Lactation & Postpartum Support
Providing in-home lactation and infant feeding care, proudly serving families in Spokane, Washington, and North Idaho since 2021. Dedicated to supporting your infant feeding journey with personalized assistance tailored to your unique needs. Additionally, offering virtual consultations, classes, and courses to connect with families around the globe, ensuring that wholistic lactation support is always within reach.
Mission
Empower parents in reaching their baby feeding & postpartum goals!
What does a Lactation Counselor do? A lactation specialist helps by discussing specific breastfeeding/ bodyfeeding goals. This can be done during pregnancy and/or postpartum. Whether that goal is nursing at the breast, pumping, formula, a combination, or even weaning! Together we will make a plan to see that you can work towards your goals! A Lactation Counselor can asses your baby's ability to transfer milk and offer support if improvements are needed. As your Lactation Counselor and Doula, I want to ensure you are referred to the appropriate local resources. Should you re think your feeding goals, a Lactation Counselor is a wonderful and supportive resource to help you navigate many different ways of infant feeding! Studies show 83% of parents initiate breastfeeding, but 60% of those parents don't meet their own breastfeeding goals. This is telling that our medical providers are not preparing or educating parents on lactation management. That's where Certified Lactation Counselors, Certified Breastfeeding Specialists, and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants come in. What is a Doula? A Doula provides families with information, resources, advocacy skills, physical and emotional support during pregnancy, labor, birth and the postpartum period. Postpartum Doulas can help with many different things- overall healing of the body and mind, placenta care, infant feeding, infant soothing and coping skills, light housework such as cooking, cleaning, running errands, and helping older siblings adjust. A Postpartum Doula can be a safe and neutral space to explore your parenting philosophy with, and someone who will provide unbiased support. Your postpartum doula canhelp you advocate for yourself and your baby. Some postpartum doulas like myself, like to incorporate traditional herbs, foods, and belly binding into the postpartum period.
Postpartum parents deserve to stay home and get the help they need
in home postpartum support is more effective
Breastfeeding is natural, but it is not instinctual. This means it is something we have to learn.
Historically we learned about breastfeeding and newborn behavior from watching our family, friends, neighbors, and midwives in mutli generational households. Our survival as a species depended on passing down breastfeeding knowledge, tips, and tricks.
In the last 100 years most people have not actually seen breastfeeding or normal newborn/postpartum behaviors.
Because of this, many parents go into birth and postpartum with unrealistic expectations of how birth, feeding, and postpartum will go. Studies show that unrealistic expectations lead to higher reports of birth trauma, and postpartum mood disorders.
A hospital setting is not the most effective environment to support parents with breastfeeding and postpartum healing.
Supporting breastfeeding and postpartum recovery is not supposed to be a clinical experience. We are expecting postpartum people who are sore, leaking fluids, possibly stitched up, and processing one of the most emotional events in their lives, to pack up their newborn in any weather, into a car seat the baby probably hates, drive to the nearest hospital, check in, wait, then nurse their baby on command in a 45 minute time slot, for a lady they have never met, in an office they have never seen.
We are also expecting babies to preform normally in a setting that is completely abnormal to them.
How can we accurately assess and provide the best care for families? We need to step back to a time when postpartum care was offered in home. When babies and the birthing person were the center of care.
My Services
Wholistic feeding and postpartum doula services through The Milk Lady Lactation Counseling. As a dedicated private practice operating out of network, I do not accept insurance. Services include in-home feeding support, virtual feeding support, classes, and doula services.
Milky Hype Girl Package
$370
1 initial in home consultation 90-120min
1 follow up in home consultation 60min
Secure client portal
Secure messaging (14 days)
-
secure client portal
-
full mom/baby history
-
2 feeding assessments
-
2 weighted feeds (if applicable)
-
2 flange fittings & pump assessments (if applicable)
-
1 initial plan
-
1 follow up plan
-
secure messaging 14 days
-
emotional support
-
resources
Breastfeeding Bestie Package
$570
1 virtual prenatal breastfeeding course
1in home prenatal1:1
1 in home initial postpartum visit
1 in home follow up
Secure messaging 14 Days
-
Virtual Prenatal breastfeeding Course
-
1 60min in home 1:1 prenatal
-
Full mom/baby history
-
2 feeding assessments
-
2 weighted feeds (if applicable)
-
1 initial plan
-
1 follow up plan
Initial
In Home Lactation
Postpartum Consultation
$190
90-120min
*The first in home visit for someone who has not yet established care.
-
secure client portal
-
1 in home initial postpartum visit 120min
-
Secure messaging 14 days
-
1 full mom/baby history
-
1 feeding assessment
-
1 weighted feed (if applicable)
-
1 flange fitting/ pump assessment (if applicable)
-
1 initial plan
-
emotional support
-
resources
Follow Up
In Home Lactation
Postpartum Consultation
$160
60min - 90min
*This is a follow-up for someone who has already established care.
-
Secure client portal
-
1 in home lactation follow up
-
Secure messaging 7 days
-
Check Progress
-
1 Feeding Assessment
-
1 Weighted feed (if applicable)
-
1 Flange fitting & pumping assessment (if applicable)
-
1 Follow up plan
-
Emotional support & resources
-
Secure messaging 14 days after appointment
Virtual Consultation
$75
45min
For someone who would like breastfeeding help over secure video chat. During this time we will address all of your questions and concerns. I will update your secure client portal with a plan we agree upon together.
Secure client portal
Full mom/baby history
1 secure video chat
1 plan
Emotional support & resources
Virtual Prenatal
Breastfeeding Package
$175
Virtual prenatal breastfeeding course + 45min virtual 1:1 call + 14 day secure postpartum text support
A package for the parent who wants to prepare for breastfeeding virtually with 1:1 individualized support
Postpartum Lactation Doula Package
$1850
(flexible payment plans with final payment due the month following estimated due date)
-
Virtual Prenatal Breastfeeding Course
-
Secure client portal
-
1 Prenatal in home 1:1
-
8 hours in home postpartum doula/lactation services (4-5 in home visits in the first 6 weeks)
-
ON CALL to visit you within 48 hours of birth
-
2 nourishing meals
-
1 postpartum healing gift basket
-
Bengkung belly binding session and wrap to keep
-
Herbal mother & baby swaddle bath
-
4 weeks secure text messaging
Birth & Postpartum Lactation Doula
$3350
(Flexible payment plans with final payment due the month following estimated due date)
Upon signing contract client agrees to take a birth class prior to 37 weeks.
Local birth class resources will be provided upon request. Birth class is not included in this package
-
1 Virtual Prenatal Breastfeeding Course
-
Secure client portal
-
2 in home prenatal 1:1 (birth/postpartum plan and comfort measures)
-
On call for your birth 24/7 after 37+ weeks but available prior just in case.
-
Emotional and physical support during labor and postpartum
-
Comfort measures during labor and postpartum
-
Birth advocacy (if desired)
-
8hrs lactation/postpartum doula services used in the first 6 weeks after birth (4-5 in home visits)
-
2 Nourishing meals
-
1 Postpartum healing gift basket
-
Bengkung belly binding session with wrap to keep
-
Placenta art print, dried cord, (optional for an additional fee: encapsulation, raw prep, or burial dressing)
-
Secure messaging from date of signed contract-4 weeks postpartum
-
images and videos from labor, birth & postpartum if desired (via iphone)
Virtual Prenatal Breastfeeding Course
$85
Elevate your breastfeeding preparation with a self-paced, 19-step course and downloadable easily digestable packet. Access to 3 hours of video conent paired with quick quizzes to ensure you absorb key bits of information you need for an empowered start to breastfeeding!
Postpartum Gift Basket & Bengkung Belly Binding Session
$265
-
Postpartum gift basket containing an herbal sitz bath, teas, nipple salve, aromatherpy, nourishing snacks and drinks, homeopathic healing remedies, hormonal support tincture & more!
-
In home traditional Bengkung belly binding session & wrap to keep
Community
Pregnancy, Birth, Breastfeeding and Postpartum are public health.
Local Events I've hosted or been part of to raise awareness around maternal health.
The Milky Way Breastfeeding Documentary
March 12th, 2022
The Milk Lady Lactation Counseling's first public event! This was a free showing of The Milky Way, a 2014 breastfeeding documentary that highlights how Sweden achieves such high breastfeeding rates. This event was held at The Garland Movie Theater for a vintage film experience. Beer, wine, and spirits were available. A raffle was held announcing 6 winners of prizes donated by local businesses! Attendees took home complimentary gift bags with local resources and swag!
Chocolate Milk Documentary- Black Breastfeeding Awareness Week
August 26th, 2022
The Milk Lady Lactation Counseling and The Learning Project Network present Spokane's first Black Breastfeeding Awareness Event. This was a private screening of Chocolate Milk the documentary by director Elizabeth Bayne. Chocolate Milk examines how the socioeconomic factors of race and sex influence breastfeeding rates for black mothers in America through the stories of three women.
Mom Congress Convention
September 18-21, 2022
Mom Congress™ is the policy organization for moms in the U.S. – a mother’s membership organization that is addressing the most pressing policy issues of motherhood including what we call the “motherload” (the stress that U.S. mothers carry, at higher rates than other developed countries).
The Milk Lady Lactation Counseling and 10 other Spokane maternal health advocates went to Washington DC to attend a 3 day maternal health convention, and meet with Washington State Senators to discuss important maternal health bills.
The Business Of Birth Control Documentary
February 18th, 2023
Free community screening of The Business of Birth Control directed by Abby Epstein. The film screening was followed by a Q&A panel of local women from all different backgrounds. A big thanks to Women's Hormone Specialist co hosted by Dr. Breanna Guan for Co-hosting this educational event.
Community Motherhood Photo Project
July 8th, 2023
To celebrate the journey of motherhood and feeding, local photographer/doula Natalia Marie and I teamed up to capture generations of mothers together, all with many different feeding journeys. The commonality we all share as mothers? No matter how we feed our babies, we are all "The Milk Lady."
nataliamariephotography.com
The Milky Way Documentary-
Breastfeeding Awareness Month
August 5th, 2023
My second time screening The Milky Way Documentary free in our community, kicking off Breastfeeding Awareness Month with a World Breastfeeding Week event! We enjoyed a Q&A with an incredible local panel, in addition we raffled off some great prizes!
Indigenous Milk is Medicine Documentary
August 12th, 2023
This is the second year Indigenous Milk is Medicine Week has been observed during Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Together with Spokane Tribal Network we shed light on how Indigenous mothers feeding journeys have been affected by colonization, systemic racism, and propaganda, as well as what we can do to improve breastfeeding rates for indigenous mothers. By honoring and promoting traditional feeding practices and food sovereignty we heal generational trauma and improve health disparities.
Monthly Mother Baby Sound Baths
Spring 2024
Together with Hannah from Anam Cara Healing Center located downtown Spokane, we held pace once monthly for mothers with lap babies to come and enjoy a full body experience with their babies immersed in sound! Following the sound bath we read an empowering and chapter from "Powerful Postpartum" by Kelly Van Zandt.
Testimonials
Krystle
"Megan was wonderfully supportive of every win, and equally encouraging when things were tough."
Lexi
"Megan is absolutely amazing! She is so genuine and truly makes you feel so comfortable and empowered. She was the first person to actually listen to my concerns and take the time to really figure out what was going on. I wish I would have had her around when we first started our breastfeeding journey."
Bethany
"I can't say enough positive things about my experience with hiring Megan as our lactation counselor. Her demeanor is so warm, gentle, kind, and she has so much knowledge. I took her in person breastfeeding class which was so helpful and informative."
Molly
"By far the best investment we made in preparation for our baby's arrival"
Tori
"Life changing is an understatement. We made a massive transformation in our journey together. I went from exclusive pumping every 2-3 hours, to only pumping once a day at night because aside from that he is NURSING all day! I can't even tell you how many happy tears I've cried already."
