Amy,

Congratulations, now you get to try out all the things you may want to
add to your practice on your own personal guinea pig!  I practiced
cup-feeding on my youngest, poor little thing.

I had a small private practice, like you, while homeschooling my older
children and having the last two of my four.  While they were little, it
was easy.  I would ask the mom if she minded that I bring my nursing
infant/young toddler.  If doing a home visit, I would plan the session
as close to naptime as possible or stop at the park on the way over.
Since this will be your third child, they are used to sleeping with
noise and light so if you can get him/her to fall asleep (which I often
could) you will be all set.  Just bring something for your baby to sleep
on.

If the mom was uncomfortable with me bringing a baby, I would refer her
to someone else or try to arrange it for a late afternoon nap or weekend
when dad was home.  I once brought a friend with and left the baby in
the car when it was more of an emergency.

The hard part was when each of my younger children were between about 20
mo. and 2.5 and I couldn't completely relax while away from them but
they were too big and too active to take with and be able to
concentrate.  It will also depend on your child's temperament (my two
youngest are active boys).

Another helpful thing I did was to create a private place to see moms in
my home.  That way, we could work on her problem and the youngest could
freely come and go as he needed me.  I never had a mom who was
uncomfortable with my little one moving around.  It did get rather funny
because seeing the infant nurse always made my little guy want to do it
also.  He gradually learned that he had to either nurse a few swigs and
then let me finish or wait until I was sitting back down and just
talking!!  LOL  Remember to have snacks and sippy cup available at that
time.

Personally, I feel that it provides a good role model to combine work
and mothering.  As Cynthia put so well, we exclude children from a work
environment way too much in our society.

Hope this helps.

Karen Seroussi, BS, LLLL, IBCLC
Volunteer and Private Practice

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