In Home Lactation Support With Nourish

Have you ever wondered what happens during a Nourish in home lactation consultation? Mamas often want to know how long the consultation is? Does the baby need to be hungry when I arrive? What ongoing support is provided?

So I thought I’d take this opportunity to let my readers know how things flow when Nourish is hired.

Once I receive your on-line submission for an in-home breastfeeding consult, I do my best to get in touch with you within 1-2 hours of receiving your email. I can usually schedule a consultation within 24-48 hours of receiving a request for support. Nourish Lactation Consulting supports breastfeeding mothers across the entire city of Calgary and surrounding communities. Some days I’m in the far NE in the morning and end my day in the deep SE. Wherever there is a need to help breastfeeding families, Nourish is there! We also commute outside Calgary city limits to communities like High River, Okotoks, Airdrie, Cochrane, Canmore, and Crossfield and coming up this weekend Drumheller!

At a mutually agreed upon time, and ideally when your baby is ready to breastfeed, I will arrive at your home. As soon as I enter your house, I sanitize my hands, and put on a face mask. Then we sit down and have a socially distanced chat so I can gather a detailed history of your pregnancy, birth story, and current breastfeeding challenges. I’m still old school when it comes to taking down notes. I hand write everything to ensure I give you my undivided focus and attention. This generally takes about 10-15 minutes. 

Then I’ll ask you to undress your baby but leave a clean diaper on so I can perform a pre-feed weight on my freshly sanitized Babyweigh scale. This highly accurate scale calculates how much milk your baby drinks while breastfeeding based on a pre and post feed weight. 1g of weight is equal to 1ml in volume.

After your baby is weighed, you are asked to sit in your most comfy, preferred spot for breastfeeding your baby. Sometimes this means we go to your bedroom or the baby’s nursery or sometimes we stay in the family room. It’s really what works best for you in order to ensure you feel supported and relaxed!

Then I observe your baby breastfeed from start to finish. The nice thing about a home consultation with Nourish is that I am present the entire time. I hear from many clients that receive lactation support in an office setting that they often feel rushed or are left alone for most of the feed while the Doctor jumps to the next room to see another patient only returning once the baby is finished eating to take another weight and give some recommendations. This can often leave a mama feeling frustrated, not heard, and isn’t really the best way to provide optimal breastfeeding support.

As I watch your baby breastfeed I’m usually bobbing about from side to side checking the latch, checking your baby's bottom lip, watching body alignment, listening for swallows and appropriate pacing, asking questions and making suggestions. During the consultation, I almost always perform a tongue and lip assessment to rule out tongue tie and also perform a full suck assessment to determine tongue function. The breastfeeding component generally takes about 30-45 minutes. 

After your baby is done breastfeeding and burped, I will perform another weight to see how much milk your baby consumed during the feed. Parents often love this part because one of the biggest ‘mysteries’ of breastfeeding is knowing how much milk your baby is drinking? Sometimes parents are shocked at how much milk is consumed in such a short period of time. Other times, low milk intake means the breastfeeding plan I create involves pumping, supplementing, and ongoing support. So the scale really helps give a good ‘snapshot’ of how breastfeeding is progressing. I generally don’t test weigh if the mama’s milk hasn’t come in yet as it can be quite discouraging and not a good indicator of how well your baby is breastfeeding. But I will always weigh your baby regardless of how old they are.

After the weight is completed, we sit down and chat some more about the ‘feeding plan’ going forward. I want to hear how you feel the feeding session went and ask if there are any other questions or concerns that haven’t been addressed. I have created a comprehensive Nourish approved step by step breastfeeding guide that I provide to all my clients at the end of our consultation. I often underline or highlight recommendations that are specific to you and also write down detailed notes on the back page of your handout with additional suggestions and recommendations. One of the value added Nourish offerings is complementary phone/text/email support after your initial consultation. I believe it is important to provide additional ‘tech’ support to my clients to ensure their breastfeeding journeys are a success!

At this point it’s time to take payment. I will prepare an invoice for you on my smartphone and email or text it to you in real time. I can take payment through credit card, debit, or e-transfer. You do not have to pre-pay in advance for your appointment but that option is always available through the Nourish shop page if you prefer to pay on-line.

If you have an employer paid benefit plan, often the consult is reimbursed by your insurance provider. I don’t do any direct billing but you can submit the invoice and receipt I provide you with to your insurance company. If your insurance company requires additional information, I’m happy to provide a letter at no additional fee.

If a follow-up consult is needed, this is the time we schedule it for the following week or even in the next few days depending on your needs.

So that is what a Nourish in home lactation consult looks like! We pride ourselves in providing the highest quality, caring, professional breastfeeding support services Calgary has to offer and we have only 5 star Google reviews to prove it! If you’d like to hear from over 50 Nourish mamas, visit our Google business page to read our glowing reviews from many happy mamas. Remember, the Nourish promise is-Happy Mamas & Babies Guaranteed!