Credentials
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Certified Birth Doula (Childbirth International)
Trained Postpartum Doula (Childbirth International)
The VBAC Link Certified Doula
Birth Monopoly Know Your Rights Graduate
Spinning Babies Trained
So nice to meet you.
Hi, I’m Erin Mattingly, a lactation consultant and birth doula serving the Jackson, Mississippi area. I’ve been in love with babies and birth since I was a little girl and my friend handed me her newborn sister to hold. I’ve always seen the power in women and women’s birth stories, and soaked them up from my mother, aunts, and friends, even before I had children of my own.
Now I’m a mother to eight kids, from young adults to elementary kiddos, and their births opened my eyes to the kind of support families need in this transitional time. Birthing my children started with a scheduled c-section for my twins, and was followed by 6 VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) births. I’ve had nearly every kind of hospital birth imaginable: multiples and singletons; induction and spontaneous labors; epidurals and unmedicated births; lengthy, difficult labors and straightforward, easier ones; preemies and full term babies; traumatic births and beautiful births; formula feeding and breastfeeding; and NICU stays and babies that went home in my arms. This breadth of experience in my own birthing and feeding journeys helps me to have empathy and understanding for it all. I remember all of those feelings — you will never see any judgment from me.
I struggled with breastfeeding for a long time because I had no knowledge and no support. When I had my first babies, breastfeeding scared me— I had never seen anyone breastfeed in real life, and I thought it was a little weird. I felt unprepared to do anything other than bottle feed, and after an upsetting visit with a lactation consultant left me in tears I chose formula instead. After formula feeding my first three children, I decided to try one more time— and found an angel of a lactation consultant who patiently taught me to breastfeed and quite literally changed my life. I learned the importance of asking for help, and in particular I learned that needing help didn’t make me a bad mother. I breastfed my last five babies between one and two years each.
I’ve worn a lot of hats in my life. After college and graduate school, I was a middle and high school history teacher in Florida for several years before staying home with my family. I spent more than 15 years as a stay at home mom before becoming a birth doula, and I’ve been honored to support dozens of families in pregnancy and birth since 2016. Doula work led me to lactation, and volunteering with a local breastfeeding support group made me realize how at-home I feel in the lactation world. It combines all of the things I love: supporting postpartum families, helping babies, providing emotional support, problem-solving, teaching, and clinical skills.
I’ve been married to my husband Mike, a local pediatric cardiologist, for 25 years. We made our home in cities and states all over the country for the 13 years he was in the Navy. Now we’ve settled in Madison, Mississippi, where I love the small town vibe and the slower pace of life. I love rainy days, books, British crime dramas, the feeling of a newborn snuggled against my neck, and tea. So. Much. Tea.