COVID-19 Protocols and Precautions at The Mama Mantra

What are we doing to help protect our families and prevent the spread of COVID-19?

First and foremost, we always have the health and wellbeing of our clients at the forefront of our mind. We do not do any clinic consultations and have kept The Mama Mantra a small company, which means our risk of exposure will inherently be low. However, we take the recent events of COVID-19 very seriously and want our clients to feel as comfortable as possible while still being able to get the help that they need. The health and safety of our clients and consultants is extremely important to us.

Regardless of this current outbreak, The Mama Mantra always uses Standard Precautions when providing care to our families as a part of our normal practice. As events develop, we will adjust care as needed. We are keeping a close eye on number of cases and will be following the recommendations of our local and state health agencies as well as the CDC and WHO. Human milk is essential, especially in times such as these and in crisis management. If at any point it is needed, we will move to a completely virtual platform until further notice.

What you can expect:

1. We will always wash our hands very thoroughly for the recommended time before and after every consultation. We also keep hand sanitizer on hand, but believe in the power of physical hand washing as the best preventative measure.

2. Attire/uniforms will always be fresh and shoes will be dropped at the door. We will sanitize the high-touch zones in our cars every 24hrs, as they act like a mobile office for us.

3. Your consultant will have a clean mask available for use during the consultation.

4. All scales, ipads, keyboards, pens, phones and any other non-disposable equipment or electronics will be thoroughly cleaned before and after each consultation with a hospital grade cleaning agent that is shown effective against coronavirus.

5. As always, we will continue to use latex-free gloves during the consultation any time that we are touching a patient and will change these gloves out should we touch any surfaces.

6. The consultant will only touch you or baby with your permission and assist only as much as is necessary to help with direct feeding, weights and physical assessments. Otherwise, our hands will be kept to ourselves. Any assessments of your baby will be done with them laying on your lap or on a surface of your choosing, not in the consultants lap.

7. The consultants at The Mama Mantra (Breanna and Bethany) will be closely monitoring their health as well as those around them. As is typical for our practice, it is our promise that we will NEVER arrive to your home if we (or a family member in our home) have had a fever in the last 24hrs, have any symptoms of illness or feel generally unwell. “It’s just allergies” is not an acceptable excuse either, especially with the current happenings around COVID-19. Rest assured we are doing everything possible to protect you from our end and also practicing social distancing and preventative self-quarantine as much as is possible during this time.

8. Lastly, it is also extremely important that you be transparent with your consultant. If you or anyone in your home has been sick at all in the days prior to your consult, it is extremely important that we reschedule your visit or move your consultation to a virtual platform. This is not just for the safety of us and our families, but also the safety of all of the other families and infants we assist on a day-to-day basis. We are working in a somewhat fragile patient population and we need to be able to keep everyone safe. With everyone doing their part we will all thrive. We ask that you choose a comfortable space in your home prior to the consultation and wipe down all surfaces with disinfectant immediately before the consult takes place. Limiting the amount of people present during the consult is ideal. We ask that only the parents and infant(s) are present in the room chosen for the consultation.

9. You will receive an automatic email after booking with a series of screening questions so that we can assure we are providing the safest care possible during this time and that doing an in-home visit is the best option for all involved. It is imperative that you answer to the best of your knowledge and honestly.

10. We are taking in-home visits on a case by case basis and based on needs/acuity of the challenges that you or baby are presenting with. We have always offered virtual consults and will continue to offer them throughout this time. Most everything can be done via a virtual platform with the exception of a few things. Bethany and myself are limiting in-home consultations during the week and we are typically only taking one visit in a day should we do an in-home consultation.

Many families are concerned about what COVID-19 may mean for breastfeeding. It is important to know that breastfeeding is the absolute best protective measure you can take for your little one. You and your baby should remain together in the event that one or both of you is sick, taking all the necessary hygienic precautions to prevent transmission. Please see the recommendations from the CDC here, The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine here and UNICEF here if you would like more information.

What are your options if you prefer to not have anyone come to your home?

We completely understand that even despite taking extra precautions on top of our usual Standard Precautions that some may be uncomfortable having a consultant come to their home at this time. We think it is important that families still have access to the help that they need at a very delicate and important time. At The Mama Mantra, we have always had virtual HIPAA-compliant consultations as an option. It works well for a wide variety of cases and can be utilized in a time such as this. This will continue to include communication after your visit, a thorough E-careplan and referrals made when necessary. If you are interested in booking a virtual consultation, see more here.