Care That Starts Before Baby Arrives, and Continues For As Long
As You Need It
From your first prenatal visit through weaning and everything in between, you’ll have a consistent, trusted companion in your corner. Because breastfeeding isn’t learned in a single session.
MY APPROACH
Meeting before your baby comes give us a chance to cover the basics, set realistic expectations, and anticipate your unique challenges. Prenatal sessions are crucial to avoiding the most common pitfalls of new breastfeeders (like knowing when a nursling is eating well). Moreover, becoming a client at 32 weeks guarantees an early first appointment with baby–when you most need to be seen and have the hardest time reaching out.
Bring your partner! How to feed your baby is a co-parenting decision, and breastfeeding will take both of you (and then some).
Starting Care
in Pregnancy
This means planning to be seen soon after the baby is born, rather than waiting until problems arise to seek help. Prenatal clients are seen in the first week postpartum, when breastfeeding is the most confusing and overwhelming.
This early visit gives us a chance to assess your milk supply, your breast health, your baby’s weight gain, oral anatomy, and ability to transfer milk--before any of these become severe and cause other issues. Once we have a picture of what’s going on, we make a plan around whatever is most important to you. This may be latching, or healing damaged nipples, or even weaning. The choice is always yours.
Standardizing Preventive Care
In a world of information overload and influencers with monotonous, monetized “solutions”, regular follow up with a trusted provider is the ace up your sleeve. You’ll have a personal relationship and a consistent approach to care, as well as someone who knows your story and can make suggestions based on your individual circumstances.
This is particularly valuable in breastfeeding support, as lactation consultants are often the only providers watching both moms and babies, and can do so over the long term.
There are many stages to breastfeeding, and families deserve access to assistance for the duration of it. Weekly visits are ideal until parents feel confident to go longer. After breastfeeding is established, good times to check back in are before returning to work, at three and five months between pediatrician visits, and to celebrate milestones. Assistance with weaning is available at any time.
Providing Continuity Of Care
The most common complication of pregnancy of pregnancy and birth in the U.S. involves maternal mental health, and currently most cases go untreated. Breastfeeding and mental health share a complex relationship, with one affecting the other. I’m certified in perinatal mental health (PMH-C) by Postpartum Support International to recognize and screen for emotional wellness, so I'll be checking in during our time together.
As a provider who can offer regular follow up as a norm, I'm well positioned to monitor you through the ups and downs of life postpartum, and refer for additional care as needed. There’s nothing more important to your baby than a healthy, happy you.
Making Space for
Mental Health
*Wang, Z., et al. (2021). Mapping Global Prevalence of Depression Among Postpartum Women. Translational Psychiatry, 11, 640.
Your support at home is critical, and we encourage you to bring your people to visits so they can learn with you, and help you incorporate techniques and strategies we discuss after you are home. (You’ve probably noticed it’s a little harder to remember things these days.) Breastfeeding was never meant to be done alone, and it rests on the shoulders of your community--not just you.
Help may look like another nursing mom showing you a new hold, but more often it’s a cousin cleaning the kitchen and leaving a meal in the freezer, or your neighbor walking your dog so you can rest. A healthy postpartum depends on you being nurtured so you can rest, learn to breastfeed, and fall in love with your baby.
Including Your Village
Your breastfeeding is whatever you want it to be, and this can change over the course of your experience. No desire to latch? No problem. We can talk about pumping and supply. Love to latch but need more milk and hate to pump? We’ll discuss how to incorporate supplementing so you’re not taking on more than feels manageable.
Sometimes the balance feels impossible to strike. You’ll have my presence and perspective to draw from as you weigh what is best for you, and to remind you what a great mom you are.
Being
Open-Minded
Whether you're preparing to nurse for the first time, working through a rough patch, or ready to wean, care plans are built around your unique circumstances, never a cookie-cutter approach. Most visits are covered by insurance.
- Prenatal consultations
- Newborn & postpartum visits
- Ongoing, continuous care
- Weight checks & milk transfer assessment
- Tongue & lip tie assessment
- Pumping & supply support
- Maternal mental health screening
- Referral network of other like-minded professionals
- Multilingual care (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese)
Compassionate Lactation Support, from Pregnancy through Weaning
Photo by MoonBloom Photo
"Rachel is grounded, present, and very knowledgeable. Being a new mom would have been much scarier and lonelier without her expertise and guidance."
- JESSICA
"Rachel is a knowledgeable and dedicated lactation consultant. She brings experience and compassion to her work, helping parents navigate their breastfeeding journey with confidence."
- ANA
"Rachel is hands down the best lactation consultant I have encountered! Aside from being knowledgeable in her field, her personality shines. She is so down to earth, understanding, and kind. "
