Supporting a family towards their infant feeding goals requires specialized support during a brief but intense and high stakes time period. Families face barriers to care including lack of access to outpatient support, financial costs due to lack of insurance coverage, and difficulty being treated as a dyad. For some families, these are compounded by structural and medical racism, provider bias for queer/trans families wanting to chestfeed/bodyfeed, language barriers, and citizenship status.
IBCLCs stand in the gap, supporting the dyad in the face of all that stands in their way as they try to breastfeed, chestfeed, or bodyfeed in the optimal way for their family’s specific needs. The stress of this task can lead to compassion fatigue, overextension, boundary violations, and burnout.
By nurturing your private practice and creating a solid foundation with clear systems, policies, and referrals, your private practice will take care of you so that you can take care of families in receiving the care they need in postpartum and beyond.