Lactation & postpartum doula support

Home visits in Oakland and surrounding areas

As an international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) and postpartum doula, it’s an honor to guide and support you in nourishing your baby. Woven proudly serves the LBGTQIA community and offers unbiased support in your feeding goals.

Welcome to Woven, I’m Laura — your IBCLC

Line art of a parent breastfeeding

Services

Discount packages

New parenting is hard, somethings can’t be fixed in one visit. Buy multiple sessions at once and get a discount.

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Chestfeeding & breastfeeding support

Schedule a home visit to get your questions and concerns answered. Come away with a plan for what to do next to meet your goals for feeding your baby.

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Postpartum doula support

Have a peaceful and supported transition to being a family of 3, 4 or more. Get the practical help & educational support you need to feel confident as a parent.

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Photo of Laura Howells a white woman with brown hair, wearing a green shirt. The photo captures shoulder and face smiling at the camera.

Laura Howells, IBCLC

As well as a lactation consultant, I am also a postpartum doula and certified massage therapist, you get the added bonus of my extensive knowledge surrounding birth, newborns, parenting and the physiology of the postpartum period. After supporting hundreds of families, I’m here for yours now.


Accepted Insurance

Blue Cross

Aetna

Sutter Health

Meritain

Cigna

Mulitplan

PNOA logo

PNOA

United logo
Blue Shield logo

United

Blue Shield

Aetna logo
Blue Cross logo
Meritain logo
Sutter health logo
Multiplan logo
Cigna logo

Drop-in support group

Drop-in support group

Photo of Laura holding a young baby at the East Bay Birth Collective

Date: Every Friday (no group Nov 29th & Dec 27th)

Time: 1pm-3pm

Join us weekly, to weigh your baby, do a weighted feed, ask questions about lactation and baby care, get support from other parents and make friends.

Cost: Suggested donation $5-20*

*no one turned away for lack of funds


Photo of a woman with braided hair breastfeeding her baby in a cozy position

Say buh bye to pain & fear.

Have a loving & confident feeding experience instead.

Your family and feeding journey is as unique as your sweet, brand-new baby. Instead of a cookie-cutter approach, I meet you where you are. I’m a down-to-earth and compassionate IBCLC (and parent myself).

Come to me for the best resources and learn how to apply them — so you make decisions that fit your family’s priorities. My support’s geared toward you achieving the feeding goals that match your lifestyle.

Choose what supports you need


Photo of a person breastfeeding with a grimacing face
Photo of a baby army crawling with a scowl on their face

Are you & your baby dealing with these common feeding problems?

  • Your baby can’t seem to latch on 

  • Low milk or oversupply issues

  • Nursing strikes or growth spurts

  • Pain while feeding your baby

  • Cracked or bleeding nipples

  • Tongue tie or other oral ties

  • Mastitis or plugged ducts

  • Cleft palate or lip

  • Engorgement

  • Thrush

As your IBCLC I get to the root cause of the problem to set you up for success. Whether it’s a functional or anatomical reason causing issues — it can be solved!  We’ll create a plan that works for your family to reach your feeding goals.

Line art of dad chestfeeding
  • Sarah C

    Laura was able to squeeze me in and see me just a few days postpartum. I immediately knew she was phenomenal - such a warm presence, so knowledgeable about all things feeding, and most importantly reassuring and not pressuring and finding ways to support me and baby that felt natural and doable. I had her come back a few more times to make sure we were on the right track, and with every visit I appreciated her support and help and knowledge even more. Can't recommend her highly enough. Plus home visits makes it SO much easier.

  • Sally R

    Laura took such good care of our family during our postpartum period after we welcomed baby #2 to the family. She helped take care of all of our family (including our toddler and dog), allowing me to get the rest I needed. Her expertise as a lactation consultant also made a huge difference in the early days for our breastfeeding journey. I am so grateful to Laura for helping start us off on the right foot as a family of four.

  • Anna K

    I am so glad that I worked with Laura! My baby suddenly stopped being able to breastfeed. I was very stressed. Laura was able to come to my house the next day! Laura had the perfect vibe for our exhausted household. She helped us try many different strategies. After following her advice, it took less than a week for our son to pick up breastfeeding again.

    Laura is easy to work with and provides a balanced set of options for feeding. I would definitely recommend her to any new parents!

  • Lizz H

    At 8 weeks, our daughter started refusing breastfeeding and bottle feeding. After a traumatizing experience with another lactation consultant, we were referred to Laura. She has been incredible - super consultative, empathetic, knowledgeable, and dedicated to helping us get back on track with feeding our baby girl. Her recommendations to the best practitioners to take care of bodywork (cranial sacral therapy) and a pediatric dentist to fix our daughter's severe lip and tongue ties. She is now back on track with feeding, and we could not have done it without Laura. I would highly recommend for any mama that is looking to breastfeed to start working with Laura right from birth!

  • R B

    Laura is amazing and I'm so grateful to have her support. I was really struggling with pumping and she made several adjustments that enabled me to increase the amount I was sleeping by 50% while not decreasing supply. She has a secure patient messaging system where she uploads your care plan so you don't need to worry about remembering everything you discuss and where you can ask her follow up questions. She's a wealth of information and has articles, videos etc to help support. Her patience and guidance is remarkable.

  • Monica A

    With Laura's help, our baby was able to go from barely feeding on the breast to breastfeeding with ease! She guided us through a tongue tie, challenging anatomy including tightness on one side of the jaw, mastitis, and a preference for the bottle. Feeding struggles are really taxing, so it was also tremendously helpful to have someone who was emotionally skilled and sensitive to the psychological aspect of this process. Speaking to friends, my sense is that Laura brings less of a top-down approach than average and is unique in how collaborative and attuned she is to individual families and babies' needs. We would not be breastfeeding without Laura's support and cannot recommend her highly enough!!

Photo of Laura Howells, Evaly Long, Anietie Ukpe-Wallace, Robyn Alagona Cutler and Morgan West

East Bay Birth collective co-founder

The east bay birth collective is a group of prenatal healthcare providers with a welcoming office in Oakland. We works to bring our clients together to create in-person community for new families.

We can support you with therapy, pelvic floor physcial therapy, homebirth support, lactation, birth and postpartum doula support.

We also provide a variety of classes and support groups for new families and have other providers welcoming families to classes in the east bay birth collective office as well.

Photo of the East Bay Birth Collective waiting area, featuring a comfortable couch, plants and warm lighting

Check out my inclusive online breastfeeding course!

  • LBGTQIA-friendly language

  • Honest answers to your top questions  

  • 16 easy-to-watch videos for straightforward solutions

  • Valuable info on tongue tie and other common issues

  • Manage a pumping plan, going back to work, or both

  • Links to the best resources all in one place

  • Concentrate on what matters with judgment-free guidance

  • Real videos, with real bodies, showing important parts of lactation (like hand expressing)

  • Feeding schedule and poop reference PDFs (after your baby arrives don’t be surprised if poop and feeding are all you talk about!)

Extra Perk #1: Join Woven’s Private Facebook Group for future support & education!

Extra Perk #2: More questions? Book a FREE 20-min follow-up call with me!

Yes please!


Outline drawing in black, blue and white of a baby chestfeeding

Teensy More About Woven

Since 2009, families have chosen me to be part of their birth or feeding journey. As a doula, certified massage therapist, and IBCLC, I bring a wealth of experience to help your expanding family thrive in San Francisco.

After I had my own children (including one home birth), I knew I wanted to help others do the same. My love for growing families from all walks of life made me passionate about expanding my education and becoming an IBCLC.

Woven runs the way I treat parents — with compassion, love, and support. I want you to feel good with a solid, personalized feeding plan… So you have one less thing to worry about!


How Do I Set Up An Appointment With You?

  • You can book any appointment here or you can learn more about the different supports I offer.

  • I bill Aetna directly, most other insurance I bill through the lactation network, for all other insurance I can provide you with a super bill to try and submit for reimbursement. You could also use your HSA. Check my page on insurance for more information on which insurance I take and how to get them set up ahead of time.

  • Check your email for the health history forms and appointment reminders, as well as an invitation to make an account with practice better so you can manage, appointments, protocol (care plans) and text with me on a hipaa compliant app. Please fill out the forms at least a day before our scheduled appointment.


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