Home Visits

Lowestoft and Waveney Breastfeeding Support provides Lactation Consultant home visits to families with breastfeeding concerns. These visits are fully funded by the charity and so families are not charged for the service.

We can provide home visits to families who:

have breastfeeding problems, such as severe pain and nipple trauma
have premature babies
have babies with weight problems
wish to relactate
have mental health difficulties that are being exacerbated by feeding issues
are receiving support from the Eden Team, Family Nurse Partnership and Young Parent Pathway
would be unable to pay for a private IBCLC home visit

These visits are available to anyone who lives within the James Paget University Hospital area, even if you did not birth at the James Paget Hospital. We can support you whatever the age of your baby/child.

What is an IBCLC?

An IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. This is the highest qualification in breastfeeding and human lactation.

To qualify as an IBCLC you need:

To be a healthcare professional or have completed qualifications in 14 Health Science subjects
Have 95 hours of lactation-specific education
Have worked 1000+ clinical hours with breastfeeding families
To pass a 4 hour exam

We have 3 IBCLCs on our team. Once you apply for a home visit, we will allocate you an IBCLC based on who can see you the soonest. Generally we are able to see you within 24-48hours of you contacting us.

What happens at a home visit?

Home visits last approximately 90 minutes to 2 hours.

Your IBCLC will explore your concerns with you, discuss your medical and feeding history, observe a breastfeed and create a plan of care with you to help you move forward with your situation.

We complete an oral assessment on your baby with your consent. If needed we can refer you or your baby to an appropriate service such as the Tongue Tie/Restrictive Lingual Frenulum (RLF) service or your GP. In the 24 hours following your appointment we will send you a write up of our time together.

We can continue to support you for as long as you need us to. Follow up support is available via email, text, WhatsApp, Facebook or in our feeding support cafes. We generally provide one home visit per family. In exceptional circumstances we can offer a follow up visit.

Families can refer themselves for a home visit or a Health Care Practitioner can make the referral.

Jenny, IBCLC, Midwife and Tongue Tie Practitioner

Jenny become an IBCLC in 2020, having been a Registered Midwife since 2014. Jenny is a very skilled IBCLC and her strengths include the newborn days, tongue tie and families where there may be a medical complication surrounding milk supply. Jenny has two children.

Kaya, IBCLC

Kaya took the non-HCP route into IBCLC and has come from the volunteer background, having spent 8 years as a Peer Supporter within the local community and NHS before qualifying as an Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) Breastfeeding Counsellor in 2019. Kaya qualified as an IBCLC in 2021 and has 3 children. Kaya's strengths include allergies and faltering growth.

Lucy, IBCLC

Lucy qualified in 2021, having supported families with infant feeding since 2014. She has worked within hospital, community, in-home and online settings, in both the NHS and voluntary sector. She has a degree in Applied Psychology (BA).

Lucy's strengths include the early postnatal days, supporting families with mental health complexities and investigating mystery cases. Lucy has two children.

When you hit submit on the form it will go blank. If you do not hear from an IBCLC within 48 hours via email - please check your spam - please contact us as some forms are not making it through.

We will email you an appointment time and send a text/whatsapp to confirm. If we do not here from you by 5pm the day before your requested visit we will assume you cannot make that time