Feedback and love
"I highly recommend getting help from Serena if you are facing difficulty breastfeeding your little one.
I was in crisis when I called her, ready to give up on the whole thing but deeply saddened about the idea of giving my newborn only formula instead of at least some of the super rich, antibiotic, anti-allergy magic food I was making but couldn't seem to get to him. Kaiser was about to put me on a watch list for my little guy not gaining enough.
With her help, I have been steadily fattening him up with breast milk. Believe me, her judgement-free interventions and soft manner with baby were a god-send!
We were so grateful! I can't say enough about how dire the circumstances were and how amazing it was to have an expert in our corner. Well worth the expenditure!" -Heidi A.
"Serena was instrumental for our family in every step of our final days prior and the early days of our second child's life. I didn't have a good experience breastfeeding our first which was mainly attributed to poor advice and my medical history. I was a bit hesitant about how breastfeeding would be for this baby given my past experience, and that was the reason I decided to call Serena a few weeks before our baby's birth. She ended up being our birth doula and lactation consultant. Doesn't get any better than that!
Before labor, Serena was supportive and encouraging about our high risk pregnancy and during labor Serena helped me so much cope with pain and make us feel at ease about how things were moving. Then, immediately after our baby's
birth she helped me get him latched and stayed with us all the way through the end of the day, the only way a real good friend or a relative would do. Her immediate assessment on our son's tongue tie was a life saver, if we had not addressed it, it would have taken longer to get him the immediate treatment he needed.
We won't forget her kindness during those first trying days, she even brought us food and support.
And then during my early days attempting to nurse, again her assertive assessment helped me again get the treatment I needed.
All the way through, Serena was literally a life saver, I don't know what would have happened on those critical times if I didn't have her sound advice and support. I will always remember her fondly for everything you did for us and for her kindness. She has been the only lactation consultant who has not passed any judgment of made me feel bad about our decisions, that speaks volumes to her human quality. On top of that she has great training, she is a registered nurse, a doula and IBLC, can't go wrong with her. If there was a higher number of stars or something else for superior rating in yelp, I would have given her that.
I have been able to exclusively breastfeed my baby longer than initially planned, and I consider that more than a success. All thanks to Serena." -Liliana C
“One thing I really admire about Serena is her integrity and commitment to accuracy regarding scientific findings and evidence in research. Serena carefully investigates claims and evaluates the quality of articles (both research studies and information in the popular press) before posting or commenting on them. This type of critical thinking and screening is quite valuable in an age where many people post and repost before gathering adequate information about credibility of claims and quality of reporting.” -Yvette Malamud Ozer
“The early days of breastfeeding can really make a woman question her own ability; Serena was able to help me in invaluable ways, passing on her vast knowledge in a kind and generous way. She was easy to trust and my babies and I owe much of our success to her efforts.” -Christy Wood
"Serena turned my miseries in breastfeeding into a beautiful bonding time with my son. I had so many questions and doubts about breastfeeding which led me to seek advice from family, friends, internet, the hospital which only led me down the path of even more confusion. It was not until I talked to Serena that things finally turned around. Her approach is a very calming, knowledgeable, non-judgmental, and wonderfully supportive. Serena helped me to see that I wasn't doing as bad as it seemed after all, and showed me how to relax and comfortably hold and feed my baby so we could enjoy the experience." -Karen N.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Serena Meyer was integral to my breastfeeding success. I was lucky to have had everything go right the first few weeks of breastfeeding my first daughter, but then things changed. I started having pain during the initial latch and during the start of each feeding. It got so bad that my nipples were sore and bleeding which caused more pain during the initial latch. I was starting to cringe and dread each time I heard my newborn cry for food and was thinking about supplementing with formula or giving up altogether to alleviate the pain. Then I found Serena. She came to my house and watched and listened to a feeding and told me she thought the problem was clamping. I was so relieved to hear her suggestions and after a short while the problems cleared up and the pain was gone. During that week or so of intense pain I was seriously contemplating giving up breastfeeding so I am extremely thankful for the help and support of Serena. I am proud to say that I went on to breastfeed until just after my daughter's second birthday and it was my most rewarding experience as a mother by far. I wholeheartedly recommend Serena's services and have given her name out to several friends who were also having problems. " -Meg Pitts
"I consider myself to be a knowledgeable person. One of my majors in college was Molecular Biology, and before having kids I was a researcher. As much as I think I may know about how things work, Serena blows me away. I haven't seen someone in years research as much information and be as genuinely excited and interested in what she is finding as Serena is. You can feel her passion for understanding breastfeeding, how the body produces milk, and its incredible qualities from the moment you enter conversation with her. Not only does she have such a unique curiosity and desire to know and learn, but she is gifted with the ability to be nonjudgmental and supportive of what families decide work best for them. She is happy to give all the information she has about any issue or concern that a family may have, let them know what the implications are for each choice they might make, and then be supportive of their rights to make those choices. I feel this truly sets her above and beyond. She has such a calmness and reassuring attitude while giving advice and support, that anyone who works with her is sure to feel a release by the end of it. I wish I knew her and could call on her when I was struggling in the early days with my first daughter, and she surely helped me numerous times after the birth of my second daughter. I am honored to know her both as a nursing mother and a professional, and it gives me great pleasure to recommend all of my doula clients to her for any breastfeeding related support, no matter what age the nursling is, from first latch to gentle weaning." -Tabitha Ames
"I am a mother of three - oldest adopted, middle one I gave birth to, third one just recently adopted at birth. After having nursed my middle child, I knew for sure I wanted to try to nurse my adopted third baby when she was born (I did not know adoptive nursing was an option with my firstborn). I was so eager, I started the process long before we were ever matched with a birth mother. I got discouraged after waiting for a match and was experiencing trouble with relactation for several reasons, one being the long wait. Serena was patient and kind and full of good advice. Most importantly, she was understanding and did not pressure me beyond what I was capable of. I decided to stop pumping until after we had been matched, with Serena's kind support. When we were finally matched, I was ready to go full bore and within three months was pumping a full supply before the baby was even born. We were in the hospital when our baby was born, and the nursing staff was impressed and happy to see that adoptive nursing is possible. I am nursing my youngest full-time and making more than enough milk. A huge part of successful lactation is the peace of mind of the mother, and Serena was amazing at helping me achieve that peace. She is patient and knowledgable (and funny!), and I absolutely know that my journey would have been much more difficult without her support. Peace, love, and leche." -Jill Fenske
"Serena is THE. BEST. She is unique in that she meets clients where they are --- physically, emotionally and with evidence-based information and education. She knows all the stuff, but never makes families feel inadequate or like they've screwed up. I've experienced this on both a personal and professional level.
I first met Serena when I was struggling with nursing my second child. After receiving mixed messages and sub-par hospital-based support, I called in the big guns. I was SO challenged nursing my firstborn, that I was determined to be successful with my second child. Serena came to my house on Christmas eve, eve...yes, two days before Christmas offering patient and gentle support for a struggling second-time mom, who was also managing a rambunctious two-year-old. Not only did she immediately diagnose the problem (upper lip tie) with my newborn, but she discovered that my two-year-old also had that same problem. To my knowledge, the hospital staff never checked for this with either child. I had spent two years thinking I did something wrong - when in fact, my child(ren) had an oral challenge that needed to be corrected before I could successfully nurse them. If only I had found her with my firstborn, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. I went on to successfully nurse my second child for nearly two years, through multiple medical issues...with her support by my side all along.
I also work as a professional Birth Doula. I nearly exclusively refer my clients to her, because she's THAT GOOD!!! I have had every single client tell me what a godsend she is to them and that she's worth every penny. For what my clients pay for a personalized home visit/plan, they would pay more in a month in formula.
I have had the privilege of watching her work her magic in person. Her intuitive nature is unlike any I've seen with other lactation professionals. Once you're "in" with Serena, you are added to her vast knowledge-base of breastfeeding technical factual science-y stuff, but you are also connected with hundreds of other mothers who also continue to support you through you're breastfeeding journey. She creates a beautiful lactation community by running both in-person and online support groups that have proven to be invaluable to both me and my clients.
Bottom line: If you are sitting on the fence about which lactation consultant to call and whether you want to spend the money, you can stop now. You've found her. She's worth it...and so are you and your baby." -Jenny Bare
"Serena is nothing short of amazing! My husband found her here on Yelp though her amazing reviews, as I was having a particularly difficult moment in my breastfeeding journey with our then 1 month old. From our first phone call she made me feel at ease and confident enough to continue through the challenges I was facing and gave me useful tips to increase my milk supply before our meeting a few days later. During our in-home visit, she listened to my entire story and taught me more than I had learned with the previous 4 lactation consultants I had dealt with, countless YouTube videos and google searches combined. Our visit together was a game-changer as the knowledge and confidence she helped me acquire were everything I needed to move forward with breastfeeding my daughter. Serena still checks on me from time to time and just recently provided me with useful information to help me as I adjust going back to work soon. I will continue to recommend Serena to all the mothers-to-be I come across! Thank you, Serena!" -Vivian B
I was in crisis when I called her, ready to give up on the whole thing but deeply saddened about the idea of giving my newborn only formula instead of at least some of the super rich, antibiotic, anti-allergy magic food I was making but couldn't seem to get to him. Kaiser was about to put me on a watch list for my little guy not gaining enough.
With her help, I have been steadily fattening him up with breast milk. Believe me, her judgement-free interventions and soft manner with baby were a god-send!
We were so grateful! I can't say enough about how dire the circumstances were and how amazing it was to have an expert in our corner. Well worth the expenditure!" -Heidi A.
"Serena was instrumental for our family in every step of our final days prior and the early days of our second child's life. I didn't have a good experience breastfeeding our first which was mainly attributed to poor advice and my medical history. I was a bit hesitant about how breastfeeding would be for this baby given my past experience, and that was the reason I decided to call Serena a few weeks before our baby's birth. She ended up being our birth doula and lactation consultant. Doesn't get any better than that!
Before labor, Serena was supportive and encouraging about our high risk pregnancy and during labor Serena helped me so much cope with pain and make us feel at ease about how things were moving. Then, immediately after our baby's
birth she helped me get him latched and stayed with us all the way through the end of the day, the only way a real good friend or a relative would do. Her immediate assessment on our son's tongue tie was a life saver, if we had not addressed it, it would have taken longer to get him the immediate treatment he needed.
We won't forget her kindness during those first trying days, she even brought us food and support.
And then during my early days attempting to nurse, again her assertive assessment helped me again get the treatment I needed.
All the way through, Serena was literally a life saver, I don't know what would have happened on those critical times if I didn't have her sound advice and support. I will always remember her fondly for everything you did for us and for her kindness. She has been the only lactation consultant who has not passed any judgment of made me feel bad about our decisions, that speaks volumes to her human quality. On top of that she has great training, she is a registered nurse, a doula and IBLC, can't go wrong with her. If there was a higher number of stars or something else for superior rating in yelp, I would have given her that.
I have been able to exclusively breastfeed my baby longer than initially planned, and I consider that more than a success. All thanks to Serena." -Liliana C
“One thing I really admire about Serena is her integrity and commitment to accuracy regarding scientific findings and evidence in research. Serena carefully investigates claims and evaluates the quality of articles (both research studies and information in the popular press) before posting or commenting on them. This type of critical thinking and screening is quite valuable in an age where many people post and repost before gathering adequate information about credibility of claims and quality of reporting.” -Yvette Malamud Ozer
“The early days of breastfeeding can really make a woman question her own ability; Serena was able to help me in invaluable ways, passing on her vast knowledge in a kind and generous way. She was easy to trust and my babies and I owe much of our success to her efforts.” -Christy Wood
"Serena turned my miseries in breastfeeding into a beautiful bonding time with my son. I had so many questions and doubts about breastfeeding which led me to seek advice from family, friends, internet, the hospital which only led me down the path of even more confusion. It was not until I talked to Serena that things finally turned around. Her approach is a very calming, knowledgeable, non-judgmental, and wonderfully supportive. Serena helped me to see that I wasn't doing as bad as it seemed after all, and showed me how to relax and comfortably hold and feed my baby so we could enjoy the experience." -Karen N.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Serena Meyer was integral to my breastfeeding success. I was lucky to have had everything go right the first few weeks of breastfeeding my first daughter, but then things changed. I started having pain during the initial latch and during the start of each feeding. It got so bad that my nipples were sore and bleeding which caused more pain during the initial latch. I was starting to cringe and dread each time I heard my newborn cry for food and was thinking about supplementing with formula or giving up altogether to alleviate the pain. Then I found Serena. She came to my house and watched and listened to a feeding and told me she thought the problem was clamping. I was so relieved to hear her suggestions and after a short while the problems cleared up and the pain was gone. During that week or so of intense pain I was seriously contemplating giving up breastfeeding so I am extremely thankful for the help and support of Serena. I am proud to say that I went on to breastfeed until just after my daughter's second birthday and it was my most rewarding experience as a mother by far. I wholeheartedly recommend Serena's services and have given her name out to several friends who were also having problems. " -Meg Pitts
"I consider myself to be a knowledgeable person. One of my majors in college was Molecular Biology, and before having kids I was a researcher. As much as I think I may know about how things work, Serena blows me away. I haven't seen someone in years research as much information and be as genuinely excited and interested in what she is finding as Serena is. You can feel her passion for understanding breastfeeding, how the body produces milk, and its incredible qualities from the moment you enter conversation with her. Not only does she have such a unique curiosity and desire to know and learn, but she is gifted with the ability to be nonjudgmental and supportive of what families decide work best for them. She is happy to give all the information she has about any issue or concern that a family may have, let them know what the implications are for each choice they might make, and then be supportive of their rights to make those choices. I feel this truly sets her above and beyond. She has such a calmness and reassuring attitude while giving advice and support, that anyone who works with her is sure to feel a release by the end of it. I wish I knew her and could call on her when I was struggling in the early days with my first daughter, and she surely helped me numerous times after the birth of my second daughter. I am honored to know her both as a nursing mother and a professional, and it gives me great pleasure to recommend all of my doula clients to her for any breastfeeding related support, no matter what age the nursling is, from first latch to gentle weaning." -Tabitha Ames
"I am a mother of three - oldest adopted, middle one I gave birth to, third one just recently adopted at birth. After having nursed my middle child, I knew for sure I wanted to try to nurse my adopted third baby when she was born (I did not know adoptive nursing was an option with my firstborn). I was so eager, I started the process long before we were ever matched with a birth mother. I got discouraged after waiting for a match and was experiencing trouble with relactation for several reasons, one being the long wait. Serena was patient and kind and full of good advice. Most importantly, she was understanding and did not pressure me beyond what I was capable of. I decided to stop pumping until after we had been matched, with Serena's kind support. When we were finally matched, I was ready to go full bore and within three months was pumping a full supply before the baby was even born. We were in the hospital when our baby was born, and the nursing staff was impressed and happy to see that adoptive nursing is possible. I am nursing my youngest full-time and making more than enough milk. A huge part of successful lactation is the peace of mind of the mother, and Serena was amazing at helping me achieve that peace. She is patient and knowledgable (and funny!), and I absolutely know that my journey would have been much more difficult without her support. Peace, love, and leche." -Jill Fenske
"Serena is THE. BEST. She is unique in that she meets clients where they are --- physically, emotionally and with evidence-based information and education. She knows all the stuff, but never makes families feel inadequate or like they've screwed up. I've experienced this on both a personal and professional level.
I first met Serena when I was struggling with nursing my second child. After receiving mixed messages and sub-par hospital-based support, I called in the big guns. I was SO challenged nursing my firstborn, that I was determined to be successful with my second child. Serena came to my house on Christmas eve, eve...yes, two days before Christmas offering patient and gentle support for a struggling second-time mom, who was also managing a rambunctious two-year-old. Not only did she immediately diagnose the problem (upper lip tie) with my newborn, but she discovered that my two-year-old also had that same problem. To my knowledge, the hospital staff never checked for this with either child. I had spent two years thinking I did something wrong - when in fact, my child(ren) had an oral challenge that needed to be corrected before I could successfully nurse them. If only I had found her with my firstborn, it would have saved me a lot of heartache. I went on to successfully nurse my second child for nearly two years, through multiple medical issues...with her support by my side all along.
I also work as a professional Birth Doula. I nearly exclusively refer my clients to her, because she's THAT GOOD!!! I have had every single client tell me what a godsend she is to them and that she's worth every penny. For what my clients pay for a personalized home visit/plan, they would pay more in a month in formula.
I have had the privilege of watching her work her magic in person. Her intuitive nature is unlike any I've seen with other lactation professionals. Once you're "in" with Serena, you are added to her vast knowledge-base of breastfeeding technical factual science-y stuff, but you are also connected with hundreds of other mothers who also continue to support you through you're breastfeeding journey. She creates a beautiful lactation community by running both in-person and online support groups that have proven to be invaluable to both me and my clients.
Bottom line: If you are sitting on the fence about which lactation consultant to call and whether you want to spend the money, you can stop now. You've found her. She's worth it...and so are you and your baby." -Jenny Bare
"Serena is nothing short of amazing! My husband found her here on Yelp though her amazing reviews, as I was having a particularly difficult moment in my breastfeeding journey with our then 1 month old. From our first phone call she made me feel at ease and confident enough to continue through the challenges I was facing and gave me useful tips to increase my milk supply before our meeting a few days later. During our in-home visit, she listened to my entire story and taught me more than I had learned with the previous 4 lactation consultants I had dealt with, countless YouTube videos and google searches combined. Our visit together was a game-changer as the knowledge and confidence she helped me acquire were everything I needed to move forward with breastfeeding my daughter. Serena still checks on me from time to time and just recently provided me with useful information to help me as I adjust going back to work soon. I will continue to recommend Serena to all the mothers-to-be I come across! Thank you, Serena!" -Vivian B
