How Do Parents Benefit from Baby Cafe?

People often say to us “Can’t parents just get help with breastfeeding from the doctor or at the hospital?” That’s a great question! Today we’ll take a look at how Baby Cafe gives parents much more than they can find elsewhere.

What is Baby Cafe? Baby Cafe is access to high-quality lactation care. Baby Cafe provides parents, families, and other health care providers with a reliable resource for evidence-based information about lactation, clinical lactation consultation with trained professionals, and a setting for peer-to-peer support facilitated by educated staff. For the past 6 years, Baby Cafe Bakersfield has followed the model of its parent organization (Baby Cafe USA) by hosting in-person drop-ins several times per week in a comfortable setting designed to help parents feel at ease while they receive information and care as needed. Currently, during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, Baby Cafe has continued to provide education, consultation, and resources via phone and telehealth while temporarily suspending in-person sessions. This combination of methods allows parents to access the type of lactation care they need right when they need it. Families do not pay for these services and they are not asked to provide any health insurance information.

Why is Baby Cafe easier for parents? Baby Cafe is easier for parents because it is specifically geared to their needs. When babies are born, the hospital experience can be very fast and often overwhelming, with a lot of different medical and health needs creating a sense of urgency and lack of time for adequate lactation teaching or consultation. Parents often go home with a lot of unanswered questions OR find that by the time they have been home for a few hours, NEW questions are forming. The same is true for when they bring baby to the doctor for their well-baby visits: appointments are not scheduled to include a lot of extra time for observing a baby feeding, determining a new care plan, or providing a lot of education about breastfeeding and/or pumping. Baby Cafe is designed especially to create an environment where parents can relax with their baby, ask as many questions as they need, and feed their baby with the help and guidance of a trained lactation professional. Baby Cafe is an easy choice for parents who are feeling anxious and wish to take their time and ask all of their questions in a relaxed atmosphere.

What makes Baby Cafe special? Baby Cafe is unique because of the training of its lactation care providers. Baby Cafe Bakersfield sets very high standards for its staff. Led by experienced International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) and complemented by lactation counselors who are in training and preparation for the IBCLC Board exam, our staff are absolutely committed to maintaining the highest level of current knowledge and practice standards, as well as to exceeding the standards set for all Baby Cafes in the US. The staff of Baby Cafe Bakersfield are required to acquire continuing education on a year-round basis, to participate in case study reviews frequently, to meet all documentation and HIPAA requirements and standards, and to continually demonstrate family-centered care.

By creating a resource for parents in Bakersfield and the surrounding areas, Baby Cafe is providing access to high-quality lactation care in an intentionally-designed way, utilizing the skills and expertise of dedicated individuals who have the knowledge and techniques to help parents meet their own infant feeding goals.

You can help Baby Cafe through your financial support during GiveBigKern 2020! Because Baby Cafe has no grants, hospital sponsorships, or other guaranteed types of funding, we rely on the financial support of our community. We invite you to visit our GiveBigKern fundraising page at https://www.givebigkern.org/organizations/babycafebakersfield where you can view more information about our organization, help us find donors, and make a donation! We appreciate your support and are proud to serve the Bakersfield community.