Melissa Morgan, IBCLC, RLC, LE, is an internationally board certified, registered lactation consultant and lactation educator. Her philosophy for lactation practice focuses on helping families understand what is biologically normal throughout pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and parenthood. When help for breastfeeding is needed, Melissa will work with families to make personalized plans to meet their individual needs.
She began her lactation career in 1998, when the birth of her oldest son prompted the need for breastfeeding help and she met a lactation consultant who became integral in shaping her role as mother as well as her career. During her internship, she attended the Evergreen Perinatal Lactation Educator (LE) program and began assisting and counseling families in the support group and consult setting, helping with basic breastfeeding and observing more complex consultations, obtaining the necessary contact hours for the IBLCE examination. Melissa then went on to become a La Leche League Leader in 2007, starting and facilitating a mother-to-mother support group in Liberty Lake, WA. Melissa had acquired over 4,000 clinical contact hours and finally sat for the IBLCE examination in 2010, earning her IBCLC certification. She immediately opened her private practice, Nurture Normally, serving families in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Post Falls, and Coeur d’Alene, and when her youngest child started kindergarten in 2012, began offering her lactation services full-time. She has developed a specialty in helping families with tongue tied babies and also enjoys meeting the specialized needs of the adopting family.
Now, in addition to helping families breastfeed their babies, she also mentors lactation students and consultants and provides professional lactation education to physicians, midwives, doulas, and other healthcare practitioners. She has served as co-president of the Spokane County Breastfeeding Coalition, has served families in public health at WIC in North Idaho, sits on committees with the United States Lactation Consultants Association (USLCA), and maintains membership in several professional organizations. She also has written articles for local health and lifestyle magazines, as well as local and national blogs.
Melissa is also co-founder of Lactation Practice, a consulting and billing service that assists private practice lactation consultants with insurance billing and credentialing. She is also an international public speaker providing lactation professionals with tools to run their own lactation practices and has presented at prestigious conferences including the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA), GOLD Lactation, and the Canadian Lactation Consultants Association (CLCA).
She has three children of her own, all of whom were exclusively breastfed until about age two, and lives in Eastern Washington where she enjoys berry picking, knitting, yoga (teaching and practicing), and snowshoeing.
Learn more about the lactation profession or What is an IBCLC.