A lactation consultant in Toowong, for week five and everything after.
Toowong is young — its median age sits close to a decade below the national figure — and that shows in the questions I'm asked here. A lot of first babies. A lot of parents back at work sooner than they had imagined. A lot of people who moved for the train under Toowong Village and the CityCat at the bottom of the hill, and hadn't thought about how far away their own mother would feel at 2am.
The Wesley Hospital at Auchenflower is barely two kilometres away — closer to Toowong than to anywhere else I visit. That is a genuine advantage in the first week and a strange one in the fifth, because everything a maternity unit offers is built to get you started rather than to carry you to twelve months.
I'm Sara, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) working from a home clinic in Moggill. I see Toowong families in their own homes, and by Telehealth when the question genuinely suits it.
Nothing has gone wrong. The care just ended.
This is not a criticism of anyone. Hospitals do the early days properly. The Wesley has lactation consultants working in its maternity unit and a home visiting service afterwards, the Mater runs a breastfeeding support service, and the Royal Brisbane is accredited under the Baby Friendly Health Initiative. All of it is good, and all of it is designed around the beginning.
What is thinner is week seven, and month four, and the fortnight before you go back to work. That is when the latch changes, when the supply question returns even though nothing measurable has moved, or when a baby who took a bottle happily in March decides in June that she will not. Those are the calls I take, and they are not evidence that you have done anything wrong.
Toowong Library, in Toowong Village at 9 Sherwood Road, runs the free First 5 Forever sessions for babies alongside every other Brisbane branch — worth knowing about for the company as much as the rhymes. Times rotate, so check the council's events calendar rather than a post from last year.
Toowong is my longest Brisbane drive, and that's fine.
Toowong is about nineteen kilometres from the clinic — the furthest of the Brisbane suburbs I visit, and realistically the better part of half an hour each way when Moggill Road and Coronation Drive are cooperating. I still come. It simply means I book Toowong visits with room around them instead of squeezing them between two others.
There is a travel fee on home visits, set by the distance involved. If your question is about supply, pumping rhythms, bottle refusal or a return-to-work plan, a 60-minute Telehealth consult at $160 will often get you further than the drive would — and if you call 0450 188 411, I'll tell you honestly which of the two I think you actually need.
Questions from Toowong families
I birthed at The Wesley and I've had my midwife visits. When would I call you?
When the questions outlast the visits. That is usually somewhere between weeks four and eight — pain that has crept back in, a baby who has become fussy at the breast, a supply worry that no amount of reassurance settles, or a feeling that something about the latch was never quite right and you were too tired to say so. Earlier is gentler than later. If feeding hurts, please reach out then, rather than waiting to see whether it settles on its own.
Do you visit Toowong, or would Telehealth be easier?
Both are available, and they suit different questions. Anything that needs hands and eyes on your baby — an oral assessment, a suck test, a latch that isn't responding to adjustment — needs to be in person, and I will drive the nineteen kilometres for it. Supply questions, pumping plans, bottle strategies and return-to-work planning often work beautifully over video at $160 for 60 minutes. Call me and I'll tell you which one your situation calls for.
I'm going back to work at five months. Can you help me plan the pumping?
Yes — that's a Returning to Work consult, 60 minutes at $160, and it is worth doing about a month before you go back rather than the week of. We map a realistic pumping rhythm around your actual shifts, work out how to protect your supply while you're apart, cover safe storage, and prepare your baby for bottles without unsettling the feeds you want to keep. Protecting the first morning feed at the breast is usually the anchor of the whole plan.
What hours do you work?
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 9am to 5pm — and Saturdays around the clock, which is often the answer if weekdays are impossible. I know that is awkward if you or your partner are back at work, and I'd rather say so plainly than pretend otherwise. If the only workable time is early, say so when you book — and if it's the logistics rather than the timing that are the problem, a home visit removes most of them, because nobody has to be dressed and out the door.
Want to talk before you book?
Sometimes it's just easier to hear a voice. Give Sara a call on 0450 188 411 — if she doesn't pick up, she'll absolutely call you back.
Or call 0450 188 411
Nearby areas Sara visits
Sara also visits Auchenflower, Taringa, St Lucia, Milton and the surrounding area.
See all services and pricing, browse the video library, read common breastfeeding questions, or see every area Sara visits.