We schedule an appointment at your earliest convenience. It can be at your home, my office, over the phone or via Skype. Most appointments happen the same or next day.

An appointment can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 90 minutes. The length and number of appointments vary depending on your particular needs. Consultations start at $30 for a 15 minute appointment and are usually reimbursable by insurance.

During a home or office consultation, we will do one or more of these things:

• Get all the details about the difficulties you are experiencing.
• Take a health and breastfeeding history.
• Answer your questions.
• Observe you and your baby breastfeeding.
• Screen for nipple, breast, mouth or tongue problems.
• Teach about feeding cues and how milk production works.
• Coach you and your baby through latch, positioning and other comfort measures.
• Teach pumping, hand expression techniques and milk storage guidelines.
• Refer you to someone who can better help you with your problem, if need be.
• Create a breastfeeding plan that will accommodate your lifestyle, your goals and your baby.

Sometimes, we even fit all of them into one appointment!

Phone sessions don't have visual cues, but I am experienced at asking the right questions to help you immediately. And you can always schedule an in-person or video follow-up.

How do you know if you need a Lactation Consultation?

In my experience, if you fit one or more of these situations, you would be helped by an appointment right now:

• Your nipples are raw, bleeding, cracked, or hurting.
• You think, or have been told, that you are not making enough milk.
• Your baby is 5 days old and your milk has not come in or is 14 days old and has not regained birth weight.
• Your baby is colicky or fussy, or you think that your baby hates you and/or breastfeeding.
• You are crying more than 2 hours in a day, or think you are not cut out for motherhood.
• You can't pump the amount of milk you need.
• Your baby is biting.
• You have plugged ducts and/or mastitis.

Or, you may have one of these less-urgent problems:

• You are back at work, or going back soon and you have questions.
• You are thinking about introducing solids.
• You want to know how to best or safely wean.
• Your bra leaves marks or is uncomfortable.
• You have recurring mastitis.
• You are wondering if something, you or your baby does, is normal.

It is OK if you are emotional, crying all the time or you feel too embarrassed to call. I am compassionate and understanding -- mothering is hard! I will do my best to listen and help you find a way to feel better. A big part of Lactation Consulting is helping mothers and fathers deal with the difficult feelings that come up around breastfeeding problems. Most women do cry during an appointment.

It is OK if you think your problem is silly, too small or not important. If you are worried, it is appropriate to ask for reassurance and guidance.

It is OK if YOU think it's a hopeless cause. I have seen hundreds of so-called hopeless cases turn completely around, sometimes within hours or days, and have happy endings. If you want to breastfeed, you probably can.

To succeed at breastfeeding, here's what you will need:

• Determination and the desire to breastfeed;
• Support and guidance from an expert;
• Patience to keep trying when things don't go as you expected;
• Tissues — Long challenges can be very emotional!

To make an appointment for a Lactation Consultation, or if you need more information about your particular situation: text or call me at (845) 750-4402 

Or you can send me an email and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

Here are my Policies:

• "On my honor, I will try, to do my best Policy":  I will do my best to get breastfeeding right for you and your baby.
• "Love The One You're With Policy." I will bring respect, love and caring into every interaction.
• "Laughing and Crying Policy.". Yes, both, of course, and sometimes together.
• "Talk-Dirty-To-Me Policy" We will be discussing your baby's wet and soiled diapers.
• "Dress Code" PJ's are expected, showers are optional, hairdo?...not likely...(I will be showered, professionally dressed and hair tied back.) When you feed the baby, I will look at your breast to see how your baby latches on.
• "The Shovel-It-In Policy" You and I don't like being force fed and neither does your baby. I don't do it.
• "It Takes A Village Policy" There is no one lonelier than a new mom. I will get you connected with other breastfeeding moms.
• "Pay-it-Forward Policy" I will work with you if you are in a financial constriction.
• "Personality Policy" I want breastfeeding to work for You and Your Baby, not for some "Gold Star" A++, Idealistic, Vision that Someone...Somewhere... had Sometime...

Here are my standards:

• My first concern is to make sure your baby is fed. My first choice of food is your breast milk, either at your breast, expressed or from your stored supplies. My next choice would be donor milk from a milk bank or other donor. If that isn't possible, we will use formula.
• I fully expect for you to be nursing pain free or almost pain free in fewer than 3 visits.*
• You, your baby, your breastfeeding goals, opinions, culture, lifestyle, and family will be respected when we work together.
• I have an evidence-based practice. What we do has been studied and shown to work and you don't get stuck with some folklore, bizarro habit.
• You are the expert in your baby, (even if you don't feel like it, yet.) You set the pace and decide if you like something or don't.
• Keep the baby calm. It is essential to be gentle with the baby and ease into breastfeeding rather than making lots of changes and upsetting your baby.
• I follow current American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines and tracks weight, stools and wet diapers, so you are confident your baby is getting enough milk.
• Your situation, problem, solution, and story are private, except where I, like other health care providers, have legal responsibilities mandated by law.

To make an appointment, text/call me at (845) 750-4402. You can call even if it's 2 in the morning ... (especially if it's 2 in the morning.)

Click to send me an email.  I will get back to you within 24 hours.