :-)
Warmly,
Alysha Jones
LLL Leader, UK
Nursing mama and CLC/E transplant from California

> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Mon, 8 Aug 2011 18:08:56 +0200
> From:    Jacquie Nutt <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: IBCLE 2012 requirements - continuing ed requirements
>
> Dear Lactnet Colleagues
>
> I am very pleased to see this discussion go public!  Oh, I'm not meaning
> that people have been whispering behind closed doors here.  On the
> contrary,
> I felt that I was the only person who was disturbed about the huge sideways
> jump in education requirements (let alone the reduction in experience
> hours).  In fact, I was astounded that this had passed without comment.
>  Now
> I am kicking myself that I haven't spoken up before.
>
> I like the change of requiring that the experience and training has all
> been
> acquired in the past 5 years, which puts candidates on a par with those who
> have the credential and must recertify every 5 years.
>
> It may appear that the changes do not directly affect the  current IBCLCs,
> as we have our credentials already, sucks to the rest (I would never have
> been able to attain mine under these rules).   However I submit that it
> will
> in the end affect us if our profession becomes more medicalised.
> Breastfeeding and childbirth are not medical problems,  although medical
> problems can arise in both.  Certainly, unskilled practitioners can
> increase
> the likelihood of issues arising.  However if everyone is relying on Pumps,
> Pills and Providing guidance, the inestimable talents of the mothers and
> babies are lost.
>
> Just a Tale of Two IBCLCs who happen to be friends here.  One came up
> through the ranks of the lay counsellors, the other as an RN.  The RN-IBCLC
> said to her friend, "How CAN you waste 1 - 3 hours with each mother?
> Organise yourself and get through the work."  Now that the RN-IBCLC is in
> private practice, she is changing her tune, I hear, while I quite
> understand
> how she might have felt that way while working in the hospitals (and do we
> wonder why we private practitioners  have so many pieces to pick up
> post-discharge).
>
> I *hear* that Board too, in that it would like to have other health
> professionals, plus the insurance companies, recognise us.  That would be a
> good thing, right?  In practical terms, outsiders are NOT irrelevant.
> Just
> like, "Take these 2 aspirins and contact Physio Phyllis for your sore
> knee."
> or whatever referral is given to another health professional, we would like
> to hear, "You need to see Isobel IBCLC for your breastfeeding issues."
> Until we are recognised, we are going to have under-educated health
> professionals continue to give babyfeeding advice to mothers, and we know
> where that has got the modern baby.
>
> However I very much hear on the ground locally (and now internationally)
> that the courses are almost impossible to find (let alone assess for
> usefulness), as well as expensive, and this is on top of other courses and
> books and being done during "spare time"... with little recognition or
> recompense from employers.   And some of the courses seem so random... like
> "occupational safety".  What does that mean... Universal precautions?  Use
> gloves when examining?  Tell someone where you are going when doing a home
> visit?  DUH.  I need a certificate for that?   It's called 'survival of the
> fittest', dears - dumb actions weed out the idiots.  (Perhaps I have missed
> something with occupational safety....)
>
> I am very confused as to how long a course is actually required.  A
> semester
> of this and that.... Well, not all countries know what semester-long
> courses
> are. It sounds like 6 months of work, but I gather it may be as short as 20
> hours. I would like that specified.  In my university days, you worked for
> 10 months and passed or failed the year, no credits, so I have no idea how
> many hours must be spent on each course.  Are tertiary institutions all
> equal? - of course not.
>
> I fear that the counselling skills of (eg) LLL-trained people have been
> utterly discounted, in favour of "the hip bone connects to the thigh bone"
> training, plus all the potential "this pill does great things for people"
> mindset of such training. In the end, I believe that medicalising the
> profession disrespects the instincts that mothers have, in favour of
> experts
> spouting advice and guidance and acting like the Saviour.  I hate this....
> and at times would rather not be an IBCLC than be connected with such a
> mindset.
>
> My goal at all times is to empower mothers, and direct them inwards and to
> their babies, with as much technical knowledge as they need, to be sure. My
> professional Scope of Practice directs me to refer when I am out of my
> depth, eg to an SLP-IBCLC or RD-IBCLC or PT-IBCLC, or whatever is required.
> I might quite like to hear about their skills, without wanting to do a
> semester-long course.
>
> I believed that the exam would assess my skills...though second time around
> I was very disappointed at how little it tested of what I have revised.
> Perhaps it's the exam that needs re-visiting, and not the basic
> credentials - in fact, I'm pretty sure of that, and that's a whole 'nother
> discussion: the shortfalls of a multiple choice exam, no matter how wordy
> or
> convoluted.  I reckon that these new criteria could be used for those who
> want to go towards an IBCLC (Advanced) credential PLUS a practical
> assessment, but not as our entry-level assessment.
>
> [If the ABRSM can affordably send a practical examiner to assess every
> music
> exam candidate in the world, why not IBLCE?]
>
> I do agree with Patricia and Pat that we MUST contact IBLCE with our
> concerns, if we have them.   I was going to offer to collate replies and
> send them in.  However it will be better with an onslaught of responses.
> Please don't merely copy to [log in to unmask], but also to the other
> regional
> offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific ie [log in to unmask] and
> [log in to unmask] .  I would welcome IBLCE putting across their thinking to
> IBCLCs and candidates worldwide.
>
> Feeling strongly in South Africa, where 'ignorance' is evidently making me
> feel tetchy.  This reminds me a little of early women's lib... instead of
> highlighting our strengths, we tried to meet the opposition on THEIR
> terms).
>
> As always, with the good of mothers and babies in mind,
>
> Jacquie Nutt IBCLC
> (2 exams, top tier scores both times despite knowing nothing of
> 'consequence'. And admitting that there is always much to be learned.  And
> now taking a deep breath)
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> End of LACTNET Digest - 7 Aug 2011 to 8 Aug 2011 - Special issue
> (#2011-634)
>
> ****************************************************************************
>

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