Integrative Lactation Care

Pregnancy and birth are transformative, and influence the physiology of the body in significant ways. Assessing postpartum levels of hormones, micronutrients, and other markers is essential for ensuring optimal health of the birthing parent (and by association, the baby, too!).

Hormone dysfunction and/or micronutrient deficiencies can cause or exacerbate issues with metabolism, appetite, mental health, milk supply, and more.

Postpartum wellness is foundational to a parent’s ability to recover well from birth, enjoy their new baby, and thrive in parenthood.

Postpartum labs should be a standard of care for all new parents.

What Labs Do I Need?

For ALL parents, I recommend asking your provider to run:

• CBC (Complete Blood Count)
• CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel)
• Full thyroid panel (TSH, free T4, free T3, TPOAbs, RT3)
• Full iron panel (Iron, ferritin, TIBC, %TS, Hgb)
• Micronutrient levels (Vitamin D, Zinc, Folate)

These will offer a picture into your overall postpartum health and your provider can offer guidance about how to rectify any levels that are suboptimal. If you don’t feel like your provider is offering helpful guidance, you may wish to consider a second opinion (potentially with a functional medicine provider).

Special Circumstances & Additional Labs

If any of the following unique presentations apply to you, you may also want to request additional labs:

• History of complex health issues before pregnancy (including, but not limited to: PCOS, hypothyroidism, Graves/Hashimoto’s, autoimmune issues, insulin resistance, anemia)
• Health issues that arose during your pregnancy (including, but not limited to: anemia, gestational diabetes)
• Significant blood loss during birth
• Low milk supply despite frequent & effective milk expression (ideally after confirmation from an IBCLC)

Additional labs you may want to consider based on your unique presentation:

• Additional thyroid markers:
  • TPO Antibodies, Thyroglobulin Antibodies, TSH Receptor Antibodies, Total T4, Total T3
• Sex hormones (DHEA, FSH, LH, progesterone, testosterone)
• Prolactin
• Fasting insulin, A1C
• Homocysteine & HsCRP
• Lipid panel

What If My Provider Won’t Order Labs?

I am astounded at the number of times I have heard from postpartum parents that their primary care provider dismissed their inquiry around whether postpartum labs were necessary, or even denied a direct request for labs.

You can order labs directly for yourself through RupaHealth or DirectLabs; I frequently help my clients through this process.

Targeted Lactation Support

As an integrative lactation consultant, I work closely with primary care providers to help parents optimize their well-being for thriving in parenthood.

As an IBCLC and Certified Low Milk Supply Specialist, I have supported dozens of families through challenges whose hormone levels were not optimal to identify and optimize low milk supply and help families meet their feeding goals.

If you need support getting to the root of low milk supply, I offer both in-person and telehealth consults, and accept several insurance plans.