No one should take offense when it is pointed out that SOME PEOPLE go to a one-day course and then act as though they have the same knowledge and experience as someone with an IBCLC, and present themselves to an unknowing public as a "Lactation Consultant." Some people who are CLEs may in fact have more knowledge and experience and compassion, and be of more use to mothers, than those who have earned the IBCLC credential purely for the 'power' it gives them, but who continue to hand out bad advice based on their personal feelings/opinions which are not truly supportive of breastfeeding. I don't think the general public has any clue about the difference between what it takes to earn the title "Certified Lactation Educator" (which may be a 3-hour course, at the end of which one gets a certificate), and an IBCLC. WE HERE, on the other hand, know that the IBCLC means much more than attending a course and getting a certificate. And none of this even touches the problem of people claiming credentials for which they have no basis at all. I am thinking here of a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, who travels around the country masquerading as a "Certified Lactation Consultant" when in fact he (yes, it's a he) has never passed the IBCLC exam. He certainly has attended many courses and conferences, and has many "certificates" of attendance/completion. Many of you know of whom I write. He also claims to have a Master's degree from Johns Hopkins University, which he does not. Kathy Dettwyler _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html