What to Expect @ Nourish
You’ll be welcomed by the friendly face of Rachel, who will greet you when you arrive and help you feel right at home. Because little hands, crawling knees, and tiny feet spend so much time on our floors, we kindly ask families to leave their shoes at the door. Feel free to bring your favorite fuzzy socks — we always have extra socks and shoe covers available, too.
On a typical busy day, our space is full of life. You may see several families being cared for at once, with car seats tucked nearby, babies exploring the floor, toddlers cooking up something imaginative in our play kitchen, little hands discovering our wooden toys, or families settling in together with a book.
As you make your way toward the back of our space, you’ll find our classroom, changing area, bathrooms, and coffee and snack bar. Our bathrooms are family-friendly, complete with toddler-sized seats and stools, and our refreshment area is stocked with water, teas, coffee, and healthy snacks for you to enjoy during your visit.
Each of our IBCLCs has created their own individual office space, so every room has its own personality while still feeling calm, comfortable, and welcoming.
And if you forgot something on the way out the door — don’t worry. We keep diapers in a variety of sizes, wipes, and other baby essentials on hand because we know getting out of the house with a little one can be an accomplishment all by itself.
More than anything, our goal is for you to walk through the doors of Nourish and feel cared for, comfortable, and known.
We want you to feel less like you’re coming to an appointment and more like you’re coming to a place where you belong.
During all consults:
We require that the feeding questionnaire, consent and HIPPA forms need to be completed electronically and submitted prior to your appointment starting.
We will disinfect or wash our hands before we touch you or your baby.
We will ask you to undress your baby down to a dry diaper. If breastfeeding, we will take two different weights in our medical-grade scale: pounds and grams. If bottle feeding, we will only take on weight in pounds.
We will sit and talk for a few minutes, unless baby is hungry and ready to feed. We'll go over your health history, your baby's history, your challenges and concerns.
If breastfeeding, we will observe a feed in whatever position and manner you use most. During the feed, we will make latching and positioning recommendations, assess your nipples before/after feeding and measure how much baby is transferring.
If bottle feeding, we will assess bottle and nipples to ensure correct product to match baby’s anatomy and ability. We will feed baby to assess transfer effectiveness and oral function.
We try to be as physically hands-off as possible. We will always ask for permission before we touch you, your breasts, or your baby.
Once the feeding session is complete, we will put on latex-free gloves and perform an oral motor functional assessment of your baby’s mouth.
You will receive a Care Plan via our private client messaging portal within 24 -48 hours with a summary of the consult, the recommendations provided, oral motor functional evaluation results and a copies of any pictures taken. When requested, we can provide a superbill or send a written report to your OB, physician, and/or your child's pediatrician.
During in-home consults:
Our lactation consultants perform the same observations and evaluations as if they were in our office. We bring the same same equipment, scale and products to you. What makes in-home consults unique is that we can assist you and your family in your home environment. We limit home visits to the first two weeks after birth. Please remember to:
Have your baby ready to feed, but not super hungry. If needed, just feed enough to hold them over.
Make a list of all of your questions so you can get the most out of your consultation.
Our lactation consultants will be with you in the room of your choosing. If breastfeeding, we love to teach the side-lying position to maximize your rest.
If you have questions about the breast pump, bottles or any other gear you are using or have chosen, try to have them available.
We have no problem with pets! However, if you have a pet who is particularly loud or overly friendly when people come over, you may want to plan to have that pet in a different part of the house for our visit. Also please be aware that some pets may be very territorial over "their" baby when strangers arrive. If a pet seems anxious or upset by the presence of a stranger, please remove the pet from the consult area.
Older siblings are always welcome to be playing nearby during a consult. You may want to plan an activity or distraction for them so that we can chat freely.
Don't worry about cleaning your house or changing what you are currently doing.
Don't kick everyone else out of the house. Your support system is welcomed to stay if that’s what you want.
Tell us if something doesn't feel right, both physically and emotionally. We really DO need to know what's working for you so that we can come up the plan that best allows you to meet YOUR feeding goals!