Insights - 7 Things Every New IBCLC Needs to Know
#1
Welcome to my IBCLC© Day 2023 Series! Each day I’ll share with you one piece of insight about our work. (If you’re too excited and you just want to read them all now, go here and download the whole list)
Let me know in the comments if you agree, disagree, never thought about it this way, or whatever you’re feeling!
Although in some professions inside and outside of the health field a sense of infallibility and authoritarianism is built into the learning process (under the guise of “how to appear confident”), the process of becoming an IBCLC is infused with opportunities to nurture humility.
1. Even when you are an IBCLC, you won't know the answer to every question your client or patient asks.
Really - you won't. They will have questions you could never have imagined. This goes for questions you will be asked by nurses, doctors, neighbors/strangers who found out you "do" lactation, and more.
But here's the beauty: you will know how to find the answers they seek. There will be time to locate it. As you gain experience, you will begin to more easily navigate between those questions which actually have answers and those which do not ("there's really no research about this; that's why we base our practice on what we DO know and what makes sense biologically.")
You have your textbooks and study materials, you know about great websites for credible, evidence-informed lactation information, and you're building your network of lactation colleagues so you can seek guidance and expertise. You are helping, even when it takes a bit more time to locate the answers your client is seeking.
We don’t know everything we need to know right now, and science takes time because science is a process, not an endgame. Keep your mind open always to the wonder of human lactation and how it hits differently for every person. Keep asking questions.
Keep learning (and not just from formal continuing education opportunities - learn from those you serve, read your journals, spend time discussing cases and concepts with your peers, including those in other health disciplines).
Most of all, keep listening. We may hold expertise as IBCLCs, but there is always more we can learn.
Information about the IBCLC© credential and how to pursue it can be found at www.iblce.org
Information about IBCLC Day can be found at www.ilca.org