It all started when...

local IBCLCs began to see a deep need in the Bakersfield community for a better way to provide breastfeeding care to families.  Christine read an article about the Baby Café model of care in the journal Clinical Lactation, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Baby Café Bakersfield was licensed in Feb 2014 and opened its doors for the first time in March 2014.  With a trio of highly experienced and compassionate IBCLCs in the lead, our all-volunteer staff has provided clinical lactation care and breastfeeding support to hundreds of families over the past 4 years.  

What makes Baby Café special?  Breastfeeding families can easily access the clinical lactation care and information they need to meet their own breastfeeding goals in a welcoming and non-medical environment.  The service is free to the community and operates completely through donations.  Baby Café Bakersfield meets every Tuesday and Friday morning from 10am to 1pm and Wednesday evenings from 6-8pm and is a consistent and regular source of breastfeeding care for families.  Pregnant women attend before their babies are born in order to learn more about breastfeeding and to see nursing babies (because, unfortunately, in our culture, some people have never seen a baby nurse!) 

Baby Café Bakersfield is a project of Central Valley Lactation Association, which brings together local lactation professionals for continuing education, networking, and special projects to support breastfeeding.  

In the summer of 2017, CVLA embarked upon a new project: prenatal classes for local families.  A childbirth and breastfeeding preparation series called Birth & Babies launched in July 2017 to help families prepare for their birth and breastfeeding journey.  

Why IBCLCs? An IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant.  An IBCLC provides the highest level of clinical lactation care in all settings - hospitals, physician offices, home visitation, clinics, and more - and has the highest amount of documented education and clinical experience in the field of lactation care.  More information and a registry of IBCLCs can be found at www.iblce.org . Only an IBCLC is responsible, through a Code of Professional Conduct and Scope of Practice, to provide a professional level of lactation care that is evidence-based.  A registry of currently-certified IBCLCs is available at www.iblce.org.