Baby and the Breast
Lactation Consulting in Tampa Bay
Monica Simpson, BA, CLC, IBCLC
Services
Baby Cafe Locations & Schedule
Tampa: Layla's House
1506 East Eskimo St. 33604
Every Friday: 10:00am-12:00pm
Brandon: Family Resource Center
1271 Kingsway Rd. Brandon, FL 33510
Every Tuesday: 10:00am-12:00pm
USF Pediatrics
17 Davis BLVD #100
Davis Island, Tampa, FL 33606
Every Thursday: 1:00-3:00pm
To make an appt at any of these locations, please call: (813) 673-4646 ext: 1127 or 1128
As an IBCLC, I Do Not:
What is Baby Cafe?
Baby Cafe is an international organization of free clinics staffed with professional lactation consultants, offering guidance and support to mothers with breastfeeding concerns. You can schedule an appointment for a consult, or come on a walk-in basis. We are there to answer questions about milk supply ,baby's weight gain, frequency of feedings ,growth spurts, or any other breastfeeding concerns you may have. We can observe a feeding and help with position and latch, evaluate milk transfer, as well as do an oral evaluation of your baby if there is a concern about lip or tongue-tie or maintaining the latch. Our goal is to help you achieve your goals.
Prenatal Visits
Before you give birth is the ideal time to gain an understanding of how breastfeeding works, and what you need to do in the first hours and days of your baby's life to support your breastfeeding goals. We can provide some of that information in the clinic, and direct you to free breastfeeding classes at Champions for Children, our sponsoring organization.
Diagnose or Prescribe
Lactation Consultants are professionally trained to provide education, guidance and support for breastfeeding. We are not medical personnel, and even those consultants who are also RN's are not empowered to dispense medical advice. But we can certainly guide you to the appropriate medical practitioner if there is a need, and help to frame and clarify your concerns and questions regarding medical issues.
Make decisions for you
My role is to give you the information and support you need to make your own choices about how you breastfeed your child. I can give you recommendations of what is ideal for your own and your baby's health, but everyone's situation is different. The challenge of many mothers juggling the demands of work schedules, other siblings and a new infant deserves the space and freedom to decide what's best for her.
Project any of my own beliefs onto your experience
I appreciate that the mothers who come to Baby Cafe have a variety of cultural backgrounds and traditions. I value and respect that diversity, and strive to provide counseling that is sensitive to individual experience. My goal is to provide accurate, up to date, evidence based information, so that you can make the choices that best suit your needs.
When to Get in Touch
Please ask for help with breastfeeding as soon as possible. Learning about it before birth is ideal. Babies have strong instincts to breastfeed, but this is a learned activity for moms, and guidance and support can make a big difference in your experience. If there is a lactation consultant where you deliver, ask for a feeding assessment. Reassurance that all is well can be as helpful as guidance when there are issues. Call or come by the Baby Cafe as soon as you can after your baby is born.