Some of the reasons moms & babies come to see us are:

• Concerns with baby’s weight gain
• Concerns about milk production
• Pain with breastfeeding and/or pumping
• Baby having trouble latching on or sucking
• Help with stopping use of a nipple shield
• Concern for tongue tie and/or lip tie
• Baby born early & needs extra help feeding
• Persistent plugged ducts/recurrent mastitis
• Help with breastfeeding multiples
• Inducing lactation for adoptive/intended/second mothers
• …And/or a check in during the early days to make sure everything’s going OK!

Yes! About half of the families we work with had their baby somewhere else.

A visit typically lasts 60-90 minutes.

Yes! The IBCLC (International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant) is the gold standard in lactation support. We have a small staff of experienced, dedicated IBCLCs. The birth center has offered IBCLC support since 1996.

Please bring any “tools” or supplement that you usually use as part of your feeding routine. (For example, nipple shield, pumped milk or formula, bottle, breast pump.) We have a Boppy, Breast Friend, Blessed Nest, and Little Beam pillows in the office. If you have a different pillow at home that you’d like to use, please bring it along.

We welcome your partner and any other support people to the visit (family, friends, doula, etc.) Your other children may also come, but try to bring someone else to supervise them so that you can focus on the visit.

We’re aiming for a baby who is hungry/willing to feed during the visit, but not so hungry that baby is in meltdown mode! If you need to feed your baby soon before the visit, try just “taking the edge off” so they will still be willing to eat when they arrive.

We are in-network with most private insurance plans, Tricare, and Medicaid. They typically cover our services, sometimes with a co-pay. (Usually a co-pay for both mom and baby, because both are seen and evaluated.) Please contact us before your visit if you have questions about what your out-of-pocket cost may be. If you don not have insurance, please ask about our discount for self-pay.

Put simply – no! Our goal is a peaceful, enjoyable feeding relationship that meets your family’s needs. There are different ways to achieve that; we are here to help you see all the possibilities, and figure out what will work best for you.

We offer a class just for you!

We also offer prenatal lactation consults. If you have a history of breast surgery, had difficulties with breastfeeding a previous baby, or know you or your baby may have challenges that impact feeding, a prenatal consult can set you up to start breastfeeding with confidence and an excellent support system. You will have time to discuss your concerns with the IBCLC, review any medical or breastfeeding history, and develop a “game plan” for getting breastfeeding off to the best start possible. If you want to learn more about breastfeeding in general, we suggest our Breastfeeding Basics class.

Check out our classes, and think about visiting the La Leche Group listed on our support groups page to connect with other moms.

Come to our Breastfeeding Cafe or La Leche League meetings to make new friends, get support and advice, and get basic questions answered.

The Boutique, and other community resources and retail stores, offer nursing bras and clothing, pump and scale rentals as well as sales, and a wealth of other breastfeeding supplies.

One of the most precious gifts you can give is the gift of your milk. Donor milk is lifesaving for premature and medically fragile babies. Milk donations also enable us to offer limited supplies of donor milk to birth center patients with a medical need.

Milk donors go through a screening process (similar to that for blood donors) and milk is tested, pasteurized, and processed before it is dispensed. We are fortunate to have the WakeMed Milk Bank in our community. Please contact them if you are interested in becoming a donor.

We welcome shadowers and students, with the understanding that patients must consent to their presence. Clinical shadowing involves spending a full day with one of our board-certified lactation consultants and observing LC visits (with the consent of the patient).

While we are happy to offer this service, we also recognize that we need to balance the extra time and energy needed to coordinate and host clinical shadowing with our other program needs. We ask that individuals interested in clinical shadowing go through the following process:

1. Attend a tour of the birth center to become familiar with its philosophy and services. Tours are offered regularly and can be scheduled by calling (919) 933-3301.
2. Once you have attended a tour, contact the MILC coordinator at milc@ncbirthcenter.org. She will send you forms to complete.
3. Once the MILC coordinator has reviewed your completed forms, she will contact you to set up 6 hours of volunteer time with WBWC. Volunteer tasks are mostly clerical, and MILC may have special projects that also need volunteer time (for example, revising patient handouts on various breastfeeding topics, doing community outreach, etc.) If we have a project available that you are particularly excited about, we welcome additional volunteer hours!
4. Once volunteer hours are completed, the MILC coordinator will set up a clinical shadowing day. These days are typically 8:30am – 5:30 pm. You are also welcome to observe our breastfeeding and pumping classes, which are 2-hour classes offered regularly on Thursday evenings.

If you are interested in learning more about the process of becoming a lactation consultant, visit the IBLCE website to understand the various educational pathways: http://iblce.org/certify/pathways/

We accept Pathway 1 and Pathway 3 students on a limited basis. Contact the MILC coordinator to learn more. However, we strongly encourage you to consider the Pathway 2 program offered locally through UNC-Chapel Hill: http://cgbi.sph.unc.edu/what-we-do/education-and-conferences/mrtti/