I have received multiple massages from Gracie during pregnancy and postpartum and they have all…read morebeen fabulous. Especially when I was 9 months pregnant, she did a fantastic job making sure I felt comfortable and helping relieving the physical pain of the third trimester. During postpartum, I have received a couple of massages for back pain related to breastfeeding and I always leave feeling rejuvenated and more aligned. Highly recommend

I reached out to Brilliant Births to find a birth doula. They offer a matching service and…read moreconnected me to 3 doulas who work independently (not employees of BB). We were really fortunate to find our birth doula (who we love!), but the other 2 candidates were not very impressive. The first doula missed our appointment with no follow-up communication. We were initially confused and thought she was the coordinator for BB, because she only communicated by text. The actual meeting was just by telephone so there was no face-to-face interaction, which felt strange. We could've easily FaceTimed or Zoomed. So communication and reliability were not great. The second doula abruptly canceled our half-hour appointment when we were 10 minutes late for a 30-minute appointment due to my husband wrapping up a Zoom meeting. During our appointment time, she was responding to my emails (in which I apologized for being late), but insisted she could no longer meet with us. I thought this was a really bad sign about what she would be like to work with - labor and delivery is rarely precisely timed and some flexibility is needed. In addition, her email said that she lives in Portola Valley, but we live Berkeley (also where Brilliant Births is located). This also struck me as strange, because it would take 1.5 hours for her to arrive to meet us at the hospital, which is not ideal.

The Family Room offers such a welcoming and knowledgeable gathering space for families to create…read morecommunity while navigating the perinatal time and beyond. I'm a Fertility Awareness Educator in the community and have hosted talks and workshops in their group space, and it's been perfect for my needs. The space is comfortable, thoughtfully decorated, and offers all the necessities for my presentations including a projector and large viewing screen as well as ample seating space. The practitioners behind The Family Room are incredibly generous with their time, offering support in marketing efforts and engaging with fellow practitioners using the space. I would highly recommend considering The Family Room for your next workshop, support group, or other meeting space needs.

From the owner: The Family Room on Solano is a new gathering space and a classroom passionately dedicated to…read morenurturing families from preconception to birth and beyond. We offer groups and classes like prenatal yoga, new parents groups, a fertility support group, childbirth education, music for kids and much more!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Loving Arms Childbirth Services' birthing class! Jessica Cristen was our…read moreinstructor, and she was excellent! She's a certified midwife and lactation support specialist, with years of experience. Taking this class was the best decision I made for preparing for the birth of our baby girl. (even with the countless books I read and classes taken from Kaiser) My birth did NOT go at all as expected, but thanks to these classes I was super well prepared about all the possibilities that could occur during labor & delivery and helped my partner and I be on the same page (and have my partner know how he could best support me). Thus when things started to go different than what we prepared for in our birthing plan, we were really able to navigate the various options skillfully and have educated conversations with our care team. This made me feel way more secure when my health was declining during delivery. Even though I didn't have the birth I pictured for myself, I felt I had a wonderful birth story thanks to the classes from Loving Arms and our care support team. The class is very comfortable, super educational, and a good place to meet other couples about to have babies too. The instructors here really care about helping new families, and have years of experience and maturity. Again, best decision to take this class here @ Loving Arms. So glad I chose them!

We are so grateful we found Loving Arms and were able to take their childbirth prep class. I didn't…read morewant to have a doula and these courses helped me feel so knowledgeable about what to expect during childbirth and allowed my husband to know how best to support me. The lactation support and honest expectations about what to expect in the first few days with a newborn were invaluable. I ended up not having time to get an epidural and without this class, I think I would have panicked giving birth. However, armed with the knowledge from the courses, I was able to get through it and have a positive experience. Another plus is that we were able to bond with the other couples in the class and are still in touch now 9 months after our babies were born. Highly suggest!

We worked with Lina in February-March 2024 and February-March 2026 following the birth of our two…read morechildren. We can't recommend her more highly. We felt immediately and consistently safe and comfortable in her care and completely at ease handing her our newborns so that we could rest. With our first son, Lina was so helpful teaching us some basics of newborn care and sleep. She really got us feeling confident and secure helping our sons develop early sleeping skills. She strikes an excellent balance of following your family's requests, needs and cues without hesitation, while offering gentle, optional direction when helpful. It is truly money well spent. Thank you, Lina!

Lina provided personalized support and care during the first six weeks of our baby's life. She is…read morepunctual, effective, and offers additional support services based on a baby's needs. Wish we had planned ahead to work with her longer!

Christina's class has been THE most supportive thing I've done for myself and baby boy. We joined…read moreher playgroup class when he was only 4 months old (over a year ago) and he's thrived so much because of it. Our weekly play group-classes have provided invaluable social skills, bodily coordination development/learning, and parent education; my now one and a half yr. old is thriving, confident, secure & super coordinated! Christina holds a 1.5 hour class, almost all free play, with simple age appropriate objects/toys in a light-filled play space (at Then Comes Baby in Oakland). The RIE principles that she teaches has supported my son's natural development; like letting him roll, crawl, walk, etc, at his own natural pace as opposed to propping him up or helping him in ways that might by-pass his own learning & discovering. It's been such good practice to learn to let them figure things out on their own and resist the temptation to "help" or interrupt their natural curiosity and frustration as they learn new skills and limits. Of course we also get plenty of practice of setting boundaries for and with our children as well. This group has really helped my partner & I have a healthy and balanced parenting style and reduced our stress as new parents. The community of babies and parents has also been super sweet; you don't have to do this alone! Christina is experienced, knowledgable, and very encouraging. I highly recommend working with her!

From the owner: Respectful Caregiving: Balanced Families, Secure Babies…read more Respectful Caregiving is dedicated to supporting families with babies and toddlers throughout the Bay Area. My work is inspired by Magda Gerber's Educaring® Approach (RIE®). This Approach encourages trust in the infant for knowing how and when to develop. We caregivers do not consider it our responsibility to "teach" children how to move, play, or learn. Instead, it is our responsibility to provide a safe environment conducive to self-initiated play and discovery. The Approach places emphasis on the quality of the nurturing relationship between caregiver and child, and has many specific suggestions for how to make that relationship as respectful and cooperative as possible. Parents using the Educaring® Approach report significant a decrease in the perceived burden of parenthood, and a corresponding increases in their confidence and enjoyment as parents. Children raised with this Approach are emotionally aware, confident, graceful, creative, independent, and secure in their sense of selves. I offer RIE® certified classes such as Before Baby™ and Nurturing Nanny. I also offer sleep consulting, parent coaching, nursery design/babyproofing, workshops, and individualized nanny training.

We had an outstanding experience with DOULAS by the BAY. They matched us with Mary Ann Cherie…read moreWolowski, who was with our family for the first eight weeks after our baby was born. She started right on the day after delivery while we were still at the hospital. This was incredibly helpful because it allowed my partner to focus on caring for our toddler while I recovered from my C-section and bonded with our newborn. Mary Ann was exceptional in every aspect of newborn and postpartum care. With her background as RN and an experienced nanny, she confidently took charge from day one. She handled everything--from swaddling and keeping the baby on a feeding schedule to making sure I stayed on track with pumping. She always had my pump parts cleaned, sterilized, and ready to use, which made those early weeks so much easier. She also gave me invaluable breastfeeding support. Thanks to her guidance, I established a full milk supply within just three days of my C-section, and I'm still successfully breastfeeding. She also referred us to an amazing lactation consultant who was an absolute game changer. Mary Ann was meticulous about everything baby-related and followed best practices in every detail. Her logging and tracking were incredibly thorough, giving us complete peace of mind. She was professional, respectful, organized, and kept everything spotless. The greatest gift she gave our family was rest. There were moments when it almost felt unreal how much recovery time my partner and I were able to get because we trusted her completely. She would even bring me a glass of iced water wherever I was--a small act of kindness that made a huge difference in my recovery. Because she took care of so much, I was able to focus on postpartum healing and even carve out time for simple self-care, like getting a haircut. Although her primary responsibility was caring for our newborn, she also formed a wonderful bond with our toddler and always made him feel included. She consistently went above and beyond by helping keep our home clean, making countless trips up and down the stairs without ever complaining, and never leaving before everything was tidied up--even if it meant staying a little past the end of her shift. We're incredibly grateful to Doulas by the Bay for matching us with someone who fit our family so perfectly. The agency made the process smooth, and Mary Ann exceeded every expectation we had. We wholeheartedly recommend Doulas by the Bay to any family looking for expert postpartum support. They gave us the gift of rest, confidence, and a much smoother transition into life as a family of four.

I reached out to find a birth doula and the initial meeting giving an overview of how they work was…read moreclear and straightforward. Doulas through this company are employees (not independent providers) and they stress that this is really good for always having a backup. We were then matched with 2 doula candidates and the scheduling process was easy and professional. However, we ultimately felt that these candidates were not properly trained or vetted. We never received any materials such as CVs for the doulas. The first doula said right away that she had never been a birth doula before and we would be her first birth. Her only experience was that she had been a night doula before. I was shocked that she had never even shadowed another birth doula as part of her training as a company employee. Bless her heart for being honest, but I did not want to pay to be her guinea pig. After this, I requested an additional candidate, but I was told the other one should be great. The second doula was also not a good fit. She kept emphasizing that at previous births hospital staff did not believe she was a birth doula (and thought she was just a family friend). It became clear why. I asked about her qualifications and she said she's working on her bachelor's degree even though she already has a master's degree. I thought this was strange and asked some follow up questions and ultimately could not determine what degree she had (maybe an associate's degree) or didn't have (definitely did not already have a master's). I also asked some basic medical questions about pain control and epidurals and she was not able to answer them. Ultimately we were able to find a wonderful birth doula through another matching company - experienced and with a real master's degree (in public health).

It's 8pm on a Saturday night and I am relaxing on my couch having a glass of wine. My little man…read morehas been sleeping in his crib since he fell asleep there, ON HIS OWN, SEVEN minutes after we put him down - without a peep. You read that right. Since I have such ample time, this review will be a long one. I gave you fair warning. I'm not so rigid to think or expect that every night will unfold like tonight. There will be teeth! walking! talking! more regressions to come. However, a month after starting this process, it has become a reasonable reality for me to expect that on more days/nights rather than not (meaning NAPS and bedtime), he will go to sleep. It is a work in progress, but Dahlia guided us through it with the confidence and clarify we ourselves needed to provide to our son for the process to work. The backstory: At 11 weeks old, my son morphed from our lovely sleeping newborn waking twice a night to waking EVERY HOUR, needing to be soothed back to sleep...while sleeping in our bed. As the weeks dragged on, it became clear he was not going to outgrow this hiccup in an amount of time that would preserve my sanity (or marriage lol), and things were snowballing from bad to dreadful (more on that below). He eventually settled on a pattern of waking 4-7 times per night; however, he started having negative sleep associations to most every soothing trick in the book. I won't waste time listing such strategies or the gimmicks I bought on Amazon. Well-meaning folks always shared their soothing strategies. Well, if you can envision it, we tried it. Don't start to tell me about white noise and black out shades. Eventually, NOTHING WORKED except the boob. So sleep - meaning all naps and bedtime plus the night wake ups - became an hour long battle with raging, screaming, kicking, tears. All of which did not guarantee an outcome of sleep in the end! This was a vicious cycle on repeat at least 4 times daily which went on for almost two months (give or take some days where baby was so exhausted he slept well for a night or two). On top of this, I had impending abdominal and oral surgeries. Just icing on the cake. We knew we had to sleep train. After pouring through blogs and books about the various sleep training techniques and studies, I still had reservations (and extreme anxiety subjecting my baby to this), and needed someone to lead me through its ups and downs. Alright I'll be honest - sleep training is mostly down. It is painful. Gutwrenchingly PTSD painful if your baby is anything like mine. Enter Dahlia. She is honest, positive, supportive, respectful, and above all, will use her knowledge to SEE YOU THROUGH IT. She makes herself available and genuinely wants to help you. I cannot thank her enough and I definitely promise you will not get that from a blog. So dread. I used to DREAD naps and bedtime. The clock would hit 5:30pm and my heart would sink a little. My soul would wail a sad song. Now, I think about the time I can spend writing long reviews and blogging while he's sleeping. And the biggest plus? The little man wakes up RELAXED and RESTED and happy to see me. THANK YOU DAHLIA!

Dahlia is the BEST! We hired her for 3 months of postpartum work, which is no small task with…read moretwins! She was so caring, nurturing, and gentle with our babies, her experience was only outweighed by her sweetness and profound gift for "twinning". I feel so lucky to have had her work with us, she taught us (first-time parents) so much, from swaddling to bathing to infant massage! Every morning when Dahila arrived it was a ray of sunshine and positive energy, my babies responded so well to her songs, her feeding techniques, and her cuddles. We were so sad to say goodbye to her when it was time, and are almost jealous of the next family that gets to work with her! :) :)

We learned so much in the pre-work for Rachel's birthing class that we felt the need to consider…read morealtering our birth plan. Once we started Rachel's class, we actually did change our birth plan and never felt more confident in such a life-changing decision. Her guidance and the education we received EMPOWERED us to plan for an incredibly transformational birth experience with no interventions in the comfort of our own home. My husband and I grew closer and more aligned during the class and after, as we prepared to welcome our first child. The exercises she has you practice and the information she shares should be something every expecting couple goes through. Her audio tracks taught me what I needed and helped me before during and after birth. I was even lucky enough to attend one of her prenatal yoga classes which left me with a sense of calm and space in my belly (which is rare for a pregnant woman in her third trimester)! I highly recommend you make Rachel part of your birth team by signing up for one of her classes.

Video Birth Course Review-…read more My husband and I took the YES to Birth class virtually to prepare for the birth of our daughter. I wanted a natural/un-medicated hospital birth and this class prepared me to achieve that. If I could use one word to describe my birth, I would say it was: PERFECT. Every aspect of it felt so right, and I absolutely said YES to every moment of it. My husband and I used the tools learned in this course to relax, go with the direction of my baby and my body, and have a smooth, unmedicated, natural hospital delivery. Thanks to Rachel for helping us get there!

Working with Claudia for the birth of our 2nd child helped us heal from a traumatic first birth…read moreexperience. We went to the hospital feeling more prepared and we were able to work together and have a great birth experience. We will share that forever. Thank you, Claudia!

I highly recommend Claudia floral McCaffrey for Past life and inner child regression therapy…read more During the sessions Claudia was sensitive, courteous and empathetic which not only helped me overcome my challenges but also helped me move forward from the past trauma. This has been the best experience, one usually wouldn't open up easily however her professional approach made me comfortable and I trust her and her techniques completely. If I ever need again, I know I am always going back to Claudia. Can't recommend enough!

We feel extremely fortunate that we got to have Keelia help us settle into being a family of four…read more She was a consistently warm and caring presence, not just for our new baby but for all four of us. And she has a special knack for just finding ways to be helpful even if we're frazzled and don't know what to ask. She's also very thoughtful about providing advice--in addition to answering whatever random questions we have, she gently offers advice without it ever feeling like she's forcing it on us or it feeling overly didactic. We could go on about how great she is, but the long and short of it is that she's amazing at what she does.

I am certain that my experience with Keelia made THE difference in achieving the birth of my…read moredaughter the ways that I wanted it- delaying at home for as long as possible, no pain meds and a positive, empowered experience. My biggest fears were my low pain tolerance and lack of control over knowing exactly how it would go. Shortly before our due date, Keelia came over to review our birth plan and a timeline of what to expect for pre-labor, active labor, travel to the birth center, transition, and delivery. She made sure we practiced comfort measures, breathing and how I wanted to be supported verbally. It wasn't until the last moments with Keelia where she looked me in the eye and said I was ready, that I actually felt prepared to go into labor and meet my daughter. 2 days later, my water broke in the middle of the night. For the next 44 hours of contractions, naps, two car rides up to the birth center, a traumatic cervical check on day one to then be sent back home, many walks around the neighborhood, yoga ball bouncing, 1 game of Monopoly, snacks, massages, and support - Keelia was at our beck and call. By the time we got to the birth center (again) on day 2 after 36 hours, I was only at 1cm and 50% effaced. Keelia helped me calm down from exhausition and frustration at this news, and we made a plan to get misoprostol to thin my cervix but hopefully proceed with no other interventions. Miraculously, Ava was born 7 hours later. Keelia coached me through contractions which came back to back for hours, waved lavendar oil in front of my face for nausea, massaged my back, covered the clock when she noticed it stressing me out, got me into the shower with Joe when I hit the wall of transition, and helped me breathe through pushing - 3 contractions! She reassured me every step of the way - calmly & knowing I could do it at all moments. In this amazing doula's hands, I felt loved, safe, and supported. Thank you, Keelia.