Deserves six stars. You get Jennifer and you get the crème de la crème of lactation consultants. My wife had to be induced early and then had some complications that got him admitted to the NICU of the hospital he was born in and then had to be transferred to another NICU. Being in the NICU for two weeks and this NICU did not have any kind of live in situation for us, my wife was unable to breastfeed our baby immediately and the NICU got him immediately used to the bottle which was a fast flow bottle. Ugh.
After our baby was born and the hospital lactation consultant at Hoboken University was horrible. She was OBSESSED with our baby being tongue tied and made it seem like a painful procedure with a long recovery to fix the tongue tie was all the latest rage and reading off a litany of the who's who of Hoboken who are all getting their babies tongue tie fixed. Until then, my wife cannot breast feed according to this "lactation consultant."
When we went to our pediatrician, she took a good strong look at our baby and immediately dismissed the lactation consultant's claim of being tongue tied. Yes, he was tongue tied, but just slightly and it would not impede his ability to breast feed.
Next up was yet another "lactation consultant" who seemed to be the first one's partner in crime. Not only was she sitting here talking about her baby for half the time, but then, finally after almost an hour and a half of talking about herself, she finally got to my wife and baby. Two seconds into looking at my baby, once again I hear this crap about my baby being tongue tied and there's NOTHING my wife can do until he's clipped and fully recovered. Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that my wife's milk supply seemed like it was drying up -- for which the lactation consultant had no help for. See my review of this "lactation consultant" for further information.
We went to a different doctor and once again she affirmed that our son was not tongue tied.
My wife remembered a friend from our local synagogue highly recommended Jennifer and with everything going on with our baby, subsequently forgot the recommendation. After facing so many challenges with our baby, we were hopeful that Jennifer could be of help. Be of help? Jennifer was and is AMAZING! Jennifer came over THAT MORNING in the middle of a snowstorm to help my wife not only increase her milk supply but also breastfeed our baby.
Around 10:30 the doorbell rang and in came a tall woman bursting with incredible energy. Her positive attitude was absolutely infectious. While my wife was her client, she immediately went over to our baby who normally hates strangers and won him over in 5 seconds. Then, she went over to my wife and treated my wife as if she was her only client. She did an incredibly thorough physical examination of my wife's breasts to check for deficiencies and actually found some. She looked at my wife's blood tests during her pregnancy and suggested she get something new checked that would physically hamper her milk supply. Talking with Jennifer, I felt like was talking with a walking talking lactation EXPERT. Jennifer had a wealth of knowledge and information that is absolutely invaluable. Then, Jennifer went back to our son and gave him a thorough examination, which after being in the NICU for two weeks he was not a fan of anyone examining him. Jennifer was gentle, kind and sweet and our little baby is absolutely smitten with her now.
Jennifer needed to give my wife two weeks of time to get her milk supply back. Once she did, she made a follow-up visit. When she weighed our baby on her first visit, he weighed just under 7 pounds. In her second visit, he now weighs just under 9 pounds. My wife has been pumping out milk faster than a dairy cow due to our son's high demand for the white stuff. Now was the time to see if he could latch now that my wife's milk supply was back. Jennifer walked in the door, quickly weighed our baby (see above) and got to work and in under 5 minutes, our son fully latched on and was getting milk straight from the manufacturer! The smile on my wife's face could not go away and once again, my son got to interact with Jennifer and is now asking to borrow money so he can send her flowers.
Do not even think about getting another lactation consultant. Jennifer is the best out there. She is incredibly professional, incredibly knowledgeable and overall the experiences we have had with her are very highly praise worthy. No, her services are not covered by insurance, but consider her cost compared to the cost of buying formula at least twice a month for at least a year, combined with the fact that the formula you buy may or may not agree with your baby's stomach, combined with the fact that your baby may outright reject the formula and you and your baby have to go through this painful process of buying formula and let's be honest, there's nothing better for a baby than mommy mil read more