Virtual Lactation Care
for
Twins, Triplets & More
Research shows lactation care from a skilled telehealth provider can be just as effective as in-person care.
From anywhere in the world, you can access specialized multiples lactation support via our secure telehealth platform, right from the comfort of your own home.
“When I delivered our first set of twins at 30 weeks, I assumed I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed. Instead, I received amazing lactation support in the NICU and was able to meet my original goals. That experience is the inspiration behind the work I now do. Over the last ten years, I have empowered and guided families towards their breastfeeding goals, under even the toughest circumstances. It’s a dream come true to pay forward the support I received.”
— Lindsay Castiglione, BSW, IBCLC
Founder, Full Hearts Collaborative
Convenient, Virtual Options for Multiples Lactation Care
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Prenatal Lactation Consultation
Prenatal breastfeeding education is a proven way to help you meet your breastfeeding goals especially with twins or more. This virtual session with a Multiples Specialist IBCLC will give you customized strategies to make your feeding goals a reality.
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Multiples Initial Lactation Consultation
When you are encountering challenges feeding your multiples, there is nothing like having the support of a lactation consultant who is a mom of multiples herself. Latching issues, oral restrictions, triple feeding, supply concerns etc. can all be addressed during this comprehensive visit. All of your questions answered and concerns addressed, leaving you a clear plan for feeding success.
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Exclusively Pumping for Multiples Consultation
An IBCLC specializing in multiples evaluates your unique feeding circumstances and goals, and teaches you proven pumping strategies, methods and routines customized for you and your babies.
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NICU to Home Transition Lactation Session
This session with a multiples-specialist IBCLC (and former NICU mama) is designed to offer individualized support to NICU parents with the goal of providing milk for their babies, and to identify strategies to continue and expand on that goal once discharged.
Will virtual lactation care be as effective as in-person?
Yes! Let me tell you why.
Long before I was an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), I was a new mom of two sets of twins born 2 years apart. I am fortunate to say that I was successful breastfeed two sets of twins - but it was not without challenges! We faced prematurity and NICU time, tongue tie, slow weight gain, and many more challenges along the way. These experiences allow me to provide a level of support for clients that can’t be found with any other lactation consultant. Having an IBCLC who has been in your shoes makes a WORLD of difference.
For over 6 years I have been providing telehealth consultations for twin families located all over the world. I have developed countless online tools and techniques to bring you a level of service on par with in-home care. Improving latch and positioning, tandem feeding twins via breast or bottle, establishing a twin milk supply (and so much more!) all can be navigated successfully through my secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform.
Reach out today - together we can make your twin feeding goals a reality!
Nursing our first set in the NICU, identical boys born at 30 weeks
With our second set at home, a full-term boy/girl set
Using Insurance Coverage for Telehealth Lactation Care
As of May 2023, we are now in-network with all Aetna Insurance Plans!
Full Hearts Collaborative and Lindsay Castiglione, BSW, IBCLC have partnered with The Lactation Network to establish easy, stress-free coverage for clients with:
BCBS*, Anthem, and Cigna PPO plans
Aetna and United Healthcare with Multiplan
Many VA healthcare plans
ChampVA
Provider Network of America (PNOA)
Typically you will be pre-approved for at least SIX free consultation visits, quickly and easily. Once your coverage is verified, you will be promptly contacted to schedule your first visit.
In urgent cases, you can typically obtain approval and an appointment in the same day.
Insurance Companies are required to provide (no cost to you) breastfeeding services through the Affordable Care Act, but it’s often confusing to use the benefits. The Lactation Network specializes in maximizing your coverage and handles all the details for you, so you can concentrate on what is most important - those amazing newborn snuggles.
If not approved for up-front coverage, clients are encouraged to submit their self-pay receipt for full or partial reimbursement. We will provide you with a medical receipt called a Superbill to submit to your insurance company upon request.
*Federal BCBS plans are excluded, as well as some others.
Why have a Prenatal Lactation Visit?
A prenatal lactation consult is an invaluable resource, as it has been proven to be the best way to increase initiation and duration of breastfeeding. Nursing twins is surely a challenge in the beginning, but it is much, much easier if you go into it with accurate expectations and strategies!
This type of consultation is perfect for:
First time parents planning to provide breastmilk to their babies
Anyone who struggled with feeding in the past, and wants to get off to a better start with their twins or triplets
If you know your multiples are going to be premature due to complications but still would like to breastfeed
During this visit, we will discuss your health history as it pertains to lactation, and identify any details that potentially could impact making milk or feeding your babies. We will cover expectations for the first week after delivery, tandem feeding positions, feeding two while recovering from delivery (C-section or vaginal), what to do if the babies go to the NICU, how to latch two babies at once, and much more.
Prenatal visits also include a 10% discount for future lactation consultations once the babies have arrived.
Follow Up: One week of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.
Multiples Initial Lactation Consultation
60-90 minutes| $225| Virtual
Includes follow up text messaging for 2 weeks
Are you encountering challenges feeding your multiples, and really need assistance from a health care provider who truly understands? Besides being an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant, I am a mother of two sets of twins. The support and guidance I received while struggling to feed my babies changed my life, and enabled me to meet and exceed my goals of breastfeeding each set over 12 months.
During our 90 minute Virtual Consultation, we will look at your unique situation, identify the cause behind the challenges, and supply you with strategies setting you on the path towards meeting your feeding goals. A Virtual Consultation is a perfect tool to address the following situations:
Supply Concerns - In addition to teaching proven, evidence-based ways to increase your milk supply, we will identify and address the root cause - a vital step in seeing improvement.
Moving on from Triple Feeding - so many multiples families are instructed to "triple feed" or to nurse, pump, and supplement baby all in one feeding session. I can help you get on track to leaving this exhausting process behind!
Tandem Feeding Logistics - while tandem nursing is a great way to keep your babies on the same schedule and give you more time between feedings, its MUCH harder than it looks. I have developed a proven strategy to help you become a tandem feeding pro, in no time!
Latch, Stamina, and Weight Gain - these are just a few of the common challenges we see with multiples, who are often born several weeks early. With your permission I can assess baby's latch during a feeding (yes, virtually!), provide you with techniques to move toward pain-free latching, and make sure your babies are getting the most milk possible.
During our visit, we will work together to make a Care Plan that will be uploaded into your client portal. With your consent, I will also fax a summary of this report to your babies’ pediatrician so the full healthcare team is involved with the assessment and plan.
Follow Up: Two weeks of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.
Multiples Follow Up Consultation
60-90 minutes | $175 | Virtual
Includes follow up text messaging for 2 weeks
A follow up session is meant to assess the effectiveness of the strategies and plan we put in place during our initial lactation consultation. We want the Care Plan you received previously to be working well for you, your babies, and the family as a whole. If it isn’t, or something has changed, we will reassess and edit that plan. We also can address any new concerns or issues that may have arisen. Also, if our first session was centered around making sure breastfeeding is going well individually with each baby, the follow up session is great for making the transition to tandem feeding.
If you received insurance authorization for your initial visit, follow up visits should also be covered.
Examples of how the time is spent during a follow-up visit:
Visual assessment of a feeding or pumping session
Discussing tandem feeding strategies & routines
Infant oral structure & function (re)evaluation
Discussing milk supply support & strategies
Postpartum maternal nutrition support
Pumping help
Revision to care plan as needed
Collaborate care referrals as needed
Supply dips/increasing supply
Follow Up: One week of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.
Exclusively Pumping for Multiples
60-90 minutes| $225 | Virtual
Includes follow up text messaging for 2 weeks
Exclusively pumping for more than one baby is certainly a challenge, but it is achievable & sustainable with the right support and strategies. Even though the basics are similar, there are many crucial recommendations that differ when pumping for multiples vs. a singleton. We can help guide you to meeting your feeding goals, no matter what they are.
Whether you are exclusively pumping for babies in the NICU, you chose to exclusively pump from the beginning, or for any other reasons, we think you are amazing for providing milk for your babies.
Some examples of how we can help with exclusively pumping for multiples:
Bringing in an abundant supply for two or more babies
Evidence-based strategies for increasing supply using a pump
Pumping on the go & while traveling
Milk storage & reheating guidelines
Ensuring the correct flange size usage
Eliminating pain or nipple damage caused by pumping
Strategies when pumping for one baby and nursing the other
Transitioning from exclusively pumping to exclusively latching your babies
Weaning from exclusively pumping
Following our visit, you will receive an individualized Care Plan containing all of the strategies you need to help meet your feeding goals. This will be delivered electronically to your client portal no more than 48 hours after our visit.
Follow Up: One week of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.
NICU to Home Transition Planning Session
60-90 minutes| $225 | Virtual
Includes follow up text messaging for 2 weeks
Pumping and establishing breastfeeding/chestfeeding in the NICU, brings very unique challenges. Then when you feel like you’ve gotten the hang of things, your babies get discharged! This is such a joyous milestone, but also brings anxiety - especially around feeding. Breastfeeding or pumping at home will look much different than it did while the babies were in the NICU, and we are here to help make that transition as smooth and worry-free as possible.
The best timing for this consultation is anytime you may need support around the NICU and lactation, but for planning purposes one week before expected discharge is ideal.
During a NICU Transition Consultation we address such issues as:
Establishing routines for simultaneously pumping and caring for one or more babies
Working toward eliminating triple feeding (if being used)
Forming tandem feeding routines & strategies
Reducing anxiety around feeding your preemies
Increasing or decreasing supply to match the babies’ needs
Working with “adjusted” or “corrected” age expectations
Managing medications or other health interventions with breastfeeding
Any other challenges or concerns
Following our visit, you will receive an individualized Care Plan containing all of the strategies you need to help meet your feeding goals. This will be delivered electronically to your client portal no more than 48 hours after our visit. If requested, I will fax a summary of this plan to your babies’ pediatrician, so the full healthcare team is aware of the goals and plan.
Follow Up: One week of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.
Multiples Mini Lactation Session
45-60 minutes| $150 | Virtual Lactation Consultation
A mini session is great for accessing support and strategies for one specific issue that you may be experiencing. You may have questions that you’d rather ask an expert and get individualized support around rather than just using google. (Trust me, a Mini Session is a much better idea!) We will discuss questions or concerns, and I will provide evidence-based recommendations to help remedy the issue.
Examples of mini session topics include:
Supply dips/increasing supply
Tandem feeding struggles
Recurrent clogged ducts
Latch check and adjustment
Returning to work & strategies for continued breastfeeding
Weaning
Pain while pumping
Flange fitting & maximizing milk output with a breast pump
** Please note that some circumstances may warrant a full consultation, I reserve the right to make that call and let you know that is my recommendation. If we are already in session when that is decided, we can convert to a full session if time allows, or reschedule to the next available full appointment.
Follow Up: One week of secure messaging through your portal is included, so that any questions, concerns, and progress can be discussed.