Lactation Services
Breastfeeding classes available
Feeding Your Baby Your Way
Tulsa Family Doulas encourages a healthy feeding relationship for a mother and her baby. We value getting to the heart of your feeding goals and encouraging skills to meet those goals. In an effort to support families wanting more care, information and in-home services for those pursuing breastfeeding relationships, we have expanded our services to include Lactation Specialists.
IBCLC and cLC - what's the difference?
Our Lactation Specialists include the top certification, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. It can be confusing to know the difference between the services, so we have broken it down to be a little easier to grasp.
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) ~ The process of achieving IBCLC status involves extensive training with multiple years of experience and hundreds of hours of hospital, community and home-based clinical skill work. An individualized plan of care and referrals to other health care professionals (as needed) are provided with a report of the consult sent to you and your baby’s health care provider. The IBCLC working with Tulsa Family Doulas is a Registered Nurse with many years in a pediatric hospital setting.
Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) ~ Achieving education as a Certified Lactation Counselor is part of the process of becoming an IBCLC. Certified Lactation Counselor certification involves significant training in assessment of lactation concerns, providing detailed options and as well as a plan of care, referrals and consult report to given to appropriate care providers.
A detailed position paper from the Center for Breastfeeding gives a more detailed overview of the similarities between the two certifications.
Scope of practice
Both CLC and IBCLC are trained professionals and ready for assessment with their clients.
Anytime a Certified Lactation Counselor is beyond her realm of training regarding any issues a client may be having, she is required to refer up to an IBCLC for more extensive support for the client. While both Lactation Specialists have the same scope of practice, the amount of hours worth of experience is vastly different.
One of the reasons we are so excited to offer the highest level of breastfeeding support through our agency’s own IBCLC, is to provide you and your family with the highest level of care. There is great comfort in staying with the same group of women that have served your family from the beginning.
types of services
International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) are available for in-home prenatal preparation, the often overwhelming early days with a newborn, handling multiple possible challenges, exploring transitions, all the way through the process of weaning. Your Lactation Specialist is also available for in-office post-frenectomy revision support.
Your feeding may look like exclusive breastfeeding, expressing breast milk, supplementing with bottle feeding, adjusting to breastfeeding and/or pumping for work, weaning and appropriate bottle feeding. Because each family is unique in their goals, our services are tailored to your specific needs. Some of the assessments achieved during your in-home sessions are the following:
assessment and evaluation of infant feeding
weight of infant, if desired
discussion of proper latching and feeding technique (breastfeeding, expressing breast milk, appropriate bottle feeding)
personalized and individualized care plan
included complimentary follow-up(s)
We strive to provide you with the best support possible for the unique needs and desires of you and your baby. While the Lactation Specialists do not diagnose or treat any medical problems, they can each provide you with an assessment in a report of findings to give to your care provider. This allows for quicker treatment of any problems and diminishes the wait time for finding out what is actually going on with your breasts and baby.
Insurance
Some of the most comforting news about expanding to in-home breastfeeding support is that Tulsa Family Doulas will provide you with the appropriate insurance forms for you to submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. This can significantly increase the number of people utilizing lactation services and we are proud to provide this option to you.
