Happy Milk Lactation Support

We called Ellen in crisis after my midwife told me my baby «couldn’t lose any more weight.» She was born small and premature, and lost as much weight as my midwife said she could by her fourth day of life. I left the midwife’s appointment feeling horrible, stressed, and worried about my baby. The midwife may have been trying to help, but her words simply caused stress that wasn’t productive and (as we learned from Ellen) wasn’t needed.
Ellen came that night. Her presence was calming, and the information and help she provided not only helped us help the baby to gain weight beautifully and quickly, but also eased my fears completely. She showed us exactly how to know whether baby was gaining enough, how to tell if she was getting enough milk in a feeding, and how to manage the intense nipple pain I dealt with in the first few weeks. Ellen was wonderful, thorough, clear and supportive.
Later, we found out the nipple pain was caused in part by a fast birth, which lead to a neck injury in baby, causing her to latch poorly. Though no one (four lactation consultants, two cranio sacral therapists, two midwives, and two doctors) we spoke to caught this, Ellen’s suggestions were helpful and minimized the pain from latching with an injured baby. The two things that most helped us were her visit and a 2-​minute chiropractic adjustment at North Oakland Chiropractic Clinic.
She provided the information we needed to submit our appointment for insurance coverage, and it couldn’t have been easier or smoother to communicate with her. She was thorough, quick to call back, professional, and clearly loves what she does.

I got Ellen’s name from my midwife when I started having concerns about my daughter’s frustration at the breast. She’s my second and it was just so drastically different from the way my son had nursed. Ellen came over and we had an in depth appointment. I’ve heard of laid-​back nursing, but never «needed» it for my son. However, it was a game changer for me and my daughter. We saw an improvement immediately! We saw Ellen once more at home, but she blew me away with how often she checked in on us! It was just great to know she was still thinking of us and making an effort to make sure we were improving. She also provided a folder full of information and resources. I wasn’t able to cover the cost with insurance, but I want to say it was more than worth it to pay out of pocket! Most of all, thanks for the great experience Ellen!

I called Ellen when I was having latching issues with my newborn son. She came to my house that afternoon. Her approach is professional, loving and thorough.
She listened to me and sympathized and answered all my questions as I was tired, frustrated and concerned about my baby. This was my second baby and I had breastfed my first for 2 years so I didn’t understand the problem.
She weighed him and did a full assessment of his mouth and sucking. She showed me a new position called «laid back nursing» and gave me a treatment plan to follow-​up and a folder of information. Her visit gave me new hope.
After our visit she checked on me many times and gave all the information to my midwife. She suggested my baby get some «body work,» or craniosacral therapy. I was hesitant, but with nothing else working I had to stay open minded.
I got him the therapy and now he is breastfeeding like a pro as I type this review. Thank you to Ellen for showing us the way to a great breastfeeding relationship!

Breastfeeding my little girl was confusing and frustrating at times. I called Ellen based on Unilocal reviews and she came over to our home the next day. She brought a cool baby scale and all kinds of info for me. She was warm, calm, thorough and professional. She gave me some great tips for a better experience and more productive nursing. If you’re having trouble with nursing or have questions, call Ellen. You won’t be disappointed. She’s great! She also has been awesome about following up a few times after our visit. I really appreciate that! Thanks Ellen!

We found Ellen when our baby girl was two weeks old and losing weight. She so expertly and thoroughly and warmly assessed our situation, came to our home, and filled us with the confidence we needed to advocate for ourselves. Her services were absolutely key in the health of our baby and I am still impressed with her knowledge, insight, and professionalism. Forever grateful!

We’ve been so grateful to have found Ellen and for all her help with breastfeeding. We met with her when I was 8 months pregnant and then again when our baby was 4 days old and two other times over the next few months. She has been the main reason that breastfeeding has gone so well. We learned a ton from her in that initial meeting before we had the baby. This was really key since we had some idea what to expect in those first few times that our baby was trying to latch. Ellen also showed me how to feed our baby in a relaxed position which was so effective. I’ve never had any wrist pain or issues while feeding my baby. She also provided so many tips and resources around bottle feeding, breastfeeding in public and helped me prep for pumping as I went back to work. I recommend Ellen to all my pregnant friends. I’m so grateful we found her because having feeding go well throughout our baby’s life has been such a gift.

Ellen has been such a gift to our family! Our little boy had trouble latching from the start so I had to use a nipple shield. Luckily, Ellen was able to come to our home on our second day back from the hospital. She was able to give us great tips for breastfeeding and also noticed our little one was tight in the mouth and recommended CST to help him latch. The combination of Ellen + CST helped him latch in no time without using the nipple shield anymore. I am so grateful to Ellen! Not only is she knowledgable, but she has a wonderful and calming personality. She instilled so much confidence in me as a breastfeeding mama. Once we got over that hump, Ellen also was able to help with pumping. I highly recommend Ellen. She has been invaluable to us.

I am a birth Doula and I work very closely with Ellen. My clients love her and we’ve just had a great success with my most recent client. Ellen has a lot of great experience and wonderful training and information to share with her clients. As a breast cancer survivor she also offers moms who are survivors great support when they choose to breast-​feed. high points for Ellen Schwerin!!!

Ellen was wonderful! I was struggling to nurse my 4 week old and I found Ellen’s assistance quite invaluable! She took her time talking to me and getting extensive background information about my daughter and me before we even started getting into the boob. She was encouraging, validating and supportive. I recommend her to all my new mom friends and will contact her again in the future if anything else pops up.

Ellen is amazing! Not only did Ellen offer incredible advice, she also set me up with invaluable resources that I still use today. She was both professional and warm, which is important when you need to get very open and intimate quickly. Her advice was clearly tailored to our situation and she continued to follow up and made herself available for questions. Before Ellen I wasn’t loving my nursing relationship, but now 7 months later and we are stronger than ever! Thanks Ellen!

We are so thankful that we were able to find Ellen. She was a wealth of knowledge for us (first time parents). She responded quickly, came to our home, had great suggestions and great referrals for other resources. She was a godsend.

Ellen was a calm and caring voice of reason after a hectic few days in the hospital! Unlike the nurses and lactation consultants at the hospital, who are in a rush to quickly check you and get the baby latched on, meeting with Ellen at home was a calm and relaxing way to revisit the nursing positions and guidelines that I learned in the hospital and to get my lingering questions answered. Ellen is extremely professional and warm, and has a wealth of information and resources to provide new moms. I highly recommend her services.

Ellen was amazing to work with. She was able to do a home visit with me pretty quickly and help me resolve an issue to see how much my son was eating. She also taught me how to «laid back» nurse — which is AMAZING and I no longer have back/​shoulder pain from nursing. Ellen has been great to work with and I fully recommend working with her.

Ellis was a lifesaver! If it wasnt for her, I am pretty sure I would not have been able to continue breastfeeding. I was having a really difficult time and we called Ellen when our daughter was 5 weeks old and she was the first to notice that our daughter had a lip and tongue tie. She suggested a variety of approaches to remedying the tie which I really appreciated. She is so knowledgable and really works to meet families and babies where they are rather than imposing a particular approach or service. She kept in touch and checked in on us regularly to see how we were doing, which was great. We worked with a couple of other lactation consultants before Ellen and she was by far the best. I would use her again and/​or recommend her to anyone in a heartbeat!

Shortly after giving birth my daughter got dehydrated and spent some time in the NICU. We had difficulty with the latch and left the hospital using a nipple shield feeling like this was going to be our fate for our entire breastfeeding experience. My confidence was shattered and I was so apprehensive about weaning her off the shield but Ellen was so amazing! She was so kind with helping me and my daughter get on the same page with breastfeeding. She is so organized and knowledgeable and gave me all the resources I could possibly need to feel supported in breastfeeding again. Over two sessions working with her we were 100% off the nipple shield and using simple methods to calm both myself and my daughter to make breastfeeding a positive experience.
She really provides comprehensive care to ensure your baby gets off to the best possible start and educates your entire family. She was so flexible to come see me at my home in Concord quickly and made herself so available via phone/​text/​email and I felt so comfortable reaching out if I needed her. I can’t thank her enough for what she did for our little family!
Highly recommend her to anyone having a baby, the knowledge alone was priceless!

Your search is over. I highly recommend Ellen. We worked together from birth and understanding breastfeeding for the first time, all the way through my returning back to work, and even after back to work when I was running into production issues. She is extraordinarily knowledgeable and supportive, and always had guidance that felt right for me and my baby regardless of what we were encountering over the 10 months that we worked together. The breastfeeding journey can bring both immense joy and also challenges, and with Ellen, you can look forward to celebrating many successes and having the support you and your baby need.

My experience with Ellen has been nothing but amazing! My insurance covers a few lactation sessions per year and Ellen was on that list of approved providers! I contacted Ellen via email prior to my child’s birth and she came over to prepare us for breastfeeding and what to expect. Wow… we were so impressed! Handouts, demonstrations, and plenty of education on breastfeeding! I can definitely say we felt more comfortable going into birth having met Ellen. After our sweet girl was born. Ellen came by to assess how things were going, answer any questions, and give good feedback on our breastfeeding thus far. I’ve called on Ellen when concerns came up such as engorgement. pumping…and even a little baby blues. and she has always been helpful. If anything sometimes just an ear to listen or offering up an encouraging word! If you are looking for a highly knowledgable, nice, and responsive lactation consultant I highly recommend Ellen! If your insurance covers her services even better, but if not she’s well worth the $!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about my colleague, Ellen. :)

As a new mom, I can say the three most important things to do before the baby is born is learn how to breast feed, decide on what strategy you are going to use to get your baby to sleep, and have plenty of diapers.
I didn’t think i would need help breast feeding. i mean hard could it be? Well, Ellen was in our business networking group, so we felt obliged to use her services. I am SOOOO glad we did. Ellen came to our house when we were 8 months pregnant.
She showed us different ways i could hold the baby and feed. She gave us a color print out of what the poop and pee should like like, and explained that it could help determine if baby was feeding well. She talked about frequency of feeding. That they suck, suck, swallow. Suggested i rub breast milk on my breasts post feed to prevent growth of yeast infections. So many important points i new nothing about.
Then she came again to our home 4 days after our baby was born. She weighed our tiny tike before i fed her, and then after. And pronounced that she was drinking a hearty 2 oz. About the max that can fit in a tiny belly. We were concerned because she only fed about 4 – 5 minutes on one side and 2 – 3 on the second and then would fall asleep. Not the 10 on each that others mentioned. Turns out my flow of milk is super fast. Then Ellen put on her gloves and did a thorough exam of our baby’s mouth. It turns out the tissue that connects her upper lip to her teach is short. That means she can’t turn her lips out in the proper fish style to make a good seal on my breasts. This means she can swallow alot of air and then have burps or farts. Solution… easy, just use my finger to curl her upper lip out for her.
She instructed me to relax my shoulder and neck which i raised up while feeding. We both were impressed by Ellen’s technical knowledge, and so very grateful for her service. Our baby girl is now 10 months old and still breast feeding like a dream.
Add Ellen’s Happy Milk Lactation Consultant to you Baby Shower Registries!

As a first time mom, naturally I had a lot of questions and concerns, and admittedly, doubts. More specifically, doubts about my body and my ability to breast feed my baby. I was fortunate enough to find Ellen of Happy Milk Lactation Support. Ellens’ wealth of knowledge was an incredible resource to me! She was available and accessible when I needed her. She was informative and supportive of me and my new chapter and even gave my husband some great advise! Ellens’ style and expertise have been invaluable to me and our growing family! THANK YOU ELLEN!