Nurturing Traditions offers lactation support by International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, Leah Segura and Sarah Willard. Combined we have over 30 years experience as lactation professionals!
Leah Segura, BSW, IBCLC
I’ve been working with lactating families in the Midland, MI area for over 17 years. My children are now in their teenage and adult years, but all were breastfed for various lengths of time and through many struggles. Even before I had my own children, I had a passion for working with parents and their babies. My education and experience in social work focused on infant mental health and early child development.
Breastfeeding looks like many different things for many different families, whether it involves exclusive breastfeeding, pumping, bottles, formula, donor milk, etc. My goal is to provide you with the information and support you need to make the best decisions for your family, meet your own feeding goals, and establish a rewarding, confident, secure relationship with your baby. As I have with many clients before you, I will provide a non-judgmental, nurturing, and professional approach to serving your family.
Credentials and Experience:
- International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), 2013-current
- Certified Breastfeeding Specialist (CBS) (Lactation Education Resources), 2013-current
- Postpartum Doula certified through DONA International, 2012-2019
- Leader with La Leche League International, 2006-2018
- Bachelor of Social Work, Saginaw Valley State University, 2000, Summa Cum Laude
Continuing Education:
I value professional growth and strongly believe continuing education is vital to improve patient outcome. The last time I re-certified as an IBCLC, I had over 5x the required number of continuing education hours. Lactation may seem like a simple topic, but just like most advanced practitioners in my field, the more I learn, the more I realize I have to learn! Some areas of speciality include low milk supply, infant colic/reflux, tongue and lip tie and oral rehabilitation, bottle feeding, weaning, and employment and lactation. For a list of my continuing education, please click here.
Affiliations:
Thorough. Informative. Professional.
Leah was so helpful during my postpartum period. I suffered from postpartum depression and Leah was an integral part of my recovery. She taught me a lot about caring for my newborn and helped me gain confidence that I needed to overcome the depression. I am very grateful to her and will recommend her to everyone!
Leah is fantastic! There should be more people trained like her.
Highly Recommend! So thankful for Leah! (And the friend of mine who recommended her!) This breastfeeding experience has been a rocky road and it’s finally going smoothly now! I couldn’t be happier!! I feel like our nursing relationship was rescued ♥
After my son was born, I was really struggling with breastfeeding and the pediatrician wanted me to supplement with formula. Leah was able to identify the problem and offer solutions. As a result, I’m happy to say I’m still breastfeeding seven months later without supplementation!
Leah educated me on breastfeeding and gave me the confidence to breastfeed longer than I did with my other children
I was so grateful to have Leah come to my home. She worked really hard to help my daughter and I with our nursing struggles. She followed up with me repeatedly to help make sure we were successful.
Leah’s very nice, helpful, and thorough! She goes above and beyond!
Leah was very sweet. She returned my emails promptly and seemed to be knowledgeable about breastfeeding.
Professional, safe, understanding and caring. The one-on-one home visits made the experience much more comfortable.
Leah probably didn’t think she offered much given my situation, but her education and reassurance was fantastic. I felt so much better about my supply and behaviors after meeting with her and felt able to continue with the practices.
Excellent care to help me focus on dealing with one issue at a time. As we all know nursing can be overwhelming, but Leah helped me to simplify what I needed to be successful.
Leah was so calming to me and my infant! Her breastfeeding advice, ease and help with my older child, and her bedtime assistance were invaluable!
Leah is fabulous! Very informed, quick at spotting the problem and getting help to solve it. She has a good network of practitioners to recommend.
Leah was absolutely wonderful! When I contacted her for help she responded quickly. She provided a wealthy of knowledge and understanding.
I appreciated having Leah come to our home. That made things much easier. Also her knowledge was extremely helpful and helped us identify the main issue we were having in the first 10 minutes of our appointment. I also liked the summaries that were sent out. They were well organized.
I am still in the process of trying to get the consultation covered by my insurance. It’ a long process and I haven’t given up on it yet, but even if it is not covered it was well worth the money.
Leah is the only reason I am able to continue to breastfeed and to breastfeed pain-free. None of the other doctors, nurses, pediatricians, etc were able to find out why I was having such pain when nursing. It took Leah 5 seconds to diagnose the problem. After following her recommendation for a simple lip and tie revision, I have been able to have a very easy and enjoyable breastfeeding relationship with my baby.
I’ve not been able to stop talking about her to friends and family, especially those who I think might benefit from a consultation.
Leah was responsive, calm, knowledgeable and had a good listening skills. She did an outstanding job!!!
She was very informative and gave great advice on how to better the latch for feeding. She’s very knowledgeable on this subject.
We were very pleased with how quickly Leah was able to see us and evaluate our son. She provided a very detailed care plan with research included to educate us on the best practices.
Sarah Willard, BSN, RN, IBCLC
I had always felt a strong calling to the field of women’s and children’s health and following the birth of my first child, La Leche League was pivotal in overcoming the many challenged I faced in my breastfeeding journey. Since then, I have had different roles but have continued to focus on supporting families ; as a birth doula, a RN caring for pregnant and postpartum families, as a Certified Lactation Counselor, and an IBCLC. I have been helping with breast/chestfeeding support for over 17 years and continue to expand my education to better serve those I care for.
I strive to provide inclusive, holistic care to help meet my clients’ needs and goals, through education, personal support, collaboration, and when needed, referrals to other care givers. As with all areas of life, we all have different and individual needs and visions of success, and I will help you work toward your unique breastfeeding goals.
Credentials and Experience:
- International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), 2022-present
- Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), 2019- present
- Leader with La Leche League Leader International, 2005- 2015
- Bachelors of Science in Nursing, Saginaw Valley State University, 2009, Summa Cum Laude
Contact Us
Phone: 989-798-3375
Email: leah@nurturingtraditions.net