Telehealth lactation consultations are available seven days a week.

Telehealth lactation consults are useful if you are a new, sick, or exhausted mama, a mother of multiples or premies, when transportation is a challenge, and when you want to eliminate your exposure to the outside world. They are also useful for quick questions, followups and interviews.

A HIPAA compliant and encrypted video consult with Donna Bruschi, IBCLC brings "much better than expected" results 98% of the time. 

It may seem impossible to address sore nipples, poor latch, low milk supply, oversupply, tongue tie, pumping, baby refusal, mastitis and return to work via telehealth, but it actually works really well, when done well.

I have provided volunteer phone consults for 25 years and video consults for 12 years. I understand how to make you feel comfortable and empowered using this medium.

Telehealth is a very effective method.

Here's what happens during a video visit:

It is super helpful if your partner or someone else can be your camera operator. This gives you two hands to focus on feeding your baby. I will guide them on what to do. If you don't have someone, we will make it work, but you will feel more supported if someone helps you in a time when you need it.

You get to stay home in your jammies with your baby. 

We talk about what is happening with breastfeeding, what happened in the past,  what you have tried, and how you feel about it. I look at your health history and your birth and breastfeeding experiences and learn how they impact your current challenges.

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

I try to 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 and optimal feeds. It will have a summary of everything we discussed.

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

I am completely comfortable coaching you with hands-off methods. During a regular consult, I wouldn’t touch you, or your baby, without your permission.
 
If you have breast pain, plugged ducts, or have had breast surgery, I will guide you to locate and describe what you are experiencing and feeling. This empowers you to know your breasts better. It helps determine if you need a medical diagnoses and treatment in addition to a lactation consultation.
 
I will look at your baby and guide you to do an examination of their mouth and tongue with your gloved finger. This empowers you to learn what your baby's mouth structure and suckling, looks and feels like.

For example, if your nipples are sore, your finger will probably feel the compression or friction in your baby's mouth that is causing your distress. Based on what you describe, I will provide ways you can resolve those issues so you feel more comfortable when nursing and your baby breastfeeds more efficiently.

We observe you and your baby nursing.

We observe and describe you and your baby's interactions while you feed, so you can understand and make room for the instinctual and innate responses that are helping, and sometimes hindering your progress.

For example, babies instinctively put their hands in their mouths, which impedes you from latching them onto your nipple. Rather than preventing them from doing something they are driven to do, which frustrated them, you can learn how to work with it.

• I coach you in adjusting your positioning and latching so you feel more comfortable immediately and over the long term
• If your baby is fussy and refusing to nurse, or sleeping through feeds, we observe to understand why they are behaving that way.
• 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:

• An appointment as early as today or tomorrow. Babies are born every day and they need to eat!
• Specialized attention in your home environment. I will help you set up your 'nursing nest' and teach optimal positioning, including side-lying positions, so that you are comfortable every time you feed your baby.
• Compassionate counseling so you, your partner and your baby feel better mentally and emotionally, as individuals and as partners, in this special relationship.
• 1 week of phone/text conversations 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.

Telehealth consults 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-home, in-office, or telehealth and are usually 30-60 minutes.