Community Highlights: Meet Victoria Talbot-Whittaker of All Bodies Nurture

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Talbot-Whittaker.

Hi Victoria, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today. 
Hi, thank you for having me! I’m honored to tell you the story of how I became an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant. I believe that few experiences in life can create a paradigm shift, but two such instances led me to become a lactation consultant. Before I became a mother, I was working as a pastry chef, making sculpted wedding cakes in some of the popular bakeries in OC. I also worked as a business consultant, but working in the corporate sector didn’t feel fulfilling to me. I planned to be a full-time mom once my first baby was born. I was sure I knew what kind of parent I’d be – maybe breastfeed for 3 months, never let my children sleep in my room, and above all, not spoil the baby. And then I heard the most incredible sound – my son’s first cry. That idea of who I’d be as a parent shattered. Something inside me came alive, and I was flooded with the sensations of my body responding to my baby’s every sound. While I was in the hospital, the nurses would take my baby, examine him, swaddle him, then put him in his bassinet (which was on the other side of the room from me) and remind me that he needed to be put to sleep on his back. Not having much experience around babies before, I felt lost and out of my element. When my hospital lactation consultant came in to check on me, I worriedly shared with her that neither my baby nor I could sleep without touching each other and that my baby seemed to want his hands where he could see them. She told me that I was right to feel that way and that there were safe ways to be closer to my baby. She told me that he probably only could see his hands while he was in utero and that there were no rules about him needing to being swaddled. For the first time ever, I felt empowered as a mother. She helped me believe in my intuition and to care for him how my body was telling me was necessary. In that moment, I felt like a superhero! My lactation consultant had given me the cape.

The next day, we came home from the hospital, and EVERYTHING felt foreign. Breastfeeding was incredibly painful – I’d cry whenever my son cried because the pain of his latch felt more severe than the pain of giving birth. Soon after, my son’s dad returned to work, and I was alone with this tiny creature that seemingly had no personality, was dangerously fragile, and depended on me for survival. My mother lived 400 miles away, and the rest of our family is in Canada, where I was born. My peers weren’t having kids at that time, and motherhood felt incredibly lonely. To complicate things, I had postpartum depression and anxiety and very little support from my partner. I found a local breastfeeding support group which made my lived experience so much more enjoyable. I had my second son 3 years after my first, and my depression and anxiety got worse. I decided I needed to get out of my comfort zone and go back to school to prepare for a career that would be meaningful to me.

I had gone to culinary school when I was younger because my Dyslexia diagnosis in childhood had led me to believe that I could never excel at math and science. Plus, I’d always loved baking. This time around, I wanted to study nutrition and dietetics to help families approach feeding with a body-positive lens. I also wanted to be able to give new families the self-confidence that my Lactation Consultant had given me. I set out to start from the beginning, taking elementary algebra at OCC. I reached out to UC San Diego’s Extension office to ask about the prerequisites to apply for their IBCLC program. Luckily, the prerequisites for the Nutrition and Dietetics program at CSULB and those for the IBCLC program at UCSD were basically the same!

Weekdays, I’d bring my boys to our homeschool nature group, tend our garden and chickens, cook dinner, eat with my family, then go to school while my kids were sleeping. I’d study after class until 2 or 3 in the morning, then wake up with my boys at 6 am, and do the whole thing over again. Exhausted, I fantasized about renting a motel room so I could just sleep for 8 hours uninterrupted. Things were going okay until my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and I had to juggle being home with my kids, attending school at night, and flying with my youngest every other week to bring my mom to her Chemo treatments. She passed away 2 years later peacefully in her home with me and my sister by her side. A few months later, my husband filed for divorce.

The birth of my first son was the first paradigm shift. The death of my mother and my marriage was the second paradigm shift. Breastfeeding my toddler, going to school full time, dealing with severe depression and anxiety, and now experiencing PTSD with no family to support me, I really couldn’t afford to break down. I needed to get back to work ASAP. Finishing my IBCLC program was the quickest path to an income, and I had to let go of my plans for the Nutrition and Dietetics program at CSULB. I hadn’t worked since my first son was born, so I wasn’t able to find work that could pay simple living expenses with such a large employment gap.

My best option was to go into private practice. I finished the program at UCSD, sat the exam and received my license in January 2021. Being a single mom and primary parent through the pandemic without an income, my tools and capital to build a business were sparse. I needed a website, I did research on necessary documentation and contracts I’d need, obtained insurance, bought a scale, and I had a great deal of help from my friends.

Continuously cheering me on, my closest friends were the light that helped me out of that dark pit I’d been trying to climb out of. I couldn’t have done it without the love, support, and talents of those people who volunteered their time and expertise. A technical writer friend of mine helped me build a brand and the documentation I needed. She spent hours teaching me about SEO, marketing, creating templates, and coordinating my documentation and media to match. She helped me find a way to be accessible and welcoming to our community, which is so much more colorful and diverse than what the general birthing industry markets to. Another friend of mine who is a graphic designer helped me create a logo inspired by Alexander Calder’s larger-than-life mobile. Finally, by this time, my friends were starting to have children! One of those friends is a business attorney who both helped me meet legal standards in California and hired me to be their lactation consultant. He and his family were my very first private practice clients. I cried when I received my first payment – and I’m still in awe that I actually get paid to do my job. My new partner has tirelessly volunteered as my personal IT department helping with everything from my website to picking out a capable computer and making sure I have the right software and camera equipment. My preceptor at St. Joe’s (where I did my internship) became a dear friend and helped support and mentor me with difficult cases. I learned a great deal from my classmates at UCSD as we talked about the many steps of opening our private practices. We learned from each other during virtual meetings twice a month. My sister helped me build a business plan, and my closest friend Shana was a sounding board for big business decisions. They continue to be my biggest cheerleaders. They believed in me when All Bodies Nurture was just a glimmer and a hope.

I began with a humble beginning- starting by working from home doing virtual and in-home consultations and occasionally borrowing the office space in a motorcycle shop. Slowly, I began networking with other professionals in my industry, and my business grew to the point that I needed a physical space to practice in so I could see clients back-to-back. I dreamed of a space to host classes and support groups. I’ve lived in old town Tustin for almost 20 years, and it made sense for me to choose a space in my stomping grounds. With a lot of luck and a giant leap of faith, I found my dream office right on Main Street. After some renovations, I was proud to open my physical location in May 2023. It’s my happy place full of natural sunlight and a comfortable, airy environment right in the heart of our community. My office is walking distance to Arvida Book Co. where I host their parenting book club, and my favorite coffee shops and Cream Pan bakery. I’m living my dream supporting new parents and earning a living that affords me the flexibility to be with my boys when they have games, competitions, or a day home from school. What more could a mom ask for? Ten years ago, when I started down the path of becoming a lactation consultant, I never would have guessed that I’d be where I am now with a beautiful office and a profession that heals my soul a little bit each day. I laugh about my initial ideals I had of parenting and how wildly different things turned – from having a family bed with both of my kids, breastfeeding through the toddler years of my first son and pregnancy of my second son, tandem feeding, and attachment parenting. I’m grateful for that lactation consultant who opened my mind to being the mom that my instincts showed me. I will never forget the friends and colleagues who continue to support me, and I’m proud of myself for where I am today.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Becoming a parent is an incredibly vulnerable time. I strive to give inclusive, trauma-informed care to my patients. I came to the United States in childhood and went from learning in French in Quebec to attending the first grade in English in California. Always feeling a bit like an outsider growing up, I empathize with other people who’ve bravely left everything they knew (including their native language) to try to live the life they dreamed of here in the United States. I make a concerted effort to include my patients’ cultural practices into their plan of care. I do my best to meet people where they’re at without judgment, and I use non-gendered terms for people and body parts so our LGBTQ+ community members can feel at home with me. My friends and clients tell me that I have a warm and welcoming personality, and I want people to feel comfortable when they’re here.

When I work with a new family, I don’t only focus on the baby and the lactating parent – I think that the non-birthing parent has an equally important role in the family dynamic. I help non-birthing parents learn and hone their skills with their baby and give them guidance on how to support their partner. I believe that if I’d had that kind of support as a new parent, my early parenting experience and marriage could have been much more enjoyable and successful. We have a change in culture happening now where non-birthing parents are expected to be equal partners with home and childcare duties, but that may not have been modeled to them by their boomer and gen-x parents. I genuinely enjoy teaching new parents that they can save the day which in turn helps their lactating/birthing partner to have a smoother transition to parenthood. Working together as a team can strengthen parents’ bond during this poignant point of their lives.

Aside from being inclusive and sensitive with my patients, I love reading medical journals and research papers. I pride myself in continuously adding to my skills as a lactation consultant by taking extra classes and listening to lectures by seasoned lactation consultants, doctors, and pharmacologists in my industry. Lactation science is relatively new, and we’re constantly learning more about human milk, glandular tissue, tethered oral tissues, and even the infant gut microbiome. I couldn’t have guessed that I’d be dealing with tongue ties as often as I do, and I am honing my skills in oral habilitation of the infant using a whole-body approach to dealing with oral dysfunction.

Having been a mom who has felt the financial pressure of switching to a single income, I offer a variety of services that are both accessible physically and financially. The truth is most insurance plans don’t pay for private lactation care which leaves most parents only able to receive that care in the hospital where they can’t bring their older children. Parents are welcome to bring whichever family members they’d like to their appointment, including older children. My space is ADA-accessible. I offer a weekly latch workshop where parents can drop in and ask for help with positioning and latching their baby in a group setting. I also have affordable pump fitment sessions. I combine my love of baking with my desire to support my community by hosting a FREE weekly support group for parents with infants that I call Milk and Cookies. I sometimes team up with other professionals to offer affordable classes and free workshops. You can follow my Instagram for upcoming events.

Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Oh wow – how can I pick just one? My parents did everything they could to make my childhood feel magical. On the top of the list would be when I was still living in Quebec. My mom had a record player, and she was a huge Michael Jackson fan. My mom would play her Michael Jackson records loudly and would dance with me on her hip around the living room.

My parents had a cottage in Vermont, and I have so many fond memories of snorkeling in Lake Champlain, playing in our tree house in the woods, learning how to canoe with my sister and dad, and collecting tree sap to make maple syrup.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.allbodiesnurture.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allbodiesnurture/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allbodiesnurture
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR1y8yvHeWN8zuFdylhSEzQ
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/all-bodies-nurture-tustin?utm_campaign=www_business_share_popup&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=(direct)

Image Credits
Kevin Mak
Sarah A.
Schlothan Christensen