About Me

Melinda E. Indahl IBCLC, RLC, CBC

Melinda Estéfano Indahl is a graduate of the Academy of Lactation Education Program through the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation at Arizona State University.

She is a trained postpartum Doula, a certified breastfeeding counselor, a registered lactation consultant as well as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant with the IBLCE.

In her passion for supporting families she has worked as a Postpartum Doula, nurturing families after the birth of their babies, and as a Prenatal Breastfeeding educator, teaching families the basics of breastfeeding before giving birth.

As an AFAA-certified and STOTT pilates-trained exercise/fitness instructor, she lead and managed group fitness classes and personal training in private practice as well as in the fitness center setting. She carries this practical understanding of human anatomy and movement into assessing and attending to the structure and function of the infants in her care.

With a background in mentoring and Elementary Education, Melinda has worked in leadership training, tutoring, and teaching children (including homeschooling her children) for over 30 years.

As a first-generation, Spanish-speaking Latina, Melinda brings her warm Hispanic sense of humor, culture and hospitality to how she shows up for the families in her prenatal and postpartum care.

She is the mother of two beautiful human beings, Gabriela(married to Irvin) and Noah (engaged to Ayanna), and the wife of her dearly loved husband, Ben.

Serving the Community of Eastmark

Mission:

Reclaiming ancestral wisdom in loving and nurturing families to support the most dignifying breastfeeding story, in which families feel regulated, stabilized, embraced and confident to calmly feed their babies and sweetly enjoy their babies in health and wellbeing

Vision:

That all families are encircled by the rooting traditions of their communities (past and present) to grow in wellbeing and healthy development through the perinatal season of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and the sacred postpartum

Luna Asociación de comadronas tradicionales Huehuetecas - por la defensa de los conocimientos ancestrales

Luna Association of Traditional Huehuetecan Midwives for the defense of Ancestral wisdom 

LUNA - Asociacion de Comadronas Huehuetecas Facebook

Photo: March 25, 2014

A Tribute to My Heritage

Photo: circa, 1963 Guatemala City, Guatemala

My mother Alma Adela Acuña Estéfano, (who breastfed me for 1 year) alongside my grandmother, Zoila (Monina) Hernández Acuña, (who breastfed my mother until she was 3 years old)

My mother tells the story that she would say to my grandmother,

“Taté, Tité”, her toddler language for “Sentate, Chiche”. translation: “Sit! Boobie!”

Photo: Antigua, Guatemala circa: December 12, 1953

Dia de La Virgen de Guadalupe. My mother at age 8 celebrating her indigenous Mayan roots, she is pictured here, dressed in her Mayan traje with corte and huipil