Office Lactation Consultation

When you want a quiet, clean, comfortable home-away-from-home, there is nothing so comforting as Donna's office for a lactation consultation.

Office visits are useful if you are a new mama, a mother of small children and dogs, when finding your couch beneath laundry and toys is a challenge, and when you want 90 minutes of peace and quiet. You

• Like to get out of the house
• Have transportation
• Like saving money
• Might be interested in trying a different breast pump
• Might seek a comfy nursing bra that fits

Office lactation consultations are available 7 days a week.

Here's what happens when you come to my office:  

Bring your baby, your husband, partner or other support person, and your pump, if you are pumping. Bring a bottle of milk/formula if your baby is not breastfeeding predictably. You probably can leave your nursing pillow at home.

I have a comfortable office inside Lester Chiropractic with a magic nursing chair,  Boppy, Brestfriend, Twin Brestfriend, lots of pillows, snacks, water, tea and anything else you might need.

I wear an N95 mask. I wash my hands before we start. I reschedule appointments if I don't feel 100%. I run a HEPA air filter so you don't have to mask, but you can if you want to.

We talk about what is happening with breastfeeding, what happened in the hospital, and since then, what you have tried, and how you feel about it. I look at your health history and your birth and breastfeeding experiences and how they impact your difficulties.

We often work on:

• sore nipples
• poor latch
• low milk supply or oversupply
• tongue tie
• pumping
• baby refusing to latch
• mastitis
• return to work
• food allergies/intolerances

I always work using permission-based, hands-off and hands-over practices.

I am completely comfortable coaching you with hands-off methods. During a consultation, I won't touch you, or your baby, without your permission.

If you have breast pain, plugged ducts, or have had breast surgery, I will ask you to locate and describe what you are experiencing and feeling. This empowers you to know your breasts better.  If you want me to palpate your breast in order to get more information, I will. It can help determine if you need a medical diagnoses and treatment in addition to a lactation consultation.

With your permission, I will look at your baby's body and head structure and do an examination of their mouth and tongue with my gloved finger. This allows you to learn what your baby's mouth structure and suckling, looks and feels like.

For example, if your nipples are sore, my finger will feel the compression or friction in your baby's mouth that is causing your distress. Based on what I feel and see, I will provide options for you to resolve those issues. You can feel more comfortable when nursing and your baby can breastfeed more efficiently.

We will observe you and your baby nursing.

As we observe, I will describe you and your baby's interactions, so you can understand and make room for the instinctual and innate responses that are helping, and sometimes hindering your breastfeeding.

For example, babies instinctively put their hands in their mouths, which means you can't latch them onto your nipple. Rather than preventing them from doing something they are driven to do, which frustrates them, you can learn how to work with it.

1. I coach you in adjusting your positioning and latching so you feel more comfortable immediately, and over the long term
2. If your baby is fussy and refusing to nurse, or sleeping through feeds, we observe to understand why they are behaving that way.
3. I give suggestions for you to try while you are nursing and in many cases, you will see and feel instant improvement in your current challenge.

You will receive:

1. A timely appointment. Babies are born every day and they need to eat!
2. Attention to your home environment, so you can set up a 'nursing nest' where you are comfortable every time you feed your baby.
3. Compassionate counseling so you, your partner and your baby feel better mentally and emotionally, as individuals and as partners, in this special relationship.
4. Phone/text conversations for one week after the visit, for updates, feedback and questions. You can call/text me 24/7, if you need to. You are not "bothering me." If it's not convenient for me, I will call/text you back when I can.

I answer all your questions, and your partner's questions.

I anticipate what might happen in the days following our appointment, and address those situations as well.

At the end of the visit, you will feel more confident and more comfortable. You will have a written breastfeeding-friendly feeding and care plan so you know what to focus on.

A care plan includes recommended feeding frequency, what to look for in the next few days, how to know baby is getting enough, and how to stimulate or balance milk production for optimal feeds. It is a summary of what we discussed.

Office lactation consultations are effective and cost-effective.

One 90 minute consultation gets most people back on track and successfully breastfeeding. Some people do better with a series of on-going support sessions. You will know better during our first consultation as we develop your care plan. I aim to provide the right amount of support: Not too much and definitely not too little.

Follow up visits can be in your home, in my office, or via telehealth and are usually 30-60 minutes.