Why I No Longer Offer Traditional Lactation Consultations
Over the years, my work with families has evolved.
There was a time when much of what I offered centered around traditional lactation consultation: assessing feeding challenges, observing latch, discussing supply concerns, answering questions, and helping parents troubleshoot the many variables that can affect feeding.
That work mattered, and it still does.
But through years of supporting babies and parents, I began to notice something important: in many situations, information alone was not the missing piece.
Families often arrived already carrying plenty of advice. They had read the articles, watched the videos, spoken with providers, and tried multiple strategies. Many could explain exactly what they had been told to do. Yet feeding still felt difficult.
What they often needed was not more instruction. They needed support at a deeper level.
For that reason, I no longer center my practice around traditional lactation consultations. Instead, I focus on craniosacral therapy (CST) and body-based support for babies and families. Many families searching for lactation consultations are surprised to learn there may be another path forward.
1. In Many Cases, Bodywork Is More Helpful Than More Counseling
Lactation consultations can be incredibly valuable. Skilled IBCLCs and feeding specialists provide essential care, especially when families need clinical assessment, pumping plans, weight-gain support, oral function evaluation, or medically complex feeding guidance.
But many families who came to me had already received excellent counseling.
They understood positioning.
They knew how often to feed.
They had handouts, plans, and recommendations.
Still, the baby struggled to latch. Still, feeds were tense. Still, everyone left feeling frustrated.
Often, the barrier was not a lack of knowledge. It was tension in the baby’s body, stress in the nervous system, discomfort after birth, or a parent and baby pair who needed regulation more than another checklist.
CST can help by gently supporting:
Nervous system regulation
Tension in the jaw, neck, diaphragm, and body
Feeding coordination
Comfort during feeds
The overall ease of the parent-baby relationship
When the body changes, feeding often changes with it.
2. Many Feeding Challenges Carry a Trauma Layer
Birth can be beautiful, but it can also be intense.
Families may come into postpartum carrying:
A difficult labor
Unexpected interventions
Separation after birth
NICU experiences
Painful early feeding attempts
Weeks of feeling like feeding is a struggle
Babies carry experiences in their own way too, through tension, dysregulation, and sensitivity.
Traditional consultation can absolutely be part of healing, but sometimes the most meaningful shift happens when the body is given a chance to process what words alone cannot fully reach.
CST offers a gentle space for settling, releasing held tension, and helping both parent and baby move out of survival mode.
I have seen families make progress not because they learned a new tip, but because their systems finally felt safe enough to function differently.
3. Families Deserve to Use Their Insurance Benefits
Another practical reason for this shift is access.
Many International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) are covered by insurance. That means families can often receive excellent lactation counseling through providers whose services are reimbursed or fully covered.
That is a good thing.
Families should absolutely use those benefits whenever possible.
Because my services are not typically insurance-covered in the same way, it makes sense for me to offer something different rather than duplicate care they may already be able to access elsewhere.
Instead of competing with covered lactation services, I focus on the area where I can offer unique value: gentle body-based support that complements the excellent counseling many families are already receiving.
Collaborative Care Is Still the Gold Standard
This shift does not mean lactation consultants are unnecessary. Quite the opposite.
IBCLCs play a vital role in postpartum care. They provide clinical expertise, protect breastfeeding relationships, identify concerns early, and help families navigate complex feeding decisions.
What I have learned is that feeding challenges are often multidimensional.
Sometimes families need:
Clinical lactation guidance
Weight checks and feeding plans
Oral assessments
Emotional support
Nervous system regulation
Bodywork for parent or baby
The best outcomes often happen when families have access to more than one kind of support.
Why This Change Feels Honest
I no longer wanted to offer a service that, in many cases, was not the most impactful thing I could provide.
Could I continue doing traditional consultations? Yes.
But I would rather offer the care I most believe in, the care I have seen create meaningful shifts, and the care that fills a gap many families still struggle to find.
That care is craniosacral therapy.
It is gentle. It is relational. It often reaches places that advice alone cannot.
And when paired with skilled lactation support from covered providers, it can become part of a more complete path forward.
If You Need Feeding Support Now
If you are struggling with feeding, I encourage you to seek support early. If insurance-covered IBCLC care is available to you, use it.
And if feeding still feels hard, tense, painful, or stuck despite good guidance, body-based support may be the missing piece.
Sometimes families do not need more information.
Sometimes they need more ease.
