FAQs

Every in-home consultation is fully personalized to you and your baby. I assess your latch, milk transfer, breast health, and your baby’s feeding cues. I perform a complete oral assessment to screen for tongue and lip tie, evaluate positioning, and address any concerns about supply, pain, or weight gain. I specialize and focus on postpartum nutrition and gut biome health since this impacts milk supply and mom’s overall recovery. You leave with a clear written feeding plan — not just reassurance. If you look at all the services I offer, know I include these under and at different visits within lactation. Sessions are typically 90 minutes to two hours so we have time to actually fix what’s not working, not just talk about it.

Yes — I come to you. I serve families throughout the Bay Area including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, Campbell, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Fremont, Newark, Union City, and surrounding communities. In-home visits mean you’re comfortable, your baby is in their own environment, and I can see your actual nursing setup — your chair, your pillows, your feeding station — and help you optimize all of it.

Yes. If you’re outside my Bay Area service area, I offer virtual lactation consultations for families anywhere in California and beyond. Telehealth visits are surprisingly effective — I can assess latch, positioning, milk transfer signs, breast health, and baby behavior through video. Many moms are amazed by how much we can accomplish in a virtual session. Book a telehealth consult if you’re not local or if you need faster availability than an in-home visit allows.

Sooner than you think. Ideally before your baby is born — a prenatal breastfeeding consultation sets you up with the right expectations and skills before you’re sleep-deprived and overwhelmed. After birth, reach out if you have nipple pain, a baby who won’t latch or seems unsatisfied after feeds, concerns about supply, a tongue or lip tie diagnosis, engorgement, or if you’re just not sure things are going right. Don’t wait until you’re in crisis. Early support makes a significant difference in how long breastfeeding lasts and how you feel about it.

AETNA and all. its plans such as Meritain and First Health as well as United Healthcare and its other companies such as Surest and UMR cover visits and I bill directly. Many insurance plans and employers reimburse for preventative care including prenatal breastfeeding education and lactation consultations. If I am not able to bill your particular insurance company directly,I will provide a superbill upon request so you can submit for reimbursement directly to your insurance company. FSA and HSA are accepted forms of payment. Contact me if you need any documentation to support your reimbursement claim — I’m happy to help you navigate it.

Tongue tie and lip tie are frequently missed — even in hospitals. Signs include a painful or shallow latch, clicking sounds during nursing, a baby who slips off the breast repeatedly, poor weight gain, excessive gas or fussiness, and a mom with cracked or damaged nipples. Some babies show all of these signs; others show only one or two. I specialize in tongue and lip tie assessment and have evaluated hundreds of cases. I’ll give you a clear answer and help you understand all your options — including whether a revision is necessary and what to expect if it is.

Craniosacral fascial therapy (CFT) is a gentle, hands-on bodywork technique that addresses tension in a baby’s skull, jaw, neck, and body — often caused by the birth process itself. Many babies who struggle to latch have tightness in their jaw or neck that makes it difficult or painful to open wide enough to feed effectively. CFT can significantly improve latch quality, reduce fussiness, and support recovery after a tongue tie revision. I’m trained in CFT and integrate it into consultations when appropriate for your baby.

Yes, in most cases absolutely. Flat and inverted nipples are very manageable with the right positioning, latching technique, and tools. Most moms with flat or inverted nipples go on to breastfeed successfully with proper support. I assess your specific anatomy during the consultation and give you a concrete, individualized plan — not generic tips from a pamphlet.

The most reliable signs are consistent weight gain, at least 6 wet diapers per day after day four, regular bowel movements in the early weeks, and a baby who comes off the breast relaxed — not frantic or frustrated. Weight is the gold standard. Your baby should be back to birth weight by days 10 to 14. If you’re unsure, I can do a weighted feed during your consultation — we weigh your baby before and after nursing to measure exactly how many ounces were transferred. No guessing involved.

True low supply is less common than perceived low supply — meaning most moms who feel like they don’t have enough milk actually do, but something about the latch, feeding schedule, or milk transfer is creating the problem. Before assuming supply is the issue, I assess everything: latch depth, feeding frequency, breast drainage, your baby’s oral function, and your feeding history. If supply is genuinely low, we address the root cause — whether that means increasing feeding frequency, improving latch depth, addressing a tongue tie, or adjusting your pumping strategy — rather than jumping straight to supplementation.

Possibly, but maternal diet is almost never the first place I look. Fussiness, gas, and poor sleep in newborns are most commonly caused by feeding issues — a shallow latch that causes air swallowing, a tongue or lip tie making feeding inefficient and exhausting, or a baby who simply is not getting enough milk and is hungry. Eliminating foods from your diet before ruling out a latch or oral function issue often doesn’t solve the problem and makes breastfeeding harder for you. Let’s assess the feeding thoroughly first.

Engorgement, mastitis, and cracked nipples are all signs that something about the latch or feeding schedule needs adjusting — they are not something you simply push through and endure. Cracked nipples almost always indicate a latch problem. Engorgement means your baby is not effectively draining your breasts. Mastitis needs prompt attention to prevent it from progressing to an abscess. I can assess all of these during a consultation and give you a clear plan to resolve the issue and prevent it from coming back.

As a certified Dunstan Baby Language educator, I can teach you how to identify the five distinct pre-cry sounds babies make to communicate hunger, tiredness, gas, discomfort, and the need to burp — before the crying escalates. Understanding your baby’s language reduces stress dramatically for the whole family. I cover this in newborn care consultations and as part of The Baby Tribe community resources.

Yes. With 33 years of experience as a Neonatal ICU Registered Nurse at Stanford, newborn care is my foundation. I offer prenatal newborn care education so you’re prepared before your baby arrives, and postpartum support for sleep, soothing, feeding schedules, and everything the first weeks throw at you. I also offer baby-led sleep coaching for families struggling with sleep beyond the newborn phase. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach — it’s personalized to your baby’s age, temperament, and your family’s values, rooted in connection and gentle guidance.

The Baby Tribe is a free private online community I offer to all my clients. Inside you’ll find resource videos, educational content, and free weekly Q&A sessions where you can ask me questions directly. It’s a space to connect with other Bay Area moms navigating the same newborn experience — so you’re not doing this in isolation. It’s one of the things that sets Mindful Breastfeeding apart from a single appointment and goodbye.

I offer live classes covering prenatal breastfeeding preparation, Newborn 101 education, infant CPR and choking rescue, infant massage, baby wearing, and baby led weaning. Knowing infant CPR before your baby arrives is something every parent should do — it’s one of the most important classes I teach. All classes are designed to be practical and immediately useful, not overwhelming.

I’m an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) — the gold standard credential in lactation care — and a Registered Nurse with 33 years of experience in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Stanford. I’m also a certified Dunstan Baby Language educator, certified in craniosacral fascial therapy, babywearing, and infant massage, and I’m a certified infant CPR instructor. I specialize in tongue tie and lip tie assessment, sleep coaching, baby led weaning, and prenatal education. That depth of clinical experience is what makes my approach to breastfeeding and newborn care support genuinely different.