Birth and Beyond

April 27th 2024

515 Hershey Ave.

Lancaster, PA

Join us at Birth and Beyond Expo.

Whether you’re a hopeful parent, expecting or have recently welcomed a new baby, the Birth and Beyond event is for you! Join us for a day filled with incredible prizes, invaluable connections, and access to local professionals offering essential products and services!

I’ll be there!

The ability to breastfeed is about more than the latch

The ability to breastfeed is biological imperative for a newborn’s for survival. Babies are born to feed. The decision of how you would like to feed your baby is your own. Yet when a baby cannot breastfeed, we need to be asking why.

My mission is to help families thrive after bringing baby home. Breastfeeding is a piece of that puzzle. Over the years, I began to note that solutions to breastfeeding trials went far beyond adjusting the latch or pump schedules. When a baby is unable to feed at the breast and/or bottle or a mother is having trouble establishing a thriving milk supply, the problem is not just about breastfeeding. Our bodies are not isolated systems with the breasts working independently from the rest of the body. Likewise, your baby’s ability to latch hinges on more than oral function. Difficulty breastfeeding is often just a red herring. Just as the breasts are part of the body, mom and baby are part of a family. Family ecology is how a family functions in it’s environment. Our vitality as individuals is an intricately woven tapestry reliant on how we come together with the world around us, especially the most intimate in our lives. Just as our health is beholden to the health of our ecosystem, baby is reliant on the vitality of the family ecosystem to thrive.

I am seeking guidance for

  • Infant Feeding

  • Milk Supply

  • Infant Movement

  • Infant Health Concerns

  • Maternal Health Concerns

  • Community

It begins with breastfeeding but it doesn’t end there

The literal translation of ecology is the study of your house. Where you shelter, what you eat, how you move, who you love, and why you make those choices, comprise the ecosystem of your family.

Healing is a family affair

I believe our babies have come to teach us how our ways are no longer sustainable.  What is your baby telling you? In what ways does your baby need the family ecology to change? Your baby is a mirror reflecting back fault lines in your system. When we stop to think of symptoms as messengers, we can hear what the body is asking for. Our babies are still very in tune with their bodies. If we listen to them, we can learn how to serve the whole family.

Our babies are showing us the way

My name is Jessica

I’m a Registered Nurse and IBCLC

My passion is guiding mothers. I like to say I am a “mother worker.” After my own difficult transition into motherhood, the gaping holes in the care we provide families became personal. More and more I have come to realize the disparities go so much deeper than prenatal and postpartum care. My care offering is to go deep with my families. Helping babies learn to breastfeed can be a catalyst for change. Only when deal in holism can we begin to make a shift for our babies and ultimately the whole family.

Work with me

I offer both in home and in an office setting along with virtual opportunities to work with me. The conversation may start around breastfeeding but it does not end there. Dynamic movement is foundational to breastfeeding. During our visit, I will be helping you learn how to help your baby to move, which can often leach into helping mom learn how to move as well. While many of my clients are concerned with how baby’s mouth is working, I see oral function as the tip of the iceberg. We need to work from the ground level up to get lasting results.

We look into what kind of support mothers need to thrive during postpartum. A mother’s health and vibrancy is reflected back by her baby. So to help a newborn that is struggling, we need to support that newborn’s mother. We talk about nutrients mothers need to support themselves and a robust milk supply and how nurture the essential nutrient of rest during a physically and emotionally demanding season.

While our goal is address any feeding concerns your family is experiencing, we work from a wide lenses to ensure we are building a lasting foundation.

Are you ready to get your hands dirty?

Family Testimonials

“Jessica is wonderful and I couldn’t ask for a more helpful or caring lactation consultant! She has helped me with 2 of my babies and has given me amazing guidance and reassurance through it all.”

“Jessica is a truly a life saver and I could not recommend her more. Every appointment has left me feeling renewed and prepared to continue on my breastfeeding journey which I surely would have given up on if it wasn’t for her.”

“I am intensely grateful for the support you gave me. You were they only one who could make me feel better how and when you did. I’ll always be grateful.”

A note about

Me

You will notice personal images throughout this website. I love to write and I love to take pictures. The work I do with families is an intimate thing. So here are some glimpses into my heart, both through the lenses of my camera and narration of my heart.

Motherhood has been the sacred work of my life. I pray my art can help you uncover what is holy in yours.