This biomedical engineer has made it her mission to support other mothers

Andrea Ippolito is the founder and CEO of SimpliFed. She sat down with Jessica Ab to discuss how she fully covers virtual breastfeeding and baby feeding support through health plans, from pregnancy to weaning.

Jessica Abo: Andrea, tell us about SimpliFed and who it helps.

SimpliFed is a virtual baby food and breastfeeding support service, fully covered by health plans and at no cost to you. We have a nationwide network of providers, they are lactation consultants who work with you no matter how you feed your baby – whether that’s breastfeeding, bottle feeding or pumping. We start working with new parents during pregnancy and after the baby is born we continue to support them with latching on, positioning, dealing with any pain, pumping and getting back to work. We work with health plans to ensure every new parent has access to support and we also work with the healthcare system.

What inspired you to start the business?

SimpliFed’s story is completely inspired by having my first daughter, Mae. She was born premature, she was born underweight. I had no idea what I was doing when I fed her. And I’ve never felt so broken in my life. I had a lot of trouble breastfeeding and I learned I wasn’t alone: ​​85% of women start breastfeeding, but most switch to bottle feeding. But the whole system was set up to be very fragmented – stigmatizing. And I learned that under the Affordable Care Act, you should have access to baby food support – fully covered by your care plan and at no cost to you. And as a two-time businessroundups.org, I knew this was a huge opportunity to redesign the care pathway to make it much easier for families to access this care.

What do you want moms to know, whether they’re pregnant or just getting into baby food?

We want you to know: you are not alone. And that help is there for you, covered by your health insurance. You need to start getting support during pregnancy so you understand what to expect in those crazy stressful first weeks. You can access support from trained healthcare professionals: these are lactation consultants who have hundreds if not thousands of hours, and they are these baby nutrition specialists. No matter how you feed your baby – whether that’s breast feeding, bottle feeding or pumping – you need to do what’s best for you and trust your instincts.

What do you think should change in terms of policy and how can that change?

There are a few policies that need to change to better support American families. First, we need fairly paid parental leave. Giving birth – however you give birth – is an insanely physical and emotional experience. And we need that special protected time to recover afterwards. We need universal childcare. Free K-12 education is available, but there is very little support for childcare during those incredibly vulnerable times. So we need universal childcare for those zero to five years. We need enforcement of the Affordable Care Act, which requires health plans to cover breastfeeding and baby food support beginning during pregnancy. The law exists, but no one enforces it. So we need enforcement of that policy now.

Why do you think so many families don’t know they can access baby food support?

Many people don’t realize they have access to free baby feeding support because it is not integrated into the US health care system. They also don’t know that there are trained professionals who can significantly help and alleviate the anxiety surrounding the baby feeding journey, and make it easier for new parents. And that’s why companies like SimpliFed exist. We contract with health plans, commercial, Medicaid, TRICARE so that families can access these services through trained professionals. And then we work with the health care system and get referrals so that it’s integrated with the health care system and part of your health care regimen.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

SimpliFed is a virtual service and is fully covered by your health plan – for free! So if you or a friend is pregnant, or if you have a family or friend who just had a baby, send them our website – SimpliFed. com – so that they receive the care they are entitled to. It is their legal right to access free baby food and we want to be there to help them achieve their baby food goals.