Amrit K Khalsa R.N IBCLC

The first few weeks were so, so hard. Learning to breastfeed seemed more painful than labor itself. I cried every day for the first 3 weeks and almost gave up after every feeding. Knowing my baby was hungry and being terrified of feeding him made me feel so helpless and hurt. After seeing various LC’s at the hospital and going in for a tongue tie evaluation, I felt like I had done everything I could.
5 weeks in, I finally called Amrit after a recommendation from my mom’s coworker. Amrit responded quickly, came over to my house for a 2 hour consultation, and showered me with love and support. She held my hand, kissed my head, hugged me and listened to my story.
Amrit showed me how to get a deep latch without using a shield. That first week after proved difficult as well. Baby and I were a mess and I almost gave up again! But somehow I kept on persevering and continued to follow Amrit’s advice.
My son is now 15 weeks, and although it’s not perfect, we’ve definitely come a long way. I wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of Amrit.
Thank you Amrit!

Amrit was extremely helpful getting our preemie Izzie up and running with breastfeeding. After a few days of struggling and getting all sorts of dubious advice, Amrit came over to our apartment and was a revelation. She immediately figured out what we needed to do to get on the right track for pumping, producing milk, and getting a good latch. She consulted us along the way for the first month and was always very happy to explain things and answer any questions. Amrit is extremely compassionate and personable which really helps when you are struggling and stressed with all of the challenges of a newborn, especially a premature baby. I don’t know how we could have done it without her.

We started with Amrit before our daughter arrived, and thank goodness we did. We had no idea what was in store when breastfeeding!
Amrit is easy to talk to and leaves no question unanswered. She comes with abundant knowledge and compassion.
As with others, she helped us with EVERYTHING! from the first latch, to bottle feeding options, breast pump activation and has quite a treasure trunk of remedies to help along the way.
My favorite thing about working with Amrit is that she passes no judgment, and works with her intuition, and encourages you to work with yours.
I am very grateful we had Amrit to teach us and guide us through our now enjoyable breastfeeding journey!

Amrit, is truly amazing. She is warm and caring and really knows her stuff. I saw her first at a home visit, on a Saturday, and she swooped in and got my daughter and I rockin’ with breastfeeding. She took the time to answer all my questions, helped me with our latch, nursing chair set-​up, checked all my pumping gear, weighed my daughter both before and after a feeding to see what her intake was. It was worth every penny. Luckily, I found out about Amrit early. Breastfeeding is a learned skill and I wish all women would have an Amrit, even those who don’t get cracked bleeding nipples. If you aren’t sure, see her anyway, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
I also saw Amrit at her Oakland Bayside office. The staff there was friendly and helpful!

I can’t say enough positive things about Amrit as a lactation consultant. I reached out to her when my twins were four weeks old, neither of which were breastfeeding successfully. My girl had not latched without a nipple shield, even after three visits with lactation consultants at Kaiser. Amrit taught me how to fully activate all milk ducts and express milk, and then showed me a proper latch technique, and on the FIRST TRY my girl latched on without a nipple shield and never stopped.
One of the best parts about our meeting with Amrit was that we spent the first 45 minutes going over everything we had tried related to breastfeeding, which gave her a full understanding of what we needed.
Amrit also gave us a few different options for getting one or both babies breasfeeding, letting us choose a path that was best for us at the moment and our sanity and lifestyle. I found other lactation consultants only wanted to give us one plan, but Amrit presented a few options and talked us through what each would take. She is a true consultant and teacher. With twins, things aren’t as straightforward, and this saved our sanity and allowed us to move forward with a plan we could feel great about.

I must say to all mothers– if you have even small issue about breastfeeding Amrit is the perfect one to help and solve your problem!!! I came to her after 3 months of breastfeeding with nipple shield. I really want to succeed to do the shield but the truth is that I wasn’t sure it’s possible… To make a long story short– she teache me how to do it and how to get my baby used to it after one appointment! She is funny, she is warm, she is understanding and she is super professional! I recommend

Choosing a pediatrician for your first child can be a daunting task. We discovered Bayside Medical group by asking friends and family who they used and loved or who they had heard good things about and Bayside’s practice was named by several of our trusted people.
We’ve been taking our son to Bayside since he was just 5 days old and he’s been seen by every doctor in this practice. They are all fantastic. Knowledgeable, friendly, supportive, thoughtful and gentle. The entire medical and reception staff is warm and treat us, as parents, and our son respectfully. We actually look forward to going there!
The icing on the cake of this practice is that they have a lactation consultant, Amrit Khalsa, as a part of their staff. If we could see Amrit once a week, we would. She is excited about what she does and has a wealth of knowledge. She provides us with not only her expertise but also a sense of confidence in the breastfeeding process. Amrit has apparently been doing this quite awhile and seems to have a solid intuition that pairs nicely with her expertise.
I would highly recommend seeing Amrit for any kind of lactation support. Thank goodness she’s affordable enough that we can see her as regularly as we need.

I went to see Amrit when my infant son was 6 weeks old, after many unsuccessful sessions with a string of lactation consultants, mostly at Oakland Kaiser. Thank god I found her! My son was tongue-​tied and so he could never get a proper latch. This was determined by the only other non-​Kaiser consultant we saw when he was just two weeks old and we quickly got him a frenotomy. But the problem persisted. We then kept going to Kaiser consultants week upon week, which resulted in an ongoing attempt to improve his latch, each time with a different person, diagnosis and/​or plan. There was no consensus on what was causing the problem and each time I left my appointments feeling hopeless and like no one really knew what was going on. I was so stressed and frustrated — each hour, day & week that went by was so painful, not just because my nipples were incredibly sore but because my little baby was hungry and there was nothing I could do! I pumped & nursed around the clock and still no progress with his latch. He wasn’t gaining enough weight. I cried every day and my baby cried all day long. It was a pretty dark time.
The moment I met Amrit I knew things would be different. She walked into the waiting room and greeted me with a HUGE hug. A sincere, warm, loving gesture that I really needed. I may have cried. It just felt amazing to receive that kind of energy from a medical professional. She clearly cared a lot about her job and treated me with an incredible amount of compassion and positive energy. What a difference! But it wasn’t just her energy that was different. She actually knew what she was talking about. Within the first 2 minutes she had already inspected my baby’s mouth and told me that my son was tongue-​tied. I couldn’t believe this — I told her that he’d already had a frenotomy. She said that apparently they didn’t do a complete job or it grew back. None of the prior consultants we saw could figure that out. So, we had it done a second time and within a week his latch completely improved and the pain in my nipples started to go away. It worked.
She continued seeing us week after week, even after the initial improvement. We made concrete plans for each week and followed up the next visit. What she gave us was consistency, follow-​through, compassion and trust. I felt so supported by these appointments and truly looked forward to them each week.
After a few weeks of his weight gain improving, we decided that I would give up the formula supplementing I had been giving him and see how he did on breast milk alone. It was a little scary, since it meant potentially opening up our old wounds of hunger and pain. And possibly failing. But we made this plan together, as a team, and I felt supported enough by Amrit to give it a try. Again, the plan worked. My son continued to gain weight exactly as he should have.
Amrit continued seeing us until I felt ready to be on my own. My son is now a very healthy and happy breast-​fed 4 month old, just as I had hoped he would be. If not for finding Amrit, I most likely would have had to give up breast feeding, something that I had feared and dreaded in the early weeks. I now have the most beautiful nursing relationship with my baby. I am so very grateful for her guidance.

Amrit’s wealth of knowledge, patience and endless willingness were a tremendous help! We looked forward to every meeting with her, knowing that it would be so beneficial, and that we would learn new and important things. We all LOVE her and highly recommend her to anyone!!!

Tremendous gratitude best describes what I feel towards Amrit. This post is long over due but I want to share my experience as it may help a future or current mom.
After receiving acupuncture on Saturday morning, my labor pains began with such a tremendous intensity that they rattled my bones. After 25 hours of labor at home with little progress, my midwife made arrangements for my transfer to the hospital. Not exactly what I had planned, but about 12 hours later, I beamed in delight when I held my daughter. Absolute bliss is a more accurate description. The hospital lactation consultant was friendly, but I imagined swamped since I received a rather brief tutorial on how to breastfeed. «Don’t worry», she said, «you’ll get it with practice». Ok, that statement might apply to learning the tango, but when you have a screaming newborn that’s demanding far more than the colostrum that’s barely dribbling out, it’s time to get professional help. For some reason, I thought breastfeeding would be easy and kind of automatic. You know, place baby near breast, press start, and relax into the journey of motherhood. Ok, I was naïve to say the least. My pediatrician recommended two lactation consultants when she came to my home to check-​in on my three day old baby. I felt as if I had been hit by a Mack truck. My body was sore from labor and pushing an 8 pound 12 ounce baby out. I was exhausted, distraught and felt like a failure as well– why wasn’t this working? Needless to say, I was in a state of panic and called both lactation consultants. Amrit returned my call first– no time to check Unilocal reviews – and we setup a meeting for the next day.
When Amrit arrived, I felt immediately at ease with her warm and supportive nature. She spoke so confidently about me, my body and my breasts, that I actually believed her! No, really, Amrit’s kindness and compassion toward me made me feel so much better. She clearly is passionate about her work; she spent what seemed like a few hours with me and reassured me that she would be available by phone, text or email if I needed anything. My first career was in engineering and I appreciated Amrit’s thoroughness and attention to detail. I took copious notes as if she was were giving me the Ten Commandments of breastfeeding. Of course, when she left, I forgot everything, but, alas, I had my notes! I emailed and called Amrit several times over the next few days and she responded within a few hours. She even recommended that I see her in her office since the cost would be lower for me. I liked how her recommendations were low tech, pillows to prop me and the baby, cabbage leaves (yes, in my nursing bra) to get some relief from painful engorgement. With her support, I was able to breastfeed Eva with ease and comfort.
I recently gave my Medela breastpump to a friend who had a baby in October. I stopped pumping April 2014 and stopped nursing my daughter in June, just a few weeks shy of her second birthday. I hadn’t planned on nursing for so long, but as Amrit helped me plan for my return to work when my daughter was ten weeks old, pumping and nursing became a fully integrated activity in my life that I loved and looked forward to. It became an opportunity for me to connect to my daughter, slow down and rest, eat nutritious meals, lose my 65 pounds of baby weight and enjoy being a mother. When life presented difficulties and heartache, it was during those times that I was so grateful for this gift of producing nourishment for my daughter that also nourished me.
Without a doubt, Amrit is gifted health practitioner with a huge heart and was an invaluable resource to me. I highly recommend her!

If you’re looking for a lactation consultant who has a ton of experience, is hands on, compassionate and incredibly supportive, look no further. When you’re dealing with issues related to nursing, especially shortly after giving birth, time is of the essence. Amrit was with us the whole way, available to answer questions after hours, and worked closely with us until breastfeeding was firmly established. Its amazing how effective a skilled lactation consultant can be.

Amrit has great experience as a lactation consultant, and helped with getting my milk supply up.
At the same time, she’s what you might expect from a white woman doing lactation consulting in Berkeley under an Indian name. She is unapologetically pseudo-​scientific and quite woo-​woo. That would be fine and good, but she has some serious misunderstanding of basic scientific principals, and people not paying attention may be misled.
So, if you’re going to see Amrit, remember this:
Change in mass = mass in — mass out.
Specifically, if you want to calculate the amount of milk your baby is getting (mass in) from the change in weight (change in mass), you have to insure that mass out = 0 (Do not change the diaper after feeding!!!)

I started seeing Amrit because I was concerned about providing enough milk after a breast reduction. I found it very difficult to work with Amrit. Superficially her bedside manner is pleasant but I found a few things off.
She took a long time to answer my questions but there is no added value to lengthy replies — she repeated things, spoke slowly, often didn’t answer questions, and by the end of each visit I was left unsatisfied. Although she made herself available via phone, text or email, she discouraged me from sending questions that way, and asked me to make follow-​up appts. Her approach ended up costing me more money.
Some of her advice, if followed, would have been detrimental to my breastfeeding and pumping journey.
* She stated that my milk supply would be established by four weeks. Every piece of advice found elsewhere and by professionals says that milk supply is established by 12 weeks.
* My supply was low at 4 weeks due to Amrit’s advice to pump for only 20 minutes at a time. Once I started following external advice to pump until empty, and for a few minutes longer, my supply increased.
* She recommended that I breastfeed for five minutes, then hand my son off to my husband for a bottle, while I pumped to increase supply. I pushed back as I was concerned about not feeding my son myself and losing out on bonding, and she was very dismissive of my concern. I deeply regret that I followed her advice for a few weeks on this and yes, I did lose out on bonding with my son, with no increase in supply to show for it. As soon as I started feeding him myself, my supply increased.
She judged my decision to go back to work after 12 weeks of maternity leave. At the time I spoke to her I hadn’t decided what to do yet, but her attitude did not help. She said that I would be putting my needs over my son’s health and that it would be pointless to try to increase my supply if all I was going to do was go to work and be away from my child. She said that my supply would absolutely diminish once I did this. (She was wrong).
After three (two in-​home and one at Bayside) sessions of not getting questions answered, feeling deflated from the judgment and negativity, and being told that not being a stay at home mom was putting my desires ahead of my son’s needs, I quit Amrit at 1 month post-​partum. I went home and researched all I could, and went from providing 30% of his intake to ALL of it by 3 months post-​partum. I’m currently at 6 months post-​partum and my supply is still increasing every week.
After a couple of months of successfully providing milk for my son, I had one more interaction with Amrit that prompted me to write this review.
Amrit recommended that I buy my breast pump through her so I could receive a $ 45 discount and she stated in person at our first meeting that she passes along the cost savings that she receives. My pump is under warranty, and needed to be fixed, but the company needed a proof of purchase in order to process the fix. Amrit initially refused to send me the receipt. She called the company herself, impersonated my husband (because it was sent to him at his office — also he has an Indian name and company wouldn’t know if it was a male or female name) and tried to get the fix processed so that she wouldn’t have to send me a receipt. I kept bugging her for the receipt and she created one on Microsoft Word and sent it with the wrong amount, which was less than I paid her. I asked her to send me the receipt with the correct amount on it and she has NEVER sent it to me, to this day. I finally spoke to the breast pump company and they shared that she had only paid a fraction of what I paid her for the pump, so she made a profit off of me. I believe this is why Amrit went through all the trouble to avoid giving me a receipt. I believe that impersonating my husband to avoid giving me this information demonstrates a lack of either sanity or integrity, but I put this forth so that new moms may judge for themselves.
I originally filed her away as one of those mistakes in life, but this last experience is not one that I can stay silent about. I am not surprised that most of the reviews for Amrit are positive. To be vulnerable and put your breastfeeding fails online is a difficult thing to do. I hope that others who have had mixed experiences also feel empowered to do so. And I’m glad that many have had positive experiences, because I don’t wish my experience on anyone else, including any other vulnerable first-​time moms struggling with breastfeeding like I did.
Don’t take crap from anyone. Try your best at breastfeeding and research exclusive pumping. (You don’t have to become an exclusive pumper, but their advice is solid for anyone). See other lactation consultants if you do not like someone’s militant approach. Talk to your friends who have breastfed. Chances are they struggled too in the beginning and they probably have some more relevant advice than a narrow-​minded lactivist would.

We had a very difficult time after our son was born. He dropped below 10% of his body weight, wasn’t gaining well, wailed constantly and didn’t seem to want to feed– He was incredibly fussy and upset at the boob. Our midwife recommended Amrit and we called her immediately, desperate to figure out what was wrong. Amrit was incredible. Our 2 hour consultation lasted three very helpful hours and the results of her program for us were immediate — we finally had a happy baby, he had just been very hungry because my milk supply was quite low. Following Amrit’s program I pumped every 2 – 3 hours around the clock and we supplemented him with my stored milk to make sure he was getting enough. Within a week and a half my milk supply was abundant and he was nursing like a champ. I really don’t know what we would’ve done without her and I only wish we had called her sooner.

Amrit is Amazing!
I was a nervous wreck after I had my baby a month early, and was so worried about everything. She was a wonderful supportive friend and expert from the moment she greeted me with a hug in the waiting room the first time we met. She reassured me every time I went to see her, while offering suggestions I could take. She helped me with my baby’s latch the week after he was born, identified that my punp was killing me because the flange was too big, helped strategize and prepare me for my return to work, dealt with my baby’s indigestion, offered suggestions for sleep and feeding, and helped strategize through having too much milk, having too little, and getting my family on-​board with every turn.
She’s a gem.

I was referred to Amrit by my midwife after I had a bout of mastitis 3 weeks postpartum. I wanted to make sure that I could do my best to avoid getting mastitis again in the future. Amrit came to our home and was wonderful right off the bat. She made me feel comfortable and helped us tremendously with latching, understanding my breasts and their nuances, and helping discover that our baby had tongue tie. After we got the tongue tie resolved she followed up to make sure that I understood how my breasts worked. Unlike some of women, I was producing too much milk, and would get clogged ducts very easily. She was able to educate me and help me with homeopathics and other ideas in managing it.
Since then she has still been a wonderful resource and ally to help with any breastfeeding issues that come up.
Another great thing about Amrit is she comes with 40+ years of being a midwife, so she is very very helpful in your postpartum as well.
She is wonderful and amazing! I would highly recommend Amrit to any mamma out there!

I was referred to Amrit by my baby’s pediatrician at our first appointment at Bayside Medical, and I’m so happy I was. My little girl had lost more weight than we’d like after leaving the hospital and Amrit helped to make sure her latch and positioning were correct. My daughter started to gain weight but extremely slowly so at our next visit, Amrit did an oral exam and found a tongue tie. I didn’t know what that was at the time, but she explained it, got us all set up with a good doctor to correct it, and made a plan to help re-​establish supply that had been low due to poor sucking (from the tongue tie).
Since then, I’ve seen her multiple times to help transition through various stages of a breastfeeding relationship with my daughter, including a detailed plan for when I return to work in a couple weeks. Given all the trouble we had getting started with breastfeeding, I wasn’t sure if I’d even make it to 3 months but I mark that goal this week thanks to her help!
Equally important to her technical expertise, Amrit is really warm and caring. She is very good at listening to your concerns and explaining her approach. She is a good support network to make sure both mom and baby are off to the right start in their breastfeeding relationship!

I had nothing but problems from the beginning with breastfeeding my baby. It started with a bad latch in the hospital and spiraled downward from there. I spoke with 3 other lactation consultants before and finally found Amrit based off a reference from a friend. And boy, am I glad I did! Amrit is amazing!!! I contacted her and she was able to meet with me right away.
Considering what I had went through and what I was going through, Amrit was extremely empathetic towards my breastfeeding issues and the most knowledgable consultant on all of the issues I was facing. From my baby having a posterior tongue tie and a high pallet causing latching issues, to systemic candida and nipple trauma. Amrit was able to give me a concise action plan for each stage that we worked through. She created a comfortable environment for my baby and I when we met with her. It can be an extremely stressful time for a new mother and Amrit lets you know that what you are facing is normal because each person’s experience is different.
Amrit used a holistic approach for each of the stages that her and I worked through.
This woman is worth her weight in gold! I would highly recommend her services for any mommies out there having breastfeeding issues. She is genuinely concerned about your health, breastfeeding issues and allows for realistic expectations based on your experience. While I felt pressured by other lactation consultants to «push on» and «just work through it» my body wasn’t able to fight off the infections I was dealing with. Amrit did everything in her power to get me healthy and feed my baby breastmilk. Unfortunately, due to poor, unorganized and antiquated health care at the hospital where I was being treated for my infections, I had to quit breastfeeding and pumping all together. Amrit was completely supportive of this decision and created a thoughtful action plan to get me healthy again so I could tend to my baby without feeling totally exhausted both mentally and physically.
I truly cannot say enough good things about Amrit. She is fantastic at what she does and she is the only way I made it through the trials and tribulations of my first few weeks with a newborn.

I recently delivered my adorable baby girl in November of 2013, but like any new mom, had NO IDEA how to breastfeed.
Thankfully I was given a recommendation and referral to see the wonderful Amrit Khalsa lactation specialist, by my amazing midwife Ellie Griffinger CNM.
I had severe engorgement and was seen by two other lactation specialists in the hospital, both of which were unable to help me obtain a good latch or really address the engorgement (which was actually not even acknowledged by them). Amrit visited me at the hospital, because my midwife was very concerned about the breastfeeding not being very successful and my frustration and difficulty with it, along with the stress of a jaundiced newborn. She also had recognized how severely engorged I was the need to address it before it turned into mastitis
When Amrit came to see me, her professional, caring, pleasant and calming demeanor automatically put me at ease and helped me to feel more confident in feeding my child. She educated me on how to decompress the engorgement and a few positions that worked well for me and my baby.
I have continued to work with her now after 6 weeks, as I continue to have extremely sensitive over-​producing breasts. She has guided me through various types of feeding methods and herbal supplementation so as not to reduce my milk too far, because I will be returning to work in February and will need to start storing my milk. We have also thus far, successfully managed to avoid mastitis (which really is a miracle given my milk production) and severely sore or cracked nipples.
She has been incredibly receptive to my needs, answering many text messages and taking a few calls later in the evening addressing all of my concerns and breast feeding questions.
She is one of the most compassionate and caring providers I have ever met, along with years of experience to support her. I have had her come to my home and have gone to her office (she works with Bayside Medical Group). I have gone from a frustrated mom to an extremely happy mommy and baby that is a breastfeeding pro and has gained almost a pound a week, thanks to Amrit!

Listen up, new parents:
We are from a generation of formula fed babies. Our mothers, aunts, and older friends cannot supply is with critical information about breastfeeding that is not just common sense. We are social animals, and we developed by passing on not only our genes, but our knowledge. And sadly, the generational link has been broken for the knowledge of breastfeeding in America.
Enter the lactation consultant. Amrit helped my first baby (a preemie) with his latch. With my second child, she consulted on the fit and model of my pump. With her help, I didn’t have to give up breastfeeding because of the pain it caused me. With her help, my raw, sore nipples healed, and my supply was not only maintained, but increased.
A million thanks are not enough for Amrit and Bayside Medical.