Sarah Early has over thirty years of working in the healthcare industry. Her career has taught her about the importance of supporting women with a mind, body, and spirit approach as women learn to care for their health while also addressing their family’s healthcare needs. Sarah worked in a busy Maryland hospital that delivered ten-thousand babies annually and it was here where she began to focus her time on maternal-child care and lactation. During this time, Sarah interacted with countless new parents struggling to feed their newborn and lacking the guidance or resources necessary to do so successfully. These families and their frustrations inspired Sarah to gain the IBCLC credential in 2011 and open Lactation Room in 2014. Lactation Room has been a staple of lactation and infant feeding support in Maryland, Washington D.C., and Virginia for a decade and Sarah and her team of IBCLCs, Registered Nutritionists, Nurses, and Doulas have cared for thousands of families along their new parenting journey. Lactation Room was the first practice in the DMV to expand offerings through insurance and now has three office locations to improve access to care. It was important to Sarah that quality and evidence-based care be attainable and not cost-prohibitive allowing women to receive the care they deserve and need. In 2016 she co-hosted the first collaborative conference for tongue-and-lip ties (TOTS) in the DMV bringing together hundreds of people from multiple disciplines. The conference attendees included IBCLCs, Nurses, Physicians, Feeding Therapists, Bodyworkers, Dentists, and more. Her philosophy is that there are many facets to care, and when the approach is team-based and collaborative, the patients receive better quality care and outcomes. She has presented the collaborative model for infant feeding dysfunction at Simon Says Speech, Talk Tools Speech & Feeding Therapy, Southern Maryland Dental Society, and multiple local hospitals and area organizations. Sarah graduated from a Masters in Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner graduate program with high distinction and was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society for Nurses while working and running Lactation Room. Her clinical education and training paved the way for her newest journey in private practice, Peony Women’s Integrative Health, which she opened in 2023. Working as a Board Certified Family Nurse Practitioner she serves clients in the DMV. Peony WIH focuses on caring for women with a root-cause, integrative, and functional medicine approach to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness. PWIH provides in-office health consults with Sarah, integrative and functional nutrition support by a Registered Dietician, and Craniosacral therapy services. Sarah is focused on addressing the needs of women in the community through a patient-centered and collaborative approach to care. She is an active member of ILCA, USLCA, IATP, AHNA, AANP, and MBC. hello@peonywih.com

An experienced Board Certified Lactation Consultant will conduct a comprehensive visit – parent and baby health history, an assessment of the feeding parent’s breast/chest, and a clinical evaluation of the baby’s feeding. A weighted feeding to assess milk transfer along with an oral and feeding assessment will be provided to gauge how much milk the baby is taking and if there are any potential areas of concern about tongue or lip ties. A written personalized care plan is developed to support your breastfeeding goals. Your care may be coordinated with your healthcare providers (OB/GYN, Midwife, and Pediatrician). Telephone or email follow-up by the Lactation Consultant is included.