Integrative Lactation Care

Since many families I work with have only ever experienced lactation care within the hospital setting (or the hospital system’s outpatient clinics), they’re often not aware how different in-home lactation care can look. Let’s break down what’s included in a consult and why private lactation care costs more, but many parents report higher satisfaction with their experience.

In-Home Consultations: A Deeper Dive

Intake Review

Before I ever see you, I gather extensive information about your background. Anyone who has worked with me already knows that I give families a gentle warning about the length of my intake form – it’s 10 (digital) pages! Those details are vital for me to provide you with the best care.

In my intake, it’s important for me to learn about…
– your medical history (pre-pregnancy, fertility, pregnancy, birth, & postpartum)
– relevant family history
– current & past feeding challenges/symptoms on baby’s side
– current & past challenges/symptoms on lactating parent’s side
– short- and long-term feeding goals

This helps me formulate additional questions and a tentative plan of action for our appointment.

You might be saying – you’re a lactation consultant! Aren’t you just helping tweak latch and positioning? 

Sometimes – but for many of the cases I see, we need to do much more than that. For example:

• If milk supply is low and doesn’t respond to typical approaches for increasing, we might decide to run labs based on your medical history to rule out or identify hormonal imbalances or micronutrient deficiencies.
• If baby is experiencing reflux and there’s a family history of food allergies or IBS, we might need to look at supporting maternal (and infant) gut health (a favorite topic of mine!)
• If you have persistent clogs & mastitis, we need to not just support the health of your breast microbiome, but also make sure baby is removing milk effectively.
• If baby is refusing the bottle, it’s not about getting mom to leave the house – we need to identify what about baby’s oral function is making bottle-feeding challenging, and incorporate strategic exercises to support them.

As an integrative practitioner, I care about getting to the root of your challenges – so having an in-depth picture of your health in advance is vital!

Assessment

In an initial consultation, my assessment will aim to cover all aspects of feeding. If you are nursing or working on latching, I’ll observe a feeding. If you are bottle feeding or supplementing using another method, I’ll observe that as well. For a nursing assessment, we will also perform a weighted feeding to see milk transfer. If you are pumping, we will fit your pump for optimal comfort and output.

I also conduct a thorough exam of baby to make sure their body and oral structures have optimal range of motion and their reflexes are firing as needed for effective feeding. Babies feed with their whole bodies, not just their mouths! This includes an evaluation of key signs and symptoms for oral restrictions. *Most* healthcare providers and lactation consultants aren’t taking the time to perform an extensive infant exam for feeding challenges – and may be missing really critical data about why baby may be struggling to feed successfully. 

The best part is that all of this gets to happen in the comfort of your own home. You don’t have to travel or worry about getting to the appointment on time – I come to you. This helps me to see you and your baby in your most natural element. 

Care Plan & Follow-Up

Before I leave, we’ll discuss a plan for helping improve your experience in the short-term, as well as any considerations for moving towards meeting your long-term goals. Sometimes, we achieve both in one visit! But, more often than not, feeding challenges can take several visits to get you where you want to go.

Within 24 hours of your visit, you receive a written care plan with links, videos, & resources in your patient portal. You also have the ability to reach out with any follow-up questions or concerns for two weeks following your appointment.

Investment

To give you and your baby the thorough assessment and care you deserve, an initial appointment typically takes 90 minutes. When I leave your home, I want you to feel like you have satisfying answers to your questions, a game plan you feel good about, and shoulders down from your ears. My goal is for you to feel confident that you have made an investment in you and your baby’s long-term health and well-being. 

ILC does not accept insurance at this time, but accessibility is of the utmost importance to us. We do accept HSA payment, provide superbills, and offer sliding-scale pricing. You can learn more about our Services and Pricing on our website:

integrativelactationcare.com