Michelle L. Leff, MD, IBCLC, FAAP

Michelle L. Leff, MD, is a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in the care of newborns and young children. As a newborn hospitalist, Dr. Leff meets with parents and their babies during their postpartum stay in the hospital, providing daily care to infants. This care includes newborn examinations, screening tests and breastfeeding help, including frenotomies. She also provides primary care for infants, toddlers, and young children at the La Jolla Pediatrics clinic.

Dr. Leff provides family-centered newborn care, such as education and discharge planning within the postpartum unit. She enjoys helping new mothers and fathers transition into parenthood, and the ability to work with families to achieve optimal health for their infants. Her areas of expertise include breastfeeding, neonatal abstinence syndrome, and car seat safety.

As a professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Dr. Leff instructs medical students, pediatric and family medicine residents and neonatology fellows. She has authored numerous abstracts and presented on topics such as vaccines for newborns and their families and the incidence of formula supplementation in breastfeeding newborns. She is an international board certified lactation consultant and offers breastfeeding appointments at her La Jolla office.

Dr. Leff completed her residency at UC San Diego School of Medicine and earned her medical degree from University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. She is board certified in general pediatrics.

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and member of the American Pediatric Association. Dr. Leff is also a founding member of the Academic Pediatric Association's BORN (Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns) Network and director of UC San Diego Medical Center's Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative. In 2013, Dr. Leff received the American Academy of Pediatrics Special Achievement Award. She has served on numerous AAP committees and is currently the local chapter's Early Childhood Champion.

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For more information, see Newborn Care and Pediatrics.