About Rachel Simpson, IBCLC
I am a mom to three of my own babies – who are now teenagers – and a professional lactation consultant to all the babies of the world
My travel experiences with small children, and also the many years with my babies at the breast, have helped blossom my love for lactation consulting. Every breastfeeding/chest-feeding parent has their own story. I meet these clients exactly where they are at on the first visit. I feel excited to assist them on their journey. Each client’s challenges offer a learning opportunity
CERTIFICATIONS AND AFFILIATIONS
OFFICIAL BIO
Rachel Simpson is your new mom coach serving moms through lactation, nutrition and self-care to find ease, confidence and pleasure in your new role.
She is a mom to three teens and is dedicated to being the best mom she can be so she is raising competent, integral people in the world to reach their potential and serve others. Rachel’s experience as a mom and professional IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant) is what gets her to be the best new mom coach for all the worldly women whom she has the pleasure of serving.
Her passion includes guiding them into their highest self so they can sustain and maintain energy and motivation. She does this through educating on building immunity through nutrition, and self care of the body, mind and spirit. Rachel educates on planning, preparing and cooking nutritious meals.
Her experience includes traveling to foreign lands learning cultural cooking, studying with a nutritionist and world renowned herbalist. She has spent thousands of dollars investing in training in these fields for herself to uplevel as a practitioner and practices daily, both cooking and self-care. Rachel is also passionate with self care and knows the impact that self care practices can have on physical fitness, mental hygiene and psychological well being. She takes considerable efforts to support and educate women on this important matter so they do not spend one more day struggling in overwhelm or anxiety.
TRAINING
Rachel has trained in the highest level possible, taking advanced courses over the past decade in the area of lactation, infant oral structure and functional development. Rachel works alongside the world renowned Dr Martin Kaplan, DDS of Massachusetts for the past year and a half. She continues to engage in mastermind groups with her colleagues so that they stay current on the best practices and finds solutions that will have impact on her clients and their babies.
SOME BACKGROUND
Having grown up right outside of NYC, I was constantly exposed to the diversity of many cultures. In part because of the varied ethnic foods nearby which I loved and still do, and my wonderfully diverse friends from around the world, I developed an affinity for travel in order to experience the riches of those cultures.
Raising three children, I exposed them to cultures around the globe – we traveled a lot. While traveling with babies and toddlers, I was curious about the breastfeeding norms where we went.
What I witnessed around the world, not just in the U.S., was a need for greater support of public breastfeeding and breastfeeding in general. This was especially apparent in Sicily where I spent six weeks with new parents. While I was so in love with the ease with which I could nourish my own children while we were in transit, I saw few other women feeding their babies at the breast. I felt strongly that this was a women’s rights issue that had been stifled by the patriarchal culture.
As an expert in the field of lactation, especially with issues of tongue lip and cheek ties, I have been working in collaboration with the world-renowned Dr Kaplan, DDS. One day per week, he performs oral surgery on infants and immediately after, I assist the mom with the latch, get her to understand the post- op care, both immediate and long term needs for the baby to eat well. The issues that come along with the tongue and lip ties can take months to resolve. For example, one mom after the release stopped feeding because the baby could not manage breastfeeding. She and I worked together and after 3 months of not breastfeeding, we got him back to breast in 5 weeks. Read her testimonial.
– Rachel
EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION
It wasn’t always easy moving around and feeding small children, especially without extra family support. An organization that gave me this support, at home and abroad, was La Leche League International (LLLI). The English group in Rome gave me great comfort as it has many other expats. The flow of their meetings was similar to the groups I had attended across the Northeast region of America. I could rely on LLL to be the emotional support that I needed during my time with little ones in the foreign city.
In 2011 I became a volunteer for La Leche League International so as to give back what I had gained and to continue to be the advocate I was becoming for breastfeeding. The piece I wrote for LLL about being an American in Rome was published a few years ago. You can read that piece here.
As my children grew, I found myself with more time to pursue my passion for infant feeding, so I decided to become an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant in 2013. This credential is recognized worldwide, and has allowed me to help clients while living in Rome as well as the U.S., where I live most of the year, north of Boston.
THE BABY WHISPERER
Rachel is a natural empath which is her superpower.
She has innate abilities to listen to the newborn and let them tell her what they are looking to express to their parents.
People accept the idea of a ‘green thumb’ and have an innate sense for plants. Rachel has a ‘baby hand’ and is the baby whisperer, because she has an innate sense for infants and their needs. Being an empathetic persona, Rachel embraces this superpower to help families get out of struggle so they can welcome their new baby and be a happy, healthy family. Rachel has over a decade of experience and is highly respected by her colleagues.
INTERNATIONAL WORK AND VISION
In 2016 my volunteer work took me even further abroad. I took a few weeks away from my family on the island of Chios, Greece under the auspices of Nurture Project International. A brand new NPO at the time, they offer infant feeding support to refugee families. Their work has reached thousands of families across the globe since then. I had a few weeks of specific online training and then immersed myself with other volunteers the world over to assist families during this massive and dangerous migration. I was able to reassure families that continuing to breastfeed during the crisis was healthy and OK. The breastfeeding mothers were happy to know they could continue to safely breastfeed in transit despite the stresses of their lives. Grandmothers were happy to hear that their daughter-in-laws could breastfeed while pregnant despite her doctor saying otherwise. They were so grateful that someone was just there looking out for the needs of the infants and children. It made their existence in the dire situation just that much more tolerable.
My ability to reach communities in such need fulfilled the desire I have to make a difference where it is needed most..That experience helped me see every day as a blessing and gave me an appreciation for all that I have in my very fortunate life!
ONGOING EDUCATION AND SERVICE
To keep abreast in this field, I participate in several lactation specific trainings and conferences throughout the year. As well, I am continuously reading books, websites and professional Facebook groups to keep current and informed.
