Spotlight Series

Guest Name: Brianne Taggart

Credentials:  RN, IBCLC, CEIM

Welcome Bri, thanks so much for being on our spotlight series here with the Best in Utah Pelvic Health Edition and I’m really excited to have you on here and chat about you and your company. And so first off, I’m just going to read a little bio for the audience and then we’ll jump into all the fun questions we have. Okay, awesome.

So Brianne Target is a registered nurse, certified educator of infant massage and mom of four located in northern Utah. She is heroically revolutionizing lactation health care support for new moms around the world. She launched Breezy Babies Lactation Consulting in 2020 after working in lactation private practice for years.

In sum, Breezy Babies is a happy place for boobs and babies, an essential health care service that helps women transition into feeding their newborns. Brianne is certified by the Global Authority International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, IBCLC, to offer lactation consultations and has built a team to broaden her reach of Breezy Babies. In the past 12 months, her team of 10 IBCLC lactation consultants, seven in Utah, one in Iowa, and two in California, have served over 952 mothers in lactation consultations.

Her team of IBCLCs met with families for both in-home and telehealth secure video consultations with families all over the world. They also have 11 mentees who are working on their hours towards their IBCLC certifications with plans to expand the team in the coming year. So exciting.

Okay, take it away. Let’s hear how it got you into all this. How did you start?

Yeah, first of all, isn’t it like the silliest acronym, IBCLC? I feel like-

Yeah, I have to like pause as I’m saying it to make sure I’m saying it correctly.

I know, it’s kind of silly, but really like anyone can just say like, oh, I’m a lactation consultant. I’m a lactation specialist. So the IBCLC is like, okay, that’s who you’re looking for, for like the gold standard in lactation, like the ones who have like put in the time and the hours and the education.

So it’s like the silliest, longest acronym. And also as you were reading that, I thought, I need to update that bio because we’ve now seen over 1,200 families just in the last year. So we’re growing and expanding really rapidly, which is really exciting.

So anyway, did you ask how I got into lactation?

How did you decide to do this line of work? Like what made you decide to do this?

Yeah, I did not go into nursing school ever thinking that I would work in lactation, ever thinking that I would own my own business. I actually had no desire to ever do that. But now that I’m here, I’m loving it and I wouldn’t choose it any other way.

So I was a mom first and then I started working as a nurse. I worked on a medical surgical floor and it was the hardest job I’ve ever done. I was in the float pool and I was like, okay, this is not for me.

I started working on postpartum in a local hospital here in Salt Lake City. And I really liked that. I really liked working with new families after they had their baby.

And I didn’t anticipate that a huge part of my job was going to be helping with breastfeeding. I thought, oh, I’ll give medications and I’ll help people get up to the bathroom for the first time and make sure their bleeding is under control. But a huge part of my job was helping people with latching and breastfeeding.

And, um, I was not equipped to do that. I thought, oh, I breastfed a baby. I’m sure.

But it’s so different helping someone else and talking them through it. It’s not about like, oh, let me hold your baby like this and latch them on for you. Um, it’s a very different thing to educate and talk someone through them latching their babies so that they know how to do it when they go home.So anyway, I worked on postpartum for five years, got a lot of hours and experience helping families with breastfeeding. I didn’t even know what an IBCLC was. We didn’t have one that worked in the hospital and I worked in not a small hospital.

We, we didn’t have any IBCLCs on staff. So after I worked there, I started teaching the breastfeeding classes and the child birthing classes at that hospital. And someone mentioned, Hey, have you ever thought about becoming an IBCLC? You have a lot of experience helping people with breastfeeding.

And I was like, what is that? And she explained what it was. And I instantly was like, I have to do that. So I got my hours.

Um, it’s not a small thing. Some people reach out and they’re just like, Hey, I want to be an IBCLC. Um, it’s not a course that you just take in a week or two.

Um, you have to have 500 hours of helping families with, with breastfeeding. You have to have 95 hours of specific lactation education. You, um, you have to go and take an exam and pass the exam.

And it’s a lot of work and a lot of time and a lot of effort. You have to have college courses unless you’re already a dietitian or a registered nurse, or, you know, something where you’ve already taken like anatomy and chemistry and that sort of thing. So, um, as soon as I heard about it, I was like, Oh, that’s, that’s what I have to do.

And so I got started in private practice in 2017. And I’ve been seeing families in their home. Um, ever since I didn’t do a lot of telehealth when I got started, but the pandemic and joining Tony got me really good at doing telehealth and meeting with families over secure video, kind of like you and I are talking right now.

And I really love doing that. I do about half and half, like half in home, half in person. Um, but yeah, I did not anticipate going into lactation as a nurse.

Um, and now that I’m here and like have a team of lactation consultants, um, I, I love it. I, I have the flexibility I have to work when I want. I can be home with my kids.

I have four kids and, um, and it’s really fun to teach other people as well, how to start their own private practice and how to get started and teach them how to do this process as well. That’s really what is lighting me up right now. So cool.

So cool. Okay. What do you think makes you and your team different? Like what, what, what’s it besides that? Like, obviously the IVLC, IVLC, I’m going to murder it.

Yeah. So what, what makes our team different? Um, first of all, there aren’t a lot of IBCLCs in the world, even in the state of Utah. Like we kind of all know each other there.

It’s just not a huge amount of people who have that certification. Um, what makes our team really cool here in Utah is we do home visits that kind of sets us apart because we go to our clients’ homes and see them in the space where they normally nurse their baby. And if they have questions about their breast pump, it’s right there.

We just don’t grab it. If they want to use the pillow that they normally use, they can use that. If not, we toss it to the side.

Um, we go into their space, um, wherever they invite us into, whether that’s a front room or a bedroom or a nursery or, or whatever. And our families really love that because then they’re comfortable, they’re in their space. And how hard is it to go somewhere when you have a baby who’s not eating or trouble with, with feeds? Like that’s hard, you know, being so new postpartum to go out.

So a lot of our families really love that we come to them in their home. And we’re also able to accept a lot of major insurances. So that’s huge for our clients as well, because most of our clients who see us, they pay little to nothing out of pocket.

That’s awesome. So cool. Kate, who would you say is an ideal fit for you and your services?

Um, anyone who is having a baby and is interested in breastfeeding in any way, whatever that looks like.

So we see, we serve clients, um, prenatally, like ideally at the end of the second trimester, we really like meeting with our clients. And, and we meet with all sorts of people, people who are like, um, I think I want to breastfeed. I think I want to try it.

I don’t really know, like no one in my family ever breastfed. I don’t know if I can, I don’t know if I can have enough milk, but I just, I’m interested in it. I thought I would give it a shot.

Um, we also meet with people where it’s their third, fourth, fifth, sixth baby. Um, because every baby is so different and you just don’t know how each journey is going to go. That’s a different baby, different anatomy, different birth experience, right? Like even, even the way that a baby is born, whether it’s C-section or vaginally, whether it’s emergent, like that all really affects lactation.

It affects even the tension in baby’s body, the tension in the mom’s body. Um, and all of that affects lactation. So, um, really anyone who’s even just interested in trying breastfeeding, um, those are our deal clients.

We work with people all the way through weaning. So a lot of people think like, oh, I only work with a lactation consultant. If I’m having big problems, if I’m having trouble with like active mastitis or something like that, but we like to work preventatively and avoid big problems.

Then, you know, getting the calls where they’re like, ah, my baby’s lost a lot of weight and my milk supply has gone way down. It’s kind of harder to come back from that. Um, so we love it.

Uh, we love clients who, um, like to meet with us multiple times. And the nice thing about insurance is that a lot of times those families can meet with us multiple times so we can follow them through their journey and check in with them, see how things are going. Um, I myself am a little bit more, um, naturally minded, I guess you could say.

And I like to kind of bring, um, a different aspect of, of, cause I do have a medical background of being a nurse and working in the hospital. Um, but I also have seen the benefits of, um, like a more holistic approach. And that’s the thing with lactation is you have to take the entire body into account.

It’s like, we’re just looking at the breast and we’re just looking at milk supply. I mean, you know, this working with this body, like you can’t just focus on this one area, like everything’s connected. And sometimes we have to look at gut health.

Sometimes we have to look at, um, tension at other places in the body. Sometimes we just have to do like some mindfulness and some deep breathing and, and there’s just a lot that goes into it. Um, so a lot of times we do attract those clients that are open to like other techniques.

Um, one thing I’ve seen a lot recently is I go to see clients and they’re like, Oh, I started getting mastitis two days ago before you got here. But, but I called my provider and we got on antibiotics right away. And I’m like, Oh, I wish I could have talked with you three days ago before this happened.

Because the cool thing is, is that the latest protocol on mastitis, um, antibiotics are actually not the first go-to for mastitis. There’s other things we can do like ice and breast gymnastics and decreasing inflammation in the body and breast massage to help work that through. And a lot of people just don’t know they, they call their provider and they’re like, Oh, all we have in our toolbox is antibiotics, but there’s other things in the toolbox.

Not saying that something like antibiotics are never needed and never necessary and never good, but there’s other things in the toolbox we can try first. And for my clients, like they have such good success with ice and breast gymnastics, specifically at working through mastitis, that it doesn’t escalate to that level where they need antibiotics. Really great information.

Okay. Um, what does process look like to work with you? Like how does someone become a client or patient?

The best place to start on our, um, on our website, we have a link where you can run your insurance. That’s the best place to start because, um, if your insurance will cover, um, that’s great.

We will, we would love to build them and have them pay for, um, our services. So that’s the best place to start. Um, you just put in your information, um, and then you get an email back with like a yes, you’re covered or no, you’re not.

Um, and even if you’re not, um, sometimes there’s different avenues, for example, like Aetna we’re in network with directly. TriCare, we use our CLCs to meet with you. So we kind of have a couple different avenues.

Um, we use a different biller for Cigna. We just, we have to play the games that insurance plays and we have to, you know, go through the different avenues that they require, but most of our clients are approved. They’re through their insurance.

And if you happen to not be approved for your insurance, we do accept healthcare spending account, um, or just any major payment we can provide super bills for afterwards. Um, but that’s the best place to start is to just see if your insurance covers, because I’ve never, I’ve never met with a client, even if it’s their first baby, six baby, whatever. And just been like, wow, we have nothing to talk about.

Like, I don’t have anything to talk to you about. Yeah. There’s always something, even if they’re just like, Hey, um, I’m actually going on a trip next month.

And I’ll be like, Oh, are you taking your baby with you? Are you leaving your baby behind? Let me talk to you about how to get through security, you know, with, uh, with baby wearing, or let me tell you how to get through security with, um, uh, transporting your milk and what TSA looks for and, and how to maintain a good supply when you’re away with your baby, without your baby, like there’s always something that we can talk about. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Okay. Next question is what is your clinical ethos in the transition from pregnancy to postpartum? Like, what does that, what does that look like from your, your scope?

Yeah. Do you just mean like kind of what is the journey look like for a client as they’re going from before having a baby to after having

Yeah, yeash talked about like recovery of like transitioning from being pregnant to postpartum and then having your milk come in and like, you know what I mean? Like within your realm of like that recovery process and like getting used to breastfeeding and like anything around that?

Well, the first thing I would say is, um, having a good base knowledge before having your baby is really important.

Like the people that we meet with prenatally, they’re always doing better when we meet with them after, um, because they just have that good base knowledge. And I’ll be the first to say, like when I had my first, I did not take a breastfeeding class. I did not take a child birthing class.

I didn’t take anything. I was like, oh, I’m a nurse. I know what I’m doing at that time.

I didn’t even work in women’s services. So I have no idea why I thought I knew what I was doing, but I just went into it like, oh, they’ll tell me what to do. Um, and I’ll just do what they say, but really, um, you know, the, your doctor, your midwife, your, your nurse in the hospital, they are giving great service, but they also have a list of this many things that they need to do and get through.

I know, like I worked on the unit as a postpartum nurse. There’s a lot. I was, there’s a lot of people I was taking care of.
There’s a lot of duties to do. And, and so, um, they’re just doing the best they can, but they, they don’t have an hour to sit down with you and really troubleshoot what’s going on with your latch, what’s going on with your supply. It’s just, it’s not an, it’s not in their scope of practice.

It’s not an, it’s not in the budget. It’s just not anywhere there. So, um, when I meet with clients prenatally, I teach them things that they really aren’t taught.

Otherwise I teach them things like hand expression, um, and how to get milk to their baby, even if they don’t match, because we always go into it like, okay, ideally your baby’s going to be born and you’re going to do an hour skin to skin and your baby’s going to latch and it’s all going to go great. But sometimes unexpected things pop up and, you know, breathing is first priority for baby. And, um, we always go into it like this is plan A, but even if the latch and everything doesn’t go perfect from the beginning, it’s okay.

We have plan B, we have plan C. And a lot of that could just be something like knowing how to hand express your own breast milk. And I have little highlight bubbles on this, on my Instagram page. If anyone has questions of like what’s breast gymnastics, what’s hand expression, what are you talking about? I have little highlight bubbles of those on my Instagram.

Um, but, um, just like knowing how to hand express, give that milk to your baby, knowing the importance of doing skin to skin, knowing how to do breast gymnastics to work through that engorgement in the beginning so that your baby does have a nice soft breast to come on and latch to, um, just having that base knowledge is so important. Um, so that when we do come to you, once you’re back home and, um, and you’ve gotten past those first few days, it’s like, even if the latch didn’t go perfect, you fed your baby, you protected your milk supply. We can work on the latch down the road.

Um, and so we really, we just really like going on the journey with our clients. That’s really important. Like, don’t wait for trouble to happen.

Like we will go on the journey with you. We love meeting with you multiple times. I have a client right now that I met with her 18 times and that’s just with her second baby.

That doesn’t even take into account how many times I met with her with her first baby. And sometimes she just like, I just feel more confident when you come and I can ask any questions that I have. And I’m like, great.

I will come as many times as you need me. Um, and so, so that’s, that’s really huge. Our, we love following our, our clients through on the entire journey from very beginning till like you have weaned and you can’t even hand express one more drop of breast milk.

I love that. Awesome. Awesome.

Okay. What’s something that most people don’t know that you think that they should know?

Hmm. Ooh, that’s a good one.

There’s like so many things that come to mind. I’m like, ah, how do I, how do I choose even one? But, um, the biggest thing for sure is, is, um, working more preventatively instead of like trying to, to backtrack, um, from when big problems arise. And just knowing that there are other things that we can utilize besides, um, perhaps what your well-meaning OBGYN or midwife or pediatrician is telling you.

A lot of people don’t realize that their pediatrician even, um, they received an hour, maybe a day of training on lactation while they were in medical school. That’s not a lot. And again, like pediatricians are so smart.

They know so many things that I will never know and never be able to diagnose. Like they are smart, smart people. They don’t know a lot about lactation and a lot of times they give, um, well-meaning advice, but it, it’s not the best advice.

So if you are needing help on lactation, like go to someone who’s trained on lactation and is specifically, um, has that education. Um, we can’t put all the pressure on pediatricians. They can’t know everything about lactation.

They can’t know everything about mental health. They can’t know everything about pelvic therapy, you know, like they, they can’t know everything. And so referrals are huge in having a good community of people who, um, who are good at what they do.

Um, there’s even a lot of things. I had a client the other day, who’s just like, I want some help with sleep training. And I’m like, great.

I’m not your person for that, which is fine. Like I’ll give you tips and tricks on how to maintain a great milk supply for the middle of the night. And like, what’s reasonable for bodies.

Like maybe we’re not shooting for a 12 hour stretch, but maybe we’re shooting for a five hour stretch. And that’s reasonable for your baby at this age. That’s reasonable for your body to still have a good milk supply.

But I’m not the person who’s an expert on sleep training. So, um, it’s okay to refer out. And I think that’s what makes a good provider is someone who’s okay with referring out and not having all the answers for everything.

Yeah. Awesome. Awesome.

That’s great. Um, is there anything special that you want to promote to the audience? Anything upcoming, anything that you have on your website, anything that you want to promote at all?

One thing that’s really exciting is, um, number one, right now I am expanding our team again. So I’m hoping to have more coverage, um, all around Utah, even a little bit outside of Utah and kind of expand our area.

Cause we just have the most amazing team of IVCLCs. Like they all just provide such great care. Um, and it’s amazing cause we can see a level of clients that I could never do on my own and they just provide such great work.

Another thing that I’m really excited about is, um, a lot of people come to us and they’re like, how do I get started in lactation? Um, how do I become an IVCLC? Or if someone is an IVCLC, they’re just like, how do I get started in private practice? Because that’s not something that you learn when becoming an IVCLC. It’s just like, okay, you passed. Good luck.

It’s like, okay, how do I chart? How do I schedule? What, like, how do I go see a client in their home? And like, what does this whole process look like? So one exciting project I’m working on right now is, um, how to get started as an IVCLC. Cause there’s three different pathways that can be kind of confusing and the body that oversees it is not very helpful. Like if you, if you email them, they’re just like, take a while to get back to you.

Um, don’t offer very much help. So, um, we’re putting together a guide on how to become an IVCLC and then level two is how to get started in private practice. And like I mentioned at the beginning, that’s really lighting me up.

Um, cause I’ve been doing private practice for enough years where I’m like, I know what works well. I know, um, kind of how to set things up and it’s so fun to help other, um, others who are just getting started in this space. I’m like, okay, this is how you get started in lactation.

This is how you can build a really cool career and you can have, um, lots of flexibility with your schedule. You can still be a great mom and you can also make some good money. Awesome.

Awesome. Super cool. Okay.

Last question for you is what do you want to be known for?

I want to be known for, um, lifting others up and being in a space of collaboration and not in a space of competition. I’m a big believer in there’s enough to go around, you know, like not having that scarcity mindset of like, okay, if you’re doing well, then there’s not enough clients for me. Um, I really just believe that we all rise together and there’s enough to go around.

There’s plenty of people who are, are having babies and, and, um, and I know that our team provides great, such great work, but I also know that we can’t help everyone in the entire world. And some people are going to click with different providers. Um, and I just think that collaboration and building each other and, you know, talking with you, like you’re doing great things in, in your space and you’re helping women and families in your own space, like talking with you and, um, and getting to know more about you and the services that you provide is, is so important.

Cause again, like we can’t do it all alone and we have to have a great network of people to refer to, um, take care of our clients. That’s why I’m doing this spotlight series.

It’s like these, like everyone needs to know about these people.

Like, I’m so thankful that I know about all these people that we’re spotlighting. Um, but I just think it’s, it only, it only, like I said, rises all ships on that of like, Hey, we’re, we’re here as a team in Utah and the United States like help and help really like profoundly. So yeah.

Awesome. Yeah. Thank you for doing this.

This is so, this is so fun to, to do this spotlight and, um, and we love the work that you and your team are doing as well.

Thank you so much. Okay.

Where can we find you? Instagram website, all things.

Yeah. I hang out anywhere under breezy babies.

So on Instagram, I’m breezy babies. My website is breezy babies.com my podcast, which I’m not actively doing right now, but I will bring it back. And there’s lots of great content in there is the breezy babies podcast.

Um, and those are all the places that I hang out.

Okay. Well, thank you so much for you for being on the spotlight.

So looking forward to putting it out there and we’ll see you soon.

Hey, thanks. Bye.