The pathway for non doctors is very stringent and I have been preparing for almost 2 years now. My mentor, Dra. Grace Agrasada, who is the 1st IBCLC in the Philippines, a US Certified Lactation Counselor and the Country Coordinator for the IBLCE (International Board for Lactation Consultancy Examinations), has been stressing how important it is to be thoroughly prepared for this career. The 2500 supervised clinical hours alone is a difficult feat. If I were to do it everyday for 4 hours for 6 days a week, that would be about 18 months. But my mentor nor other IBCLCs don't have 4 hours to spare me for this long that's why it's taking a while. I also have to take some pre medicine courses like anatomy, biology, etc... And invest in about at least 2 expensive resource books costing about 5T each.
Of course I can always just claim my 2500 hours, have somebody share with me the subjects I need to study and photocopy the books. But as Dra. Grace said, this is not the way to become a good IBCLC. I may be one in word but in practice, will not be respected. So, I take the long path.
She targets that I can take the board exam by July 2009. I will now have to devote full attention to breastfeeding and studying. But the rewards are far greater than the wait.
Even with lactation counselling, she mentions, it is easy to claim to be a breastfeeding counselor (some people even claim that they are consultants when in fact there are only 5 IBCLCs in the country now), but what is important is the certifying body that gives credibility to the profession, which justifies the professional charges. As she said yesterday during the beginning of the 2nd lactation counselling management course, this eventually will be regulated as well, that is the moms' protection against false or lacking information.
by Abbie Yabot
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