New Inpatient and Telehealth Lactation Clinic Opens at Intermountain Cedar City Hospital

For many new mothers, a lactation consultation can become a lifeline. This is why Cedar City Hospital is expanding its services for new moms with a lactation clinic open to the public starting August 1 that includes onsite consulting as well as telehealth opportunities from Intermountain Health board-certified lactation consultants.

The Intermountain Health Cedar City location is now one of ten Intermountain hospitals offering this in-person support. The much-needed service allows a lactation team to provide the help many moms seek as they navigate breastfeeding. Since most mothers go home within 24 hours of delivering many of them will find that once they start caring for their baby at home, they have questions, or issues with breastfeeding that didn’t exist while in the hospital. The consultants help moms and babies at any stage of breastfeeding.

Cedar City Hospital will have available appointments Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. with one of its four lactation consultants to help address concerns such as latching, positioning, mastitis, pain, infection, milk supply, pumping issues, weaning and more.

City Hospital Lactation Lead Kim Heaton chose to become a lactation consultant when she was looking for direction after she had her first baby and did not find the help she needed.

When she delivered her first child, Heaton said, “No one really came in and talked to you about lactation or how to watch your baby. They just gave you the baby. They would have a nurse come see you but there wasn’t a lot of training on breastfeeding. You just had to figure it out for yourself.”

Heaton added, “It’s a great bonding thing with my kids. I want to make it nicer for other moms.”

According to the Center for Disease Control, sixty percent of mothers do not breastfeed for as long as they intend. The Cedar City Hospital Lactation Clinic wants to reduce that statistic as breastfeeding provides health benefits for both mother and baby. For the baby, it provides optimal nutrition, immune system support, reduces the risk of allergies, and improves digestive health. For moms, breastfeeding helps with emotional bonding and postpartum recovery.

Now Heaton is leading a team of consultants who can create a better experience and provide that training and lactation support whenever a patient needs it. Their goal is to create a positive and healthy experience for mother and baby.  In addition, Heaton says that lactation consultation can help moms from abandoning breastfeeding sooner than they planned.

For more information about virtual or in-person lactation consultations, visit the Connect Care lactation support webpage. Intermountain also has a virtual breastfeeding class available for expectant parents. It’s a one session, two-hour class and offered often. The cost is $15.

In-person and virtual appointments can be made with the Cedar City Hospital Lactation Clinic by visiting connect.intermountainhealth.org/utah-lactation-clinics. 

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 34 hospitals, 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.