Arlington Heights pediatrician adds lactation services

Karen Dickert and Pat Tomlinson provide lactation services to new mothers at Arlington Pediatrics, Ltd.  

Health care is changing quickly. Insurance premiums are up, deductibles are up, out-of-pocket costs are up, and customer service is often reduced. But an Arlington Heights pediatrics group has added a service to help new mothers — lactation services.

Breast-feeding services are being reduced at some hospitals as a cost-saving measure. But David Brottman, MD, founder of Arlington Pediatrics Ltd., and his team recognized that learning how to breast-feed isn’t easy.

"Since lactation services were being reduced in the hospital setting, we had to pick up the slack in our office. We hired the best lactation team from the Northwest suburbs, Pat Tomlin-son, RN, IBCLC, and Karen Dickert, RN, IBCLC," said Medaline Santiago, MD, an associate of APL for the past 10 years.

Brottman says customer service and satisfaction is the number one priority in health care.

"I knew for us to compete with hospitals and Big Box retailers who were entering primary care, we would have to beat them in both quality and customer service," he said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies breastfeeding as the ideal method of feeding and nurturing an infant.

Both Tomlinson and Dickert are RNs who have more than 50 years of experience combined, and are IBCLC certified. IBCLC stands for "International Board Certified Lactation Consultant." To achieve this status, individuals must log more than 1,000 hours of breast-feeding training, as well as take multiple rigorous board exams.

Tomlinson and Dickert provide numerous services for their clients. They see mothers of APL patients for free in the hospital, which helps get moms off to a good start.

They offer free prenatal breast-feeding classes to the community once a month in a state-of-the-art classroom. They provide hands-on training in their office, as well as breast pump rentals, sales of breast-feeding supplies including nursing bras, and they offer a variety of classes for moms.

"My favorite class is our mother’s support group," Dickert said. "This class has been so popular that we had to form an additional group for moms of toddlers and those who have returned to work."

Participants in this group form close relationships, she added. They even get together socially outside of class and have been participating in runs, mom’s night out, and more together.

"We just love helping moms," Tomlinson said. "Dr. Brottman is allowing us to render lactation instruction in a manner that we always envisioned. He is so supportive of our programs and allows us to do what we do best, give lactation instruction and support."

For more information regarding Tomlinson and Dickert’s services, or breast pump rentals, visit their website at www.apllactationservices.com.