Clinical Nutrition

Lactation Services

What is Lactation Services?

Our team is made up of internationally board-certified lactation consultants, certified lactation counselors (technicians) and lactation peer counselors. We help lactating parents meet their lactation goals when their child is admitted to Seattle Children’s Hospital. 

How will Lactation Services meet my needs?

We will visit or call lactating parents of our youngest patients to help them get off to the right start with their lactation journey, and we are available to all lactating parents by request. We can help in many situations – getting started pumping, flange fitting, pain with pumping, prefeeding activities like skin-to-skin and nuzzling, as well as with breastfeeding/chestfeeding and common lactation problems, like thrush and mastitis. 

What services do you offer?

  • Breastfeeding/chestfeeding help

    We can help in these ways:

    • Answer your questions and assist with breastfeeding/chestfeeding
    • Provide tips and resources to increase your milk supply
    • Address common lactation problems
  • Pump support

    If your infant is too sick to eat, and your goal is to produce milk, we will help you meet your goals using a pump.

    Our team will explain how a pump works and help you use it to provide milk for your baby.

    You will have a Medela Symphony hospital-grade pump in your child’s room to use while you are in the hospital. Double pumping with a hospital-grade pump 8 times every 24 hours is the most efficient way to make a full milk supply, especially if your baby is not breastfeeding/chestfeeding at all. You can use your own pump if you prefer.

    We want to make sure your pumping equipment is the right size for you.

    Comfort is important while pumping; we provide lanolin (a waxy cream), milk pads and comfort gel pads.

    We will provide you with cleaning supplies and instruction to minimize cross-contamination.

    We will also offer you a log to record how often you pump and how m

  • Safe storage for your baby’s milk

    We will give you barcoded labels for your milk and teach you how to store your milk safely. If you have more milk than you can use before it will expire, we will store it in our milk lab.

    Before feeding your baby, your baby’s nurse will scan the barcode and scan an ankle tag that your baby wears to ensure that your baby receives only your milk.

    If your baby is premature or is not gaining weight or taking enough milk to grow, the milk lab technicians will fortify your milk with formula or additives to add extra nutrition.

  • Lactation Meal Program

    Our Lactation Meal Program provides meals to lactating parents of babies up to 6 months old if:

    • Your baby is staying at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
    • You are providing milk or pumping for your baby at least 4 times each day.
  • Donated human milk
    • For the smallest and most critically ill babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or Cardiac ICU, donor human milk may be available if your supply does not meet all your baby’s needs.
    • If your baby is a patient at Seattle Children’s and you have extra milk that you want to donate, we connect you with Northwest Mothers Milk Bank to donate surplus milk.
  • Help with feeding problems

    We work closely with the occupational therapists (OTs) and physical therapists (PTs) on Seattle Children’s Infant Feeding team. Babies who are too sick to breastfeed/chestfeed at birth may need more time to learn to latch, suck and feed well. Our OTs and PTs will assess your baby’s oral feeding abilities. We will work together to help your baby learn how to feed by mouth. 

Scheduling an Appointment With Lactation Services

  • Our Lactation Services team visits lactating parents in their baby’s room as often as needed. To make an appointment, ask your baby’s nurse to set up a visit, or call 206-987-1420 (or 7-1420 from any phone inside the hospital).
  • For information about Lactation Services care at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic Othello (OBCC), call 206-987-7210. Patient must be established in primary care at OBCC to be seen for Lactation Services at this location.
  • Learn about Clinical Nutrition resources — including actation resources — such as useful links, videos and recommended reading for you and your family.

Who’s on the team?

Providers on the team include:

Leadership

  • Jennifer J Enich, MS, RD, CD, IBCLC

    Jennifer J Enich, MS, RD, CD, IBCLC

    Clinical Nutrition Manager, Lactation

  • Joanna Patraw, RDN, CDN, IBCLC

    Joanna Patraw, RDN, CDN, IBCLC

    Lead Lactation Consultant

Team

Providers

  • Rachel Grothen, MS, RDN, CD, IBCLC

  • Allison McCoy, MS, RDN, CD, IBCLC

  • Corinne McGill, BSN, RN, IBCLC

  • Dolly Smith, RN, MS, IBCLC

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Lactation technicians

  • Holly Maul, CLC, lactation technician

  • Andrea Vera Rosas, CLC, lactation technician

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Lactation peer counselors

  • Melanie Brickman, lactation peer counselor

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Contact Us

Contact Lactation Services at 206-987-1420 (or 7-1420 from any phone inside the hospital) for an appointment or more information if 1 of these is true:

  • Your baby is staying overnight at Seattle Children’s.
  • You know your baby will be brought to Seattle Children’s right after birth because of a prenatal diagnosis.

For information about Lactation Services care at Odessa Brown Children's Clinic Othello (OBCC), call 206-987-7210. Patient must be established in primary care at OBCC to be seen for Lactation Services at this location.

Providers, see how to refer a patient.

Paying for Care

Learn about paying for care at Seattle Children’s, including insurance coverage, billing and financial assistance.