Meet the Lactation Consultants

Alex Koerten, RN, BSN, BA, IBCLC

Hi there! I’m Alex Koerten, a registered nurse and board certified lactation consultant. I’ve been working with new parents and babies for over 10 years. I started this journey as a birth and postpartum doula and went on to get my Bachelor’s degree in nursing and became a registered nurse, specializing in maternity and postpartum care. When pregnant with my first child I decided to do a more in-depth training for lactation and instantly knew that it was a great fit! I loved it so much I began doing home lactation visits when I was barely 6 weeks postpartum (what?! No idea how I did that) and through shadowing experienced LCs, running breastfeeding/parenting support groups, and doing my own consults I met the requirements to sit for the exam to become board certified in 2019. I have since gone on to take more in-depth training to work with families dealing with feeding issues like bottle refusals as well as tongue and lip ties.

In addition to my professional background, my own personal experiences with breastfeeding have given a lot of heart to my role as a lactation consultant. I have two boys and vastly different experiences with each. My first, after a bumpy beginning with elevated bilirubin and using the dreaded SNS (IYKYK), was a little breastfeeding dream come true. With him I had no pain, great supply, fed every few hours and we all slept well. I often joked I’d breastfeed him until he went to college if he still wanted to (spoiler - he weaned WELL before then, ha). My second, on the other hand, was tricky from the start. We went through all the things: SNS, nipple shield, exclusive pumping for 6 weeks, painful latch, supplementing after feeds, body work, tongue tie release, … This journey took patience and cost me some tears and more than a few breastfeeding-related 3 am Amazon purchases. It was not easy, but we figured out our rhythm and I learned so much along the way, which definitely leveled up my skill set!

I love visiting with new parents and helping them find their footing during the early days of parenthood. It is often one of the most raw and vulnerable times of our lives and I can’t tell you what an honor it is to be helping new parents navigate it all! When I’m not working with families I’m spending time north of Boston with my husband, 2 little kids, and our hound mix. In my rare moments of free time you can find me listening to audiobooks, going to the gym, and putzing around my garden.