When breastfeeding isn’t going the way you hoped

Maybe your supply seems lower than you’d like. Maybe you’re exhausted and wondering whether you’re actually eating enough to support yourself and your baby. Maybe you’ve been told to eat more, drink more, take a supplement, or try something else, but you’re not sure what actually makes sense for your body.

And sometimes there are several things going on at once.

That’s where a bigger-picture look can be helpful.

We’ll explore your nutrition, health history, pregnancy and postpartum experiences, symptoms, existing labs, supplements, and other relevant factors to identify areas where nutritional or lifestyle support may be useful.

The goal isn’t to diagnose the cause of low milk supply. It’s to optimize the pieces we can work with.

Optimizing your nutritional status, supporting adequate energy and nutrient intake, and addressing other modifiable aspects of your overall wellbeing may help create better conditions for your body to support breastfeeding.

But there are many reasons milk supply can be affected, and nutrition isn’t always the answer. That’s why this work is most useful as one piece of a coordinated care plan.

Your lactation care matters, too

My work is complementary to lactation care. If you’re experiencing concerns about milk supply, I encourage you to work with an IBCLC or other qualified lactation professional who can assess the breastfeeding relationship itself.

Your lactation professional may evaluate things such as:

• Latch and positioning
• Milk transfer
• Feeding patterns
• Pumping and milk removal
• Infant factors
• Breastfeeding mechanics
• Other lactation-specific considerations

My role is different.

I look at the person making the milk: your nutrition, nutrient needs, health history, symptoms, lifestyle, and other factors that may be relevant to your overall wellbeing.

When appropriate, I can also help you identify questions to bring back to your physician, midwife, IBCLC, or other members of your care team.

What we’ll explore

If we decide an evaluation is the right next step, we’ll take a closer look at:

• Your current food intake and eating patterns
• Adequacy of calories, protein, fluids, and key nutrients
• Postpartum recovery and how you’re feeling physically
• Energy, sleep, stress, and daily demands
• Relevant health and nutrition history
• Existing laboratory results
• Current supplements and medications
• Digestive or other symptoms that may be affecting your nutritional status
• Factors you’ve already tried addressing
• Areas that may warrant discussion with another healthcare professional

We’ll focus on what is relevant to you, rather than automatically running every possible test or recommending every supplement associated with breastfeeding.

What this service can and can’t do

As a Holistic Nutrition Professional, I provide nutrition and wellness education and support. I am not a licensed medical provider, and I do not diagnose, treat, or cure medical conditions or diagnose the cause of low milk supply.

This evaluation is not a substitute for medical care or lactation support.

Instead, we’re looking at the pieces that are within my scope and asking:

What can we optimize?

That might mean improving your overall nutrient intake, identifying nutritional gaps, making food more manageable during life with a baby, reviewing supplements, making sense of existing information, or identifying something worth discussing with your medical provider.

Sometimes the most useful outcome is simply having a clearer picture of what you can work on and what needs to be handled by someone else.

This may be a good fit if…

• You’re concerned about your milk supply and want to look at nutrition and maternal health as part of the bigger picture.
• You’re already working with an IBCLC or other lactation-focused professional and want additional nutrition support.
• You’re breastfeeding and feeling particularly depleted or run down.
• You’re wondering whether you’re meeting your own nutritional needs while feeding a baby.
• You’ve tried various foods or supplements and want a more individualized approach.
• You have existing labs or health information you’d like to review from a nutrition perspective.
• You want help figuring out which pieces are worth addressing now and which belong with another member of your care team.

If we decide to work together

Breastfeeding Nutrition & Milk Supply Evaluation

We’ll spend focused time reviewing your history, current nutrition, breastfeeding concerns, and relevant health information.

After the evaluation, you’ll have individualized recommendations and practical next steps based on what we’ve discussed.

If there are questions that fall outside my scope, we’ll identify those too, so you know what may be worth bringing to your physician, midwife, IBCLC, or another qualified provider.

If you need additional nutrition support after your evaluation, we can discuss whether follow-up care makes sense.

You don’t have to figure this out alone

Breastfeeding can make you feel like your entire body has suddenly become a production facility that you’re personally responsible for keeping operational.

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Let’s look at your health, your nutrition, and the pieces we can reasonably optimize, while keeping your lactation and medical care connected to the bigger picture.