Telehealth Lactation Consultation
$150 if not covered by insurance
90 minutes
Telehealth consultations are available seven days a week.
Telehealth visits 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 secure and encrypted video consult is very effective for 95% of the people.
Sore nipples, poor latch, low milk supply, oversupply, tongue tie, pumping, baby refusal, mastitis and return to work, among others. I have given phone consults for 25 years and video consults for 12 years. I understand how to make telehealth effective.
Here's what happens during a video visit:
It is most helpful if your partner, or someone else, can be your camera operator. This gives you two hands to focus on feeding the baby. I will guide them on what to do. If you don't have someone, we will make it work, but they are really helpful.
You get to stay home in your jammies with your baby.
We talk about what is happening with breastfeeding, what happened in the past, 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 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 work using a permission-based, hands-off technique.
During a regular consult, I wouldn’t touch you, or your baby, without your permission and I am completely comfortable coaching remotely.
If you have breast pain, plugged ducts, or have had breast surgery, I will guide you to locate and describe what you are experiencing. This can empower you to know your breasts better and will help us to determine if you need a medical diagnoses and treatment, in addition to a lactation consultation.
I will look at your baby and help you to do an examination of their mouth and tongue with your gloved finger. This empowers you to learn what their mouth structure and suckling, looks and feels like.
For example, if your nipples are sore, your finger will usually be able to feel the compression or friction in your baby's mouth that is causing your distress. Based on what you find, I will provide ways you can resolve those issues so you feel more comfortable when nursing and your baby breastfeeds more efficiently.
I observe you and your baby nursing.
I coach you in adjusting your positioning and latching until you feel more comfortable. If your baby is fussy and refusing to nurse, or sleeping through feeds, we observe to understand why they are behaving that way way.
I give suggestions for you to try while nursing and in many cases, you will see instant improvement.
I 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, you can learn how to work with it.
You will receive:
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An appointment as early as today or tomorrow. Babies are born every day and they need to eat!
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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.
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Frequent and timely follow up until feeding your baby is enjoyable and comfortable for you and your baby.
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Compassionate counseling so you, your partner and your baby feel better mentally and emotionally as individuals and as partners in this special relationship.
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Three phone or text conversations after the visit, for updates, feedback and questions. You can call me 24/7, if you need to. You are not "bothering me." If it's not convenient for me, I will call you back when I can talk.
Telehealth consults are effective and cost-effective.
One 90 minute consultation gets most people back on track and successfully breastfeeding and 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 may be varying lengths.