Lactation Consultant Leeds

Lactation Consultant Leeds Rachel Oliveira: Specialist Midwife/IBCLC providing local. homebased and tailored breastfeeding support on www.lactationconsultantleeds.com

05/10/2025

Reduced stooling 💩

A really common issue that babies are sent to the GP for with daily and often parents get very concerned about constipation. Often health care professionals focus more on tactics to help encourage a stubborn poo to come out rather than focussing on more milk intake going in. It is very rare for a breastfed baby to get ‘constipated’.

Gut transitions mean that often they reduce stooling after 6 weeks but ideally should still be regular daily.

Formula can slow down the gut and reduce stooling volume and create more pasty looking poos.

Seek out local support if you are concerned about your newborns bowel habits!

🙌🏽
25/08/2025

🙌🏽

This week is Black Breastfeeding Week 25th -31st Aug. I recognise it every year because it’s so important that we keep having conversations and raising awareness about the ongoing disparities Black families face.

But I'm also very mindful that I stay in my lane.
As a white woman, I see this week as a time to continue to learn about why this week is needed and the difficulties Black and brown families may have faced and continue to face, reflect on any biases I may (unconciously) have, and listen when people choose to share their experiences, without any expectation on anyone to do the emotional work for my learning.
I can recognise that the families I support may experience additional barriers in their breastfeeding journeys.
I can uplift the voices of my Black and Brown peers and the families we work for, should they choose to share information and experiences.
I reflect often on my own privilege as a white person, and work hard to ensure I'm not adding any additional barriers to the families I support.

And this isn't just for this week. These disparities are ongoing and very real. So if you come across posts and resources shared about this week by Black and Brown families and breastfeeding advocates, I encourage you to read and take them in, and really reflect even if it's uncomfortable.
Change needs to happen.

We are so excited to see those of you who have booked onto our webinar on Saturday 6th September.For those still conside...
24/08/2025

We are so excited to see those of you who have booked onto our webinar on Saturday 6th September.

For those still considering …
Do you interact with pregnant, postnatal families/mothers or babies in your workplace?
Do you follow the referral pathways on your computer systems without the deeper knowledge of how feeding positions, latch, tongue tie, milk composition may impact on many common conditions?
Do you have previous infant feeding training but recognise evidence changes?
Are you pregnant and want a more in depth look at lactation from a health care perspective than the standard antenatal class would offer?

Book here:

https://lactationconsultantleeds.as.me/Theoryoflactationclass

This session is just for allied health professionals and will be based on working within your remit and referral processes but if there is enough interest we will offer other sessions for birth workers alike.

Can’t make this one? Let us know and we will add you to our mailing list for the next!

⭐️ Webinar for Health Care Professionals on the Theory of Lactation, Saturday 6th September 2025 09:00-12:00 ⭐️ We can’t...
20/07/2025

⭐️ Webinar for Health Care Professionals on the Theory of Lactation, Saturday 6th September 2025 09:00-12:00 ⭐️

We can’t wait to see local Health Care Professionals there, we’ve had a lot of interest from GPs, Paediatricians, Obstetricians, Midwives, Health Visitors, Chriropractors and Osteopaths who work with families in the postnatal period

To book email and we will send you the booking link which is now live!

We can’t wait for this shared learning.

(We will be running a similar class in October for birth workers who are non Health Care Professionals - watch this space 👀)

When you were learning to drive did you ever look out at the road and have the overwhelm wondering how on earth everyone...
08/06/2025

When you were learning to drive did you ever look out at the road and have the overwhelm wondering how on earth everyone else managed to work this out and pass the test?

Are you looking at mums feeding their self latching baby in Costa coffee (everyone’s idea of passing their test!) and having the same feeling…

No one ever learnt to drive without a car. You can do all the reading and theory you can, antenatal classes and prep (which I do think are hugely important) but until you have your baby in your arms and your instructor by your side it’s not all going to click into place.

But on top of these things … there’s the need to practice practice practice.

And as for your instructor - that maybe a village of people ranging from your partner, your female family members, peer support at your local group, a midwife, health visitor, doctor or IBCLC.

But one thing is required from all those people is competence and consistency of advice

Strive for progress NOT perfection 🙏🏼

The next string to my bow is to start teaching training packages for other health care professionals, birth workers or a...
07/06/2025

The next string to my bow is to start teaching training packages for other health care professionals, birth workers or affiliate postnatal practitioners who may benefit from additional either basic or more in depth feeding support training focussing on:
- the breast anatomy
- physiology of milk supply and milk production
- how birth can impact feeding
- Impact of feeding trauma on mental health
- The principles of a deep latch
- common issues of colic, reflux, tongue tie, lactose overload
- managing mastitis and breast abscesses
Etc

This is in a push to increase awareness among allies of new vulnerable mums in order to bridge the gap from opinions to evidence based advice and referrals within your remit.

Let me know if this would be of interest and whether a face to face session or virtual would be appropriate

Sessions would be split into groups of similar categories with tailored training based on need.

*Sessions do not lead to any form of formal qualification in lactation*

Out of office until after Easter 🐣
02/04/2025

Out of office until after Easter 🐣

A little late to the game with celebrating International Women’s Day 2025 yesterday due to being a busy bee but absolute...
09/03/2025

A little late to the game with celebrating International Women’s Day 2025 yesterday due to being a busy bee but absolutely loving being part self employed and having the freedom to make a difference in a different way.

Having worked for many years in the NHS it was a huge leap of faith going self employed part time last year and with it has bought a huge sense of pride, humility, sense of achievement and awe of the amazing mums in business around me.

It is so hard getting the balance right of putting your family first alongside building a business with families at the heart and centre.

This year was powered by the deep grief of baby loss and channeling my sadness into positivity and good for others and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the amazing women around me waving their Pom Pom’s 📣.

Thank you to the lovely Anna at for inviting me to work with her on her classes and the amazing women I work with daily both the nhs and privately alongside friends and family who give inspiration 🦹🏼‍♀️

We got this 💪🏼

Such an excellent example of a nice horizontal bottle slowing down the feed and letting the baby take control 🙌🏻
25/02/2025

Such an excellent example of a nice horizontal bottle slowing down the feed and letting the baby take control 🙌🏻

Last night our team was honoured to be shortlisted for the Yorkshire and Humber Infant feeding awards. It was such a spe...
16/01/2025

Last night our team was honoured to be shortlisted for the Yorkshire and Humber Infant feeding awards.

It was such a special evening and a credit to our whole team that we were shortlisted in the first place. It was a real honour to be in the room with so many fantastic feeding supporters from the council, to nhs services, IBCLCs and breastfeeding families that have been through a lot of hardships.

There is still so much to be done in this area of public health but this was a great first step in recognising the need on a higher level.

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