Breastfeeding Support and Lactation Counseling in Northeast Pennsylvania
Breastfeeding is the ideal way to feed your baby – research studies have shown this time and time again. The milk that YOUR body makes for YOUR baby is a truly amazing substance! It provides benefits to both mother and baby that last both of their lifetimes and can never be duplicated with formula feeding. In fact, increasing studies show that optimal health for baby and mother is achieved when baby exclusively breastfeeds for at least 6 months. That means no water, formula, juice or solid food.
Every mother wants to do what is best for her baby. But breastfeeding isn’t always as easy as it seems. While the majority of women start out breastfeeding in the hospital, studies show that by 3 months, only 40% of women are exclusively breastfeeding their babies, and by 6 months, only 18%. While these are improvements over a decade or two ago, we can do better!
If most women start out wanting to breastfeed their babies, what interferes with them achieving their goal? Lack of support is main contributor. In the hospital, mothers receive support from the nursing staff. But once they return home, that support disappears for most women in our culture.
While breastfeeding is “natural and normal”, many women experience difficulties in the early days of nursing, such as:
- challenges with latching the baby on
- sore nipples
- breast engorgement (the temporary fullness when your milk first comes in)
- concerns over milk supply (too much or too little!)
- breast infections
These easily-remedied problems are the main causes of “giving up” nursing in the first 2 weeks. But women who seek out and receive breastfeeding support and guidance, along with proper information can overcome these early challenges with ease.
Even after nursing is established, other concerns may arise, such as:
- Fussy baby/colic
- Plugged ducts/Breast infections
- Overproduction
- Overactive letdown
- Pumping for moms who must leave their baby
- Biting
- Nursing strikes
- Adding complementary food
- Weaning
Again support is the key to overcoming these challenges. None of these need to be reasons to stop breastfeeding!
I have more than 20 years of experience working with women and their babies in the childbearing year and after. My goal is to provide ongoing breastfeeding support to women experiencing lactation problems, to help women achieve their lactation goals.
As a Lactation Counselor, I offer breastfeeding education prior during pregnancy, help mothers and babies get off to a great start, find solutions when concerns arise, and answer questions mothers often have about feeding their babies. I can show you how to:
- Position and latch your baby
- Help you breastfeed after a caesarean birth
- Make sure you make plenty of milk
- Breastfeed more than one baby
- Prevent most breastfeeding concerns
- Find solutions if breastfeeding is uncomfortable or not working well at first
- Use a breast pump
- Breastfeed when your baby is sick or in the NICU
- Breastfeed after you return to work or school
- Feel confident that you can breastfeed for as long as you and your baby want
A counseling session includes
- listening to the mother to identify the problem
- assistance in resolving the problem(s)
- follow up assistance, by phone or in person, until mother and baby are happily nursing!
If you are experiencing breastfeeding difficulties, require guidance on parenting, need to consult during pregnancy about breastfeeding support or are planning to return to work, do not hesitate to contact me.
PUMP RENTAL
I am also a pump rental station for hospital-grade pumps for women who need that level of pump assistance.
Fee: $65/month; or $150 for 3 months; or $5/day if only needed for a few days.
Hours: Flexible, by appointment. Monday to Friday.
Location: My home office at 21 Rocky Springs Rd, Bethany, PA 18431 (3 miles north of Honesdale)
Travel: I will travel 40 minutes in any direction from my home/office without additional charge. Home visits outside this area include a traveling fee. Virtual visits are an option too.
Fees:
Office appointments – $40.00
Home visits – $50 initial consultation and $30 subsequent visit.
Contact me at 414-313-1464 or jan@birthspirit.com