I've felt very cared for by everyone I've encountered here throughout pregnancy and postpartum, but…read morewanted to especially highlight Ocean Berg. In just a couple lactation consultancy appointments, we've made so many breakthroughs in feeding with Ocean. I love how she attentively watches our baby for cues before trying to come up with a solution. She is super encouraging and strikes the right balance between being a great listener and getting right to the action, which makes for very productive sessions where we get a lot of practice in. We had also attended her childbirth class when I was pregnant, which I had found pretty educational. For example, she had made us feel very comfortable with fentanyl as a painkiller during labor, which turned out to be extra important for me since the anesthesiologist wasn't available to give an epidural before my baby came out so I had to rely on fentanyl during labor. My main complaint is that introductions took quite a while because every couple in attendance answers 5 or so questions, and it was hard to schedule the class online and also reschedule it when the dates changed. Lastly, I love that Newborn Connections has Saturday lactation consultant appointments available. And also the appointments end up very affordable after being billed to my insurance!

(1) Lactation Consulting. Christen Chang is an amazing lactation consultant. She's super patient,…read moresuper gentle, super knowledgeable, and super caring and empathetic. We met with her several times in the first two months of our journey with breastfeeding. The initial first few visits were to learn the ropes, and the second month's visits were to troubleshoot challenges that arose. Christen is so great, no amount of praise or explanation could do justice to just how truly excellent she is. (2) Classes. We also took first aid, child birth prep, and breastfeeding classes with Newborn Connection. The sign up process and web interface is unintuitive, but the classes themselves were helpful, fun to do with partner, and a good opportunity to meet other expectant couples in the same phase of life as you. (3) Rentals. Lastly, we rented a hospital grade breast pump here. If your insurance covers it, or if you can afford it, it's great to have because it's much more effective than retail breast pumps. If you plan on pumping for more than 24 months (i.e., 2+ babies for 12+ months), buying hospital grade might be cheaper than renting hospital grade.

TLDR; YES if you're a first time mom considering Kinspace, you need to sign up. It might seem…read moredaunting (another thing I need to do NOW?) but trust me it's worth it. My baby and I started at 2 months postpartum, have done a full year of Kinspace, and just "graduated." We've learned so much! Susan is phenomenal. The community is amazing and supportive. You'll meet local moms with babies of the same age, and together tackle a bunch of parenting "firsts" in the first year. I can't imagine going through it all without Susan and our mom group.

Hands down, this was the #1 best thing I did for myself and my baby postpartum…read more Susan has created such a safe and welcoming place for moms to meet other moms and learn about all things motherhood. Motherhood can be incredibly lonely and isolating and meeting up with the other moms weekly was truly a blessing. We learned so many tips and tricks and Susan always answered all of our questions. I not only came out of the group with so much knowledge but now I have a whole group of mom friends and friends for my son! I am so incredibly happy I joined Susan's group and I encourage every new mom I know to do it too.

I had Rebecca come to observe me and my daughter (4 1/2) twice. I have to admit, I only signed up…read morebecause I was required to as part of my custody agreement, but I'm so glad I did. Her observations were spot on, and she was able to communicate her thoughts clearly and gently, along with very practical advice for how to do things in a better way. My daughter can be a handful, to say the least, and Rebecca's strategies are already yielding fruit. I definitely recommend her to anyone who wants to be a better parent.

Rebecca is absolutely incredible. She's a lifesaver in a world where the parenting style has…read morechanged drastically over generations and we need new tools to be a modern parent. As struggling parents of two young kids, she gave us customized coaching tips specific to the behavioral problems of our kids, things we could not find in books or anywhere else. She has tremendous real world experience with her own kids and other clients, and gave us so many ideas to try. After 6-7 sessions with her, she's given us the tools we needed to take on those normal challenging moments with young kids that are yelling, having tantrums, not eating new foods. She's also really open minded and has a flexible approach (not one size fits all). Being a parent is also working through your own issues - her program really gives you a change to reflect on yourself and your own issues as a parent. I find myself frequently wanting to ask her questions throughout the day - I wish she could move in with us!

We've had a wonderful experience with The Modern PlaySpace and are so grateful for the support…read morethey've provided our daughter. They've taken the time to understand our daughter's individual needs and have provided guidance and activities that support her growth in a way that feels natural, play-based, and child-led. Our daughter loves going to playgroup, and we've seen meaningful progress since starting. We are so thankful for Sandy and her wonderful team!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 6 years! I met Sandy at…read moreher original location back when my nephew use to attend Modern PlaySpace. Fast forward to today, now my son attends Modern PlaySpace at the new location! Sandy has not changed, always so warm and friendly. All the new teachers I've met are just as amazing. Modern PlaySpace is always so clean and organized. When you walk in, it's so inviting with all the toys and colors. There's so many fun activities for the kids. My son is within autism spectrum and at Modern PlaySpace all the activities are so supportive of his needs. They do lots of sensory friendly activities and the kids practice living skills. Not to mention we have been accommodated with having my son's therapist arriving to give him his session there. All of my son's therapists love it at Modern PlaySpace too. We're honestly so grateful to be at Modern PlaySpace working with Sandy and all the teachers. Never in all my years have I ever felt pressured in any way. I truly feel comfortable having all the children in my family attending Modern PlaySpace. If you want a safe, clean, fun and small group setting for your children to attend, then I highly recommend Modern PlaySpace.

Aki has been a regular speaker at our Co-op preschool. I really enjoy listening to her talks and…read morelearning new parenting tools from her. She is an engaging speaker. Recently I had a question that I thought of after one her talks and I emailed her. She promptly replied, asking that I call her. We played phone tag a couple times and I finally got a hold of her. We spoke for a few minutes. She provided some concrete advice about how to go about handling my issue. I am happy to report that her advice was on spot. She even emailed back to follow up. Aki is awesome!!

Shout out to Aki! She is just wonderful. I first came across her on a Mama FB group we are all a…read morepart of, and she was hosting a webinar on figuring out the "preschool puzzle" that exists in SF. Right away I loved her energy. She is friendly and enthusiastic about parenting and all that comes with it, which is so necessary in the face of the challenges that come up. i was impressed with both her knowledge and her totally impartial attitude, giving us mamas all the room in the world to make the choices we wanted to make. Recently, I ran into a challenging situation in my family, and when I was contemplating who I could speak to about this, she came to mind. she was very responsive and we set up a phone consultation immediately. The second we got on the phone, I felt relieved. I explained the situation to her and she was SO compassionate and non judgemental, reassuring me while also addressing the challenges as something to be dealt with. She gave me some great information about how my son is developing at his age and how the challenges would impact him, and some concrete ideas of how to improve the situation. I left the call feeling so much better, lighter, with specific actions to take. I highly recommend Aki's phone consultations- they are easy to set up, you do them from the comfort of your home, and you get top notch support. Thanks Aki!

Felicia is absolutely the best. This class is very informative! I'd say the best part is Felicia is…read morealso my birth doula, which I'm extremely grateful to have her. She helped with me the best birth experience I can ask for. I'd strongly recommend every expecting mama to take this class AND hire Felicia as your birth doula if you are considering a doula!

Felicia is truly great! Super, super helpful class. Tons of information. Also great to have the CPR…read moretraining.

My husband and I took Lisa's class this fall. It was great to have a community of parents to talk…read moreout parenting strategies and issues. Much more useful that just reading a book. She is a great resource and we continue to follow up with her. I feel confident now that I have more tools to address parenting struggles.

My husband and I took Lisa's Positive Discipline course together and we both found it to be…read moreinvaluable. I have a four year old son and I had read "Positive Discipline for Preschoolers." The theories resonated with me, but I was having a hard time putting the theory into practice. When I heard about Lisa's class, I was apprehensive about the time commitment (seven 2-hour sessions), but I decided to give it a try. I think that was one of the best decisions I've made as a parent yet. The 7 weeks flew by and by the end, I found myself craving even more. Through role playing and a series of really powerful demonstrations, Lisa taught us about parenting with kindness and firmness (as opposed to being authoritarian or permissive). We covered a wide range of options for non-punitive solutions to common parenting/behavior challenges. We also learned about teaching our kids self discipline, problem solving skills, responsibility, self-reliance and cooperation, among other things. Some of the concepts that most resonated with me: "Asking vs. Telling" ("Where do your shoes belong?" instead of "Put away your shoes."); "Connect before Correct"; and especially the idea that children do better when they feel better. I hate role playing, but it was unbelievably powerful to role play being my child and also to practice different parenting techniques. The classes have transformed the way that my husband and I interact with our son. We all enjoy each other so much more now and there's a lot less conflict. This doesn't mean that we're letting him get away with more. We're just involving him more in problem solving and making him feel like he's a contributing part of the family. Things certainly aren't perfect and we certainly still experience non-compliance and temper tantrums, but we feel more much prepared to deal with these challenges now and we're less likely to get angry. I'm really appreciating the progress we've made and I'm enjoying the journey of parenting much more now.

I've seen people say great things about this place but I did not have that great of an experience…read more Note also I never participated in their services or activities. I brought my daughter who is two to visit and check things out and being a two year old she was acting unruly and noisy (yes, immaturity is the definition of being a toddler). One of the ladies there gave me a very unpleasant expression and outright told me that my daughter needed better manners and discipline. In my head I'm thinking, who are you to define what a two year old needs? Should I be complaining about your urinary incontinence and constipation problems when you have them, you old hag? Go take your osteoporosis medications. I left immediately and I've never looked back. I expected much better in a city of acceptance such as SF. My review is just a population of 1, so I'm sure that many reviews here hold true and am happy others have found a good experience because as parents, all we want is a good environment for our children to be in.

I used to take my son to the wednesday morning drop-in play group with Jenni Clancy, and we both…read moreloved it! Jenni and the other parents/nannies were were all really friendly and welcoming. The play group has unstructured play time for the kids for about one hour, and then a short circle time with songs, puppets, and bubbles. We haven't been for about 6 months due to a conflict in our schedule, but my son still sings and loves the songs he learned from Jenni's circle time. The play room is small, but I never felt like it was too crowded, and they have plenty of toys and activities for the kids to play with. I would say that the ideal age range is from 6 months to about 2.5 years. This is a great place to bring a crawling child because of the size and layout of the play space. It is also a bit cheaper than many of the drop-in play groups when you get the 5 time punch card.

I am a HUGE fan of Hand in Hand. From one generation to the next, societies learn to be more gentle…read moreand loving as parents. Hand in Hand is the next huge wave of goodness to wash over the important work of parenting. I thought I was a pretty-darned-good mother before I took the Building Emotional Understanding class through Hand in Hand. I had no idea how much I could improve! I am so much more accepting and understanding toward the difficult feelings my girls experience now. I appreciate the full range of feelings that children and parents experience and understand how important it is to feel them all as fully as possible instead of stuffing the harder ones and welcoming only the happy ones. As a result, my girls really tell me what is going on in their lives -- the happy things and the hard things. And they both have amazing courage to put themselves out there in the world and try their best at whatever they do. They know they can count on me to listen to them if things don't go well instead of judging their efforts. More and more they are trusting in their own ability to figure things out. More and more they are feeling their own power to make positive change in their own lives.

The principles are not complicated and make sense, that a child can't hear your advice when their…read morebrain is in a storm of emotion. After they unload that, their innate goodness and desire to connect guides wise behavior. They just need your acceptance and faith in them during the storm. Your child may feel diminished by focusing on consequences, as if they deserve to be punished for normal fears and instincts. The classes help you practice, answer your questions and vent your worries. Also they help you notice any resistance and envy if you were not raised with this kindness. Sure some ideas are in other books, but you'll appreciate the assistance in applying them.

We had the best experience with Maureen, one of the many talented doulas at Brilliant Births. We…read moreopted for a private Laboring together class, and it exceeded every expectation. Maureen guided us with so much knowledge, warmth and patience. She gave us practical tools, hands on techniques, and the confidence we needed as we prepare for our baby. We both walked out feeling way more prepared. If you're looking for someone who empowers, educates and genuinely cares, Maureen is incredible. We're so grateful!

My partner and I recently completed the Hypnobirthing three week course at Brilliant Births. We had…read morean absolutely incredible experience, for many reasons--The information we learned was invaluable, but also the instructors' teaching styles and depth of personal experience they offered was appreciated, comforting, and helpful. They clearly have a deep well of wisdom and experience-based expertise to share. We started our class with Keira and absolutely loved her--originally we were a bit bummed to know we would have a different instructor for our last day of the course. However, it turned out that Heidi was equitably wonderful and all things lovely-- instead of only one great instructor and guide, we ended up with two...which leads me to believe you'll be in skilled hands with anyone you interact with at BB. We will definitely be returning to take advantage of their other offerings!