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The Cradle Company Wraps New Moms and Families in Judgement-Free Postpartum Support
Arcadia Weekly Apr 25, 2019
The Cradle Company in Pasadena was founded by Brandi Jordan, MSW, IBCLC, as a one-stop pregnancy shop to provide support to new moms and their family. - Courtesy photo
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The Cradle Company in Pasadena was founded by Brandi Jordan, MSW, IBCLC, as a one-stop pregnancy shop to provide support to new moms and their family. – Courtesy photo
By Emily Glory Peters
Labor is laced with complexities that are unique to a new mom’s experience. After hours beasting through physical and mental pain, a new mom only has about a day or two to absorb all she can from her doctors, nurses and lactation consultants before being sent on her way to parent the best she can. Is it enough?
“Hospitals are doing better in providing support and more are becoming baby-friendly. But one or two people to be in charge of the education of all these moms in LA—there’s just not enough,” explains Brandi Johnson, MSW, owner and founder of The Cradle Company in Pasadena. “If you’ve just had a baby, especially right after birth, you need someone checking in when mom is back in her own home, her own space.”
Jordan founded The Cradle Company to empower these new moms—and through them, their whole family. Described as a “one-stop pregnancy shop” for Los Angeles, The Cradle Company offers services before, during and after a woman’s pregnancy through childbirth and infant care classes, postpartum caregiving, in-home lactation consultation, breast pump rentals and even pediatric sleep consultations.
Jordan herself is an empowered mom. With two kids and an expanding business, she’s also a trained doula, board certified IBCLC (International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners) and adjunct faculty at USC lecturing on infant mental health and culturally competent mental health care. Yet as you hear her speak about her work alongside teammates Jenny and Hannah, her mantra is support—particularly when it comes to breastfeeding.
Most moms need more than just a few hours of support right after their child is born—which is why The Cradle Company offers a full spectrum of pre- and postnatal support including childbirth and infant care classes, in-home lactation consultation, postpartum caregiving and much more. – Courtesy photo
“The Cradle Company has been around since 2009 and the culture around breastfeeding has changed since then. It’s increasingly popular, but there’s also more pressure on moms—and that can result in a lot more judgement,” says Jordan, who trains aspiring lactation consultants and doulas. She notes, with satisfaction, there are thankfully more consultants around today to help moms overcome that pressure and bridge knowledge gaps about lactation.
“There are a lot of grandparents who weren’t breastfeeding in the ‘70s or ‘80s and aren’t able to pass down that information, so people face some barriers getting information,” says Jordan. “We counsel families that it’s not meant to be restrictive and about following all these rules, but that it can be successfully integrated into your lifestyle.”
Likewise, The Cradle Company’s baby-friendly services are being integrated into more homes across Southern California. Jordan and her team work with families from Orange County to Santa Monica to the Bay Area—she’s even traveled to France with one client. More courses are on the horizon, both for new parents and those seeking to make a career in pre- and postnatal care. But as Jordan builds the next generation of supporters, she suggests there are simple ways the community can uplift new moms, too.
“Give concrete help,” she says. “People will say, ‘let me know if you need anything’ to new parents, but they’ll rarely ask. Instead, say, ‘Can I bring you dinner on Thursday?’ It makes such a difference to come with a gift of food or service without making new families reach out.”
The Cradle Company is located at 1359 N. Hill Avenue in Pasadena. To learn more, contact The Cradle Company team at www.thecradlecompany.com | (626) 662-0100 | assistant@thecradlecompany.com and follow along on Facebook and Instagram @thecradlecompany.
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