Lactation Consulting & Postpartum Care In Your Home
Melissa Hnosko, IBCLC CPD
As a Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Postpartum Doula, I provide evidence based in-home support to families in and around Lincoln, NE during the first six weeks after birth.
No matter what your birth plans include, one thing is certain: You will thrive with knowledgeable advocates by your side, even if things don’t go as planned.
The same is true of the postpartum period.
And like birth, you deserve someone to come alongside your family, to support and uphold you, to advocate for your choices and to bring a well rounded foundation of evidence based assistance into your home. You need a voice of unbiased reason when you’re receiving advice from all sides.
Let me soften your landing.
In-Home Lactation Consulting & Breastfeeding Help
Breastfeeding is natural, but learned. I bring experience & tools into your home to help you build a healthy breastfeeding relationship from the very beginning. I help with:
Newborn latch and positioning to maximize milk transfer and minimize weight loss
Assessment of milk removal and weight gain with a highly sensitive +/- 2g scale
Education on using your pump, pumping efficiently, collecting milk safely, & bottle feeding
Tips and tricks for avoiding and handling frustrating problems like blebs, thrush, vasospasm, & plugged ducts
Use of a hospital grade breast pump when necessary
I provide fact based information that saves families from googling their way through their breastfeeding concerns. Together we prevent problems instead of waiting for them to arise before seeking help. I come prepared with my bag of tips and tricks to help you avoid unnecessary interventions. I promote preventative lactation care and help families determine whether further professional help seems necessary before there is a crisis that requires it.
Healing Mother Care
Physical rest is paramount to maternal healing. After delivery a mother has a wound the size of a dinner plate in her uterus where her placenta came away and it will take tremendous energy, nutrition, & hydration to heal. To help mom heal, I provide:
Warm, easy to digest meals & beverages with healing, wholesome ingredients like bone broth, cultured dairy, & fresh bread made with home-ground grains
Tips and tools for perineal and caesarian healing - tea pads, scar salves, and Bengkung wraps to support her body
A sounding board for her concerns about her changing body, an experienced and empathetic ear to help her tell and process her birth experience
Perspective as she finds her place; her footing as a new mother
A trusted resource to answer her questions, offer her peace of mind, and put an end to her mid-night googling
I come ready to keep mom’s space a sanctuary of rest, nourishment, bonding, and peace. I act as a buffer between her expectations of herself and the reality of her needs. She is the center. and her healing and transformation come first.
Gentle, Intuitive, Newborn Care
I am an extension of parents when they feel like duplicating themselves is the only way to make everything work. I give families:
Evidence based education on diapering, bathing, soothing, swaddling, and promoting gentle transition from womb to room
A non-judgemental break as they prioritize self-care by napping, bathing, or getting fresh air and sunshine
An extra set of hands while they care for each other and the other children in their household
Experienced and Unbiased answers to questions about newborns and newborn care and parenting
New parents used to live in community with one another where they shared the often exhausting joy of newborn care. We traded many of these community practices in long ago, that that doesn’t mean you can’t plan on unbiased help right in your own home.
Practical Household Care
For many families, the practical needs of the household that get left in the dust when baby arrives home are enough stress to put them over the edge. Some of my packages include help with:
Household organization, and set-up of “nesting spots” where mom can feed baby and keep things she needs within arm’s reach
Assistance with infant related household chores like infant laundry, diaper laundry, bottle & pump dishes, and clearing clutter from spaces most important to mom
Help keeping nutritious one-handable snacks accessible throughout the home
Organization of family activities that encourage bonding and togetherness with older children like family meals, walks, & games
Yes, of course you could ask your friend, your mother, or your trusted neighbor to come provide this type of help, but when you hire a postpartum doula you free yourself from having to worry about - or even consider - your caretaker’s comfort. I am responsible for my own boundaries, and committed to honesty with my clients. This means there are no awkward moments when you feel like an imposition for asking for help.
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