Aimee Lactation Consulting
Aimee Woodhouse is the owner of Aimee Lactation Consulting. She is a Registered Nurse, and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) which is the highest designation available for Lactation Consultants. Her business was born out of a need in the community to support new mothers breastfeeding infants at home; Aimee provides in-home lactation support to nursing mothers in Warren, Washington and Saratoga Counties, visiting new moms at home to help offer support and guidance during what can be a very stressful time in a woman’s life.
Aimee has been working as a registered nurse since 1998; she has been a maternity nurse for 17 years, and a lactation consultant for 10 of those years. During her career, Aimee realized that there was a deficit of support for new moms as they began their breastfeeding journey, and Aimee has worked to fill that need: “I am very passionate about serving breastfeeding moms in our community and meeting them when they are at their most vulnerable… So, my goal is to help them be successful with their feeding goals for their infant,” Aimee said.
Throughout her time helping new moms, Aimee has seen how lack of health insurance coverage has hindered new mothers from getting the care that they need… However, CDPHP has recently begun to cover and credential lactation consultants, which allows lactation consultants to be covered in-network for their patients. This also applies to Medicaid patients: “When we are talking about access to care, finally these mothers can get the care they need… I am able to see a breastfeeding mom as many times as she clinically needs my help. CDPHP covers unlimited visits at no cost to the mom,” Aimee said.
Aimee is pleased to see the expansion of coverage for new moms: “When I first opened my practice, I couldn’t accept health insurance… There was a severe lack of access to care because it was just the moms who could afford to have a lactation consultant that could get that help,” she said.
As lactation services broaden and evolve, so do the tools that Aimee can use to help moms – Telehealth has created a new layer of care that Aimee can provide, as there are services that Aimee can provide virtually, like a weaning consult: “When moms want to know the best techniques to use to wean their baby, we usually just need to talk,” she said.
Aimee understands that she is meeting women at a vulnerable point in their lives, and knows that providing lactation support without the disruption of leaving the house helps both the mother and child.
“It’s a very stressful time in a woman’s life. New moms are exhausted… There is a plummet in their hormones and lack of sleep. They want to take care of their baby. If that is going poorly, or she doesn’t know if she is doing the feedings correctly, that can cause stress,” she said.
The services that Aimee provides are both necessary and reassuring to the moms: “I bring a scale sensitive down to the two gram increments. I weigh the baby before they eat and after they eat at the breast. I measure how much milk they took in at the breast. That information is very important in the decisions that we make for the care plan. It is also reassuring and makes the new mom feel so relieved,” she said.
Aimee would like new moms to know that there is in-home lactation support available and that it can be covered by insurance. If you are struggling to breastfeed your baby, or have questions about feeding, please visit aimeelactation.com.
