Newborn Care with a Certified Midwife

Personalized Support in Portland, Oregon and SW Washington

Welcoming a new baby into your family is powerful. It’s an emotional time and not something you should have to navigate alone. Our newborn care with a midwife is designed to support both you and your baby during your early weeks together. After guiding you through birth, we continue providing midwife newborn care with in-home visits and stay on call for anything that might come up.

Our Portland midwives know your baby from before they were born and that connection shows in every visit, every conversation, and every decision we make together. With midwifery newborn support, you’re getting time, attention, trust, and a team that’s deeply invested in your family’s wellbeing. 

What to Expect from Our Newborn Care Services

Working with a small team means we can provide a level of attention and detail you won’t find anywhere else. Our midwife newborn care includes:

• Physical Exams and Screenings: We perform a physical exam of your baby every time you see you, with regular infant weight checks, overall assessments, jaundice assessments, and skin condition evaluations to identify any newborn health problems early. We also conduct congenital heart defect screening, newborn screening, and hearing screening.

• Breastfeeding Support: This includes an initial oral anatomy exam of your newborn, working to get a latch before we leave your home after birth, and infant feeding guidance.

• Infant Feeding Guidance: We provide counsel on formula and breast milk.

• Umbilical Cord Care: First-time parents tend to have a lot of questions about cord health. We’ll cover everything you need to know about cord care in our in-home visits and are always available to answer any questions by email or on our pager line. 

• Building Good Sleep Routines: We help families strategize about sleep as it relates to their overall health and mood of the birthing person.

• Emotional Support for New Parents: We take the time to listen. We’ll help you process the birth experience, answer your questions and concerns, offer heartfelt support, and connect you with trusted resources if signs of mood disorders or emotional challenges arise.

We’re with you through every stage of the early weeks, with postnatal care services that include home visits during the first two weeks after birth, followed by office visits at 4 and 6 weeks postpartum.

Each visit includes a full newborn exam, feeding support, weight checks, screenings, emotional check-ins, and postpartum care for the birthing parent. 

Our holistic approach to midwifery newborn support ensures we monitor not only your baby’s growth, but also your healing and your family’s adjustment.

Between visits, on-call support is just a message away, whether you need reassurance about feeding, growth, or colic newborn support, we’ll always be here for you.

Built on Trust and Relationships

Midwifery care is built on trust, knowledge, and relationships. Because we care for you through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, we truly know your baby, from their growth in the womb to their very first breaths.

In a hospital, newborn care is usually a fast, checklist assessment. With us, midwife newborn care is personal, ongoing, and attuned to the rhythms of your family.

We offer the same essential screenings and medications you would receive at the hospital — including newborn screening, congenital heart defect screening, Vitamin K, erythromycin, and hearing screening (with informed consent) — but we have the time and experience to offer so much more.

With over 30 years of combined experience and firsthand parenting knowledge, our team brings a powerful mix of professional expertise and personal compassion to every visit. We know newborns. We know families. And we know how to support you as you settle into your new life together.

What do newborn exams cover?

We believe in prevention and continuity of care, which is why our newborn care with a midwife emphasizes thorough and unrushed home visits. We perform newborn exams during every visit that cover:

• Growth Tracking: Complete weight check for babies, and chest circumference to monitor healthy development. 

• Vital Signs: Heart rate, heart rhythm, respiratory rate, and temperature.

• Developmental Checks: Gestational age markers, muscle tone, oral anatomy, reflexes, and flexibility.

• Screenings: Jaundice, heart murmurs, lung health, and spine alignment.

• Birth Impact Assessment: Checking for any birth-related concerns.

• Symmetry and Movement: Hips, joints, and full range of motion.

• Support with Feeding: Oral exams to check for tongue or lip ties.

If anything comes up, we connect you with the right resources right away, so you feel confident and cared for every step of the way. You’ll never have to face concerns alone.