Sorry, I have procrastinated until almost the last day with this blog. My goal is to take each topic from the Study Schedule and write about it during the week it is highlighted. I hope my notes in your inbox will be a reminder to keep moving forward and tackle one discipline at a time...July will be here before we know it. If you haven't downloaded your Study Schedule (or as I like to think of it, your time budget), go to http://www.birthingandbreastfeeding.com/ and look under "Resources."
There are a lot of really good resources for Lactation Consultants available. I started the study schedule with this topic since some of the other topics will require you to search articles, read journals, refer moms to others when a problem is outside of your scope of practice. Anyway, look over these resources, bookmark the ones you think you may need again and add to them for others checking out the blog.
It is always important to be part of your professional organizations, so I want to start with ILCA (International Lactation Consultant Association). They have added a new category to their membership this year! I am very excited since the access to their website is invaluable. The fee for US members is $165, but this statement now appears on the ILCA website:
ILCA recognizes that students may benefit from membership in ILCA... ILCA also realizes
that many students are not working fulltime and may have difficulty paying for full membership.
Therefore, ILCA now offers a STUDENT-level of membership. This membership will give you
all the benefits of ILCA membership EXCEPT you will not receive a print copy of the Journal
—only online access...this can be used a maximum of 2 years.
The catch is an instructor must sign off that the member is a student in a Lactation Course. Any GOO Student can print this form out and fax it to me, other students need to have their professors sign the form prior to sending it in. This is a savings of up to $200 over a two-year period. You can find the Student Application at http://www.ilca.org/files/membership/join_ilca/2011_STUDENTAFFIRMATION.pdf. For more information about ILCA and the membership benefits, visit www.ilca.org.
If you are a practicing LC or student earning hours and are looking into professional insurance, the United States Lactation Consultants Association has liability insurance available to members. You can join ILCA and USLCA together for one rate. http://www.uslca.org/.
Another must-have resource is Dr. Hale's medication website. This site explains medications and how they relate to lactation and pregnancy. This is great to refer moms to or to keep yourself aware of new drugs and their interactions during pregnancy and lactation. Dr. Hale has a brand-new website at http://www.infantrisk.org/. It is worth checking out.
Looking for another resource and Jack Newman's articles? Those will be found at http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/meds.shtml. This site also takes pride in adhering to the WHO Code. Additional information about the WHO Code can be found at the WHO page http://www.who.int, which also has breastfeeding information and fact sheets.
Remember the national and local branches of LLLI http://www.llli.org/ which offers a wealth of information and local resources.
The last one I will mention is WIC/USDA http://www.fns.usda.gov. and one of my favorites, http://lovingsupport.org/ (this site is still under construction to some degree, but soon Riverside County residents will have a wealth of information, including local clinics and support groups, available to them. There is also a toll-free, 24-hour, bilingual number for Riverside County residents.
I have given you some food for thought. Each one of these sites have several links and you could be kept busy navigating around the web for months. Pick a few trusted sites, and add to your list as your studies and research leads you to reputable locations. I know this is a very small sample. I have not included a lot of government programs, blogs, and some of the well-known sites like Kellymom or breastfeeding.com...these are all good sites and resources, but the study topic this week is "Resources for Lactation Consultants" and I just wanted to give you a sampling. Your job is to search and document which ones you like and feel would be most beneficial. Also, additional links are on my website, http://www.birthingandbreastfeeding.com/, and I welcome additional submissions there, and as comments here.
These are exciting times for lactation. Breastfeeding and the demand for lactation help is on the rise. Keep focused on your journey and I will be back nest week with "Lactation Management"
No comments:
Post a Comment