Almost all national and international statements regarding lactation consultant certification, call for changes to improve education for health care providers and lactation management.  There has been a general plan for improvement that was arrived at based on evidence.  Changing current practices has been a slow process that needs a well thought-out- plan.  We will be focusing on the next couple of blogs about the subject of evidence based practice as the foundation to making changes.  The blueprint that was developed for change and to guide policy makers in the attempt to protect and support breast feeding is outlined as followed; Step 1 – Establish national breast feeding committees.  Step 2 – Promote the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) Step 3 – Implement and enforce the International Code on Marketing Breast-milk substitutes, Step 4 – Establish maternity protection, Step 5 – Train Medical Personnel and Health care workers, Step 6 – Support exclusive and sustained breast feeding throughout the community, Step 7 – Provide resources for support groups, Step 8 – Promote breast feeding campaigns, Step 9 – Integrate breast feeding messages into child health activities, and finally Step 10 – Improve women’s social and economic status.  Breast feeding is one of the most critical ways a baby and mother first relate.  It is no accident that newborns have only enough site developed to see roughly the distance from a mothers’ breast to a mothers’ face.  Babies are born with the most basic tools to identify their mother and begin the natural bond of trust and dependence.  Lactation consultants help enable mothers to establish a healthy bond with their newborns through breast feeding, facilitating a lifelong pattern of trust and dependence that a child and mother share.

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