Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Sorondo.
Hi Kristen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Kristen L. Sorondo and I am the founder of Orlando Lactation and Newborn Services. I have been a nurse since 2005 and an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant since 2009.
I am the proud momma of four beautiful girls. I started my love for women’s services when I was a senior in high school and had the wonderful experience of being with my sister when she delivered her first baby. That’s the day I knew I wanted to be in women’s services working with moms and babies.
It took me a long time to reach my goal of becoming a nurse. While in nursing school in North Carolina, I worked at a small community hospital in their women’s unit. I also became a doula with Doulas of North America (DONA) to help support laboring moms.
Upon graduating, I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the opening team for Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies in Orlando – one of the largest hospitals for women and babies in the US. I worked there for 13 years and then headed back to a community hospital. My passion has always been women’s health and providing the love and support a woman needs during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum.
I decided to become a lactation consultant after struggling to breastfeed my first three children. My oldest two were born during a time when there weren’t lactation consultants in the hospitals. They were hard to find to receive the help you needed. I had no one to turn to for advice, as no one close to me had breastfed. I just did what I thought was right and what I’d seen others do. My first baby breastfed for three months before I found out I was pregnant with number two, and unfortunately, my milk dried up. Number two was my child who would not latch and she was my pumper and bottle feeder. When child number three arrived, my husband lost his job the day we brought her home from the hospital and all the stress decreased my supply. And of course, she was the child who would not take a bottle. At this point I was very frustrated and figured “this has to be so much easier than we are making it”.
I became a Certified Lactation Counselor and had a great mentor with whom I worked for a few years and I learned so much!! I then sat for my IBCLC exam, worked as an inpatient lactation consultant and soon started my own outpatient practice.
Along this journey I added night nursing to my list of jobs. At first, night nursing was just helping out a friend in need, but the more people talked…I realized this was something moms really needed. I have had the pleasure of working long-term assignments and tagging along on vacations. As moms, we constantly need support, reassurance and someone we can talk to that won’t judge us or our struggles. I pride myself in knowing I always support my mommas. I am not here to judge you but to help support you and what works well for you and your family! What started out as 2 nurses is now a staff of 30 and continues to grow.
Here at Orlando Lactation & Newborn Services we strive to meet our families goals, support them in this amazing journey, and provide them comfort in knowing they have a nurse to provide knowledge and skill needed to take care of them and their newborn.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our company grew so fast year one that we spent years 2-3 going back and building the foundation that should have been there to begin with. We weren’t business minded so had no idea how the business side of things worked which has been the biggest struggle. I am knowledgeable about what I do and where I want to go but the business aspect of running a company has been the biggest challenge for us.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Our motto is “A nurse with a team of nurses behind her”! We are proud in the fact that are entire team are nurses. When you provide a service or services like we do I feel it is important to have some medical training as you are giving medical advice to these families and they are counting on what you are saying to be evidenced based, not biased or of your own opinion. Moms are so fragile after giving birth with the lack of sleep, hormonal changes, inundated with information that they don’t need additional opinions. As nurses we do give that evidenced base information, AAP guidelines, nurse educated information which seems to help put them more at ease than “googling” and getting different opinions.
We offer Lactation services both virtual and in home, day and night nursing services, placenta encapsulation, and sleep training.
Lactation Consultation: We do in home or virtual. Whether you want to prepare prenatally or after baby has been born. We also do flange fittings, oral assessments, back to work consults, pumping education, and much more. We do take insurance for our lactation consults.
Night Nursing: These services are not covered by insurance. Our nurses come into your home and help you take care of your newborn so you can rest and heal from delivery. Whether you use our services for 1 week or 1 year we customize your services based upon your needs. We have both day and night options.
Placenta Encapsulation: We come to the hospital and pick up your placenta, process it and make it into pills for you to consume after delivery. You get an umbilical keepsake and a canvas print of your placenta. We deliver the capsules to you when finished.
Sleep Training: Our amazing sleep trainer to also a Certified Lactation Counselor as most sleep issues result from feeding issues. We can start good sleep habits from the beginning but don’t actually sleep train until baby is 5 months or older.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
We do have a great postpartum support system here in town that allows for us to collaborate with many different specialties to give our moms the best resources they need to get through this period of life.
Least: As a whole I still feel like we need to grow when it comes to doctors collaborating with specialties like lactation consultants. Instead of talking negatively lets get together and decide how collectively we can help families reach their goals.
Pricing:
- We take insurance for our lactation services
- All of our pricing for additional services is on our website
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.orlandolactation.com
- Instagram: @orlandolactation
- Facebook: Orlando Lactation & Newborn Services
Image Credits
Thebrandedbosslady
