To all the moms who are breast feeding or planning on breast feeding- this one is for you! A BIG thanks to Laurie Beck, RN, MSN, IBCLC who so graciously serves the mommys in this area!
IBCLCS – International Board Certified Lactation Consultants – Who??
-Contributed by Laurie Beck, RN, MSN, IBCLC 9-21-09
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
It is a well known fact that breastmilk is the preferred and optimal nutrition for all babies. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all babies receive human breastmilk for the first 6 months of life and beyond. Moms are smart these days and have done their research. All moms want the best for their special babies. There are more resources available to moms than they have time to take advantage of. How hard could it be to breastfeed? Women around the world do it everyday and have been doing it for years!! There is an 80/20 Rule I came across in my career many years ago. Eighty percent of the women delivering babies do fine and don’t need assistance with breastfeeding, but then there are twenty percent of the moms that do experience breastfeeding difficulty. An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) is a professional allied health care provider with expertise in the field of lactation who has spent hundreds of hours mentoring under an established IBCLC, attended a minimum of 75 hours of breastfeeding course work, and successfully passed the annual exam that is offered once a year. IBCLCs must recertify every five years and resit for the exam every 10 years.
Situations that may call for an IBCLC are: prenatal breastfeeding classes to prepare to successfully breastfeed, history of maternal infertility or breast reductions, mothers with multiples, mothers with low milk supply issues, difficulty with latching the infant onto the breast, returning to work and school, medications that are safe to take while breastfeeding, etc….
The goal of the IBCLC is to help the mother and the family to make the best decisions for their house. We want you to enjoy your newborn. Breastfeeding should be a positive experience.
If you need to find an IBCLC you can go to www.ilca.org for a lactation consultant directory.
Note from Carrie: For those of you who made it to the Baby Expo, I hope you all had as good a time as I did. My son and I really enjoyed the festivities (ie. the children's dance performances) and all the free samples. Some of my favorite things included the display of new age potties, the free baby yogurt, and hand-out toys to the kids. I also found a plethora of information/resources to be useful and helpful. Thanks HEB!
What was REALLY valuable were all the conversations I had with the professionals who offer their resources to new moms in this area. At the Driscoll Children's Hospital booth I spoke with Laurie Beck, the Lactation Program Coordinator.
She gave me her undivided attention as I expressed some of my concerns about breast feeding. Even though I have breast fed two children already, I was able to receive many new insights from Laurie in just a few minutes. Her offer of information was very timely as I prepare to breast feed my third baby in the coming year.
Laurie was so gracious in sharing more information for the blog. I really appreciate her support and willingness to share. Thank you Laurie!
I'd also like to note that I have added a number of resources to the side bar of the blog. Please take a look :)
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