A lot of people only experience working with a lactation consultant in a hospital setting. Your lactation journey doesn’t end there… it’s actually just beginning. You may find that while you did receive some help, you actually need a whole lot more! This is where private practice or outpatient lactation support can be so crucial! Because a lot of people don’t even know that outpatient lactation support exists, it’s apparent that many may not know what a postpartum lactation consult may look like! Here is just a little snippet of what to expect when working with a lactation consultant.
Home visit
The first visit typically involves questions, troubleshooting, trial and error, and a little bit of homework. Prior to the visit, some form of paperwork is given to answer a couple of questions in effort to know what exactly led to this visit. Basically, what addressing the problems that you and baby may be having. Knowing this information helps figure out what paths we will take when trying to problem solve. So to start the visit, a brief summary of what problems you may be having. Your problems direct the path of the consult. This moment is a good assessment moment as well. With your consent, I will assess baby’s mouth and body. I will also assess your body (if needed) during this time or during the feeding. Your baby’s weight is another piece of information that will be taken at the beginning of the visit. This helps us assess how the feeding is going with pre-feed weight vs. post-feed weight.
Next, we go into the feeding. For me, personally, I like to watch and see what you and baby were doing prior to my arrival. This is one of the best parts of a home visit because you can see a family in their natural habitat. During the feeding, I like to observe first, assist after. Latch and positioning education is typically done during this time. Also, depending on the reason for your consult, additional education is done during this time as well. There are no limits to what is discussed during your visit!
After a feeding, we will weigh baby again to get that post-feeding weight. This gives us an approximate amount of milk taken at the breast. This number also directs the rest of our visit. After the feeding is complete and the baby is hopefully chill, I like to discuss pumping (if desired). During the pumping session, I check pump parts, measure flange sizes, and answer any questions or concerns you may have about pumping.
The end of the visit is used to answer any additional questions or concerns you may have! This is also a moment to make a plan. We will make a plan together for you to work on over the following the day. Typically a follow up appointment is scheduled at this time in order to assess how the plan went and make sure everything worked out okay or make tweaks as needed. Visit notes will be sent to you detailing everything we talked about!
Overall, a visit is what you want it to be!
Virtual Visit
A virtual visit is very similar to a home visit in the way that the visit is structured. It is very different when it comes to how the assistance is given. There is a lot more demonstration via video during a virtual visit. Also more video resources to be given as well.