specialization

I had lunch one day last week with my supervising Lactation Consultant and the charge nurse.  The nurse was surprised – even shocked – when she learned that I am not an RN.  “How can you evaluate the babies without a nursing background?” she asked.  “Well, I do have a fair amount of experience in maternal/child health,” I said, “and in the hospital the patients already have nurses and doctors evaluating their overall health.”

What I didn’t say, but would have liked to, is this:

Breastfeeding is not pathological.  It does not take a nursing background, a skillset in medication administration, nor a complete rundown of acronyms and abbreviations to assist a mom and a baby with breastfeeding.  And a nursing degree doesn’t provide the level of training and expertise in breastfeeding that I will have as an IBCLC, even without being an RN.

I became a lactation educator (Certified Lactation Educator Counselor, if we’re being formal about it) last spring, as a way of formalizing my advice-giving and strengthening my knowledge base.  I initially planned to teach breastfeeding classes and run support groups, especially for moms of twins whose unique needs are not always recognized nor supported in classes/groups geared toward moms of babies that come one at a time.  I’m working toward becoming an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) because I wanted to be able to help moms with more complex issues, to have more information and resources at my disposal, to be able to handle complex breastfeeding situations.  And I’m already more experienced at those things than most postpartum nurses.

I may not be able to change an IV, assess pain levels, administer medications, or tend to the myriad of other very important tasks that the nurses manage on a daily basis.  What I can do is this: listen, support, assist, encourage, specialize.