Julia Denniston – Lactation Consultant

Julia is SO SO SO wonderful, helpful, sweet, and knowledgable. After leaving the hospital and having supplement and pump after each feeding I was hitting my breaking point. She came in and gave us the tools we needed to relax and build up my milk supply. Now I’m exclusively breast feeding, pumping only when I want a supply in the fridge, and every one is sleeping more! She follows up the day after the session by phone call and is available for questions via text and email. I can’t say enough good things about her!

I’m Dr. Vogel’s patient and a week after delivering my second son via C-​section I showed up with raw nipples to see Dr. V. She suggested seeing Julia, and I can’t say enough good things about her!
Julia is like a bundle of comfort, great advice, recommendations, understanding and solutions you can’t find anywhere else. It’s one thing to read up and watch videos but it’s totally different having her show you how to make it work. I breastfed my first born for 2 months and hated every second of it. With this one, I’m loving the experience! I know my son is getting the best nutrition! I owe so much to Julia, thank you so much for your time and experience.

Julia helped me about 2.½ years ago. Don’t know why I haven’t written this review earlier… By the end of week 1 of breastfeeding I was ready to give up — my son wasn’t latching well, and I was in a ton of pain (cracked, bleeding nipples, etc). I was dreading each feeding… Long story short, I called Julia on a Saturday, and she was able to come within just a few hours. Within just one visit she made a big difference, and I continued breastfeeding for 16 months. I highly recommend her to anyone who is in need of help when it comes to breastfeeding.

Julia came to my rescue right after I had my baby and she was unable to latch. She literally dropped everything and showed up at my house after our little one had cried for 12 hours because she was unable to eat. She proceeded to help us through the next 8 weeks as we graduated from different ways to feed her (syringe, nipple shields, pumping and bottles). She was encouraging and always answered my questions (which there were many!). I’m thrilled that we kept with it and my little one gained all of her weight back quickly and is thriving. We exclusively breastfeed now and I never had to give her formula. I can’t recommend Julia enough for anyone that is trying to get the hang of breastfeeding as she gave me the confidence and support I needed at a really tough time.

After giving birth and struggling with my son’s slow weight gain, I called Julia for an in home consult. I was reluctant to contact a lactation consultant after attending a horrendous breastfeeding class by another lactation consultant – AKA breastfeeding Nazi and leaving in tears.
Julia came to my house and was able to weigh the baby before and after his feed to see how much milk he was taking in and helped with a feeding plan. She went over a complete medical intake with me which helped reveal some of the reasons for my low milk supply (and solutions).
Her consult was not cheap, but invaluable. The best part for me was the follow up. The early days of breastfeeding your brain can be in a fog, so it is great that Julia is available by phone or email after the initial consult. I’ve had to call her a few times for additional questions/​advice and she has been very prompt with follow up. She has even taken the time to email me medical articles on issues I have been concerned with.
Great job, Julia! Thanks for your help!

Julia Denniston visited us in the hospital at Alta Bates on the last day of our stay to help us with our breastfeeding issues. We were struggling with my milk not having come in yet and the baby having trouble with latching. She was extremely knowledgeable and spent the necessary time with us to troubleshoot and figure out a solution with us. Several nurses, our midwife, and another lactation counselor all had tried to help us and gave us all sorts of advice and hands-​on attempts, but it wasn’t until she showed up that our baby was able to latch on properly for the first time.
Given how helpful she was in the hospital, we scheduled a home visit with her the following week through her private consultation services (at an hourly rate). Things were going better, but they certainly could still use improvement. Julia was prompt, organized, and efficient. She showed up right on schedule, brought her own baby scale and had all the potential equipment that we might need on hand. She helped us troubleshoot what other factors might be contributing to the difficulties (e.g. found out one of my medications could be a cause of my initial low milk supply) and how to address each of them (starting on Fenugreek). Then we went through an entire breastfeeding session where she helped us with positioning and techniques. Julia was constantly talking throughout the session, sharing her wealth of information and even covering potential questions we might encounter in the future (e.g. green breastmilk is normal if you have a lot of spinach).
By the time we were done, we were assured that we were on the right track, how to proceed, had all our questions answered, and had experienced the smoothest breastfeeding session up to that point. Julia followed up with an email to me, my midwife, and our baby’s pediatrician that described the issues we were having, a lactation care plan, and a follow-​up phone call 24 hours later. Julia provided the perfect balance of warmth and thoroughness, not being pushy (unlike some of the «lactation Nazis» I’ve heard about). We are eternally grateful that we found her and would highly recommend her to anyone that needs some (or lots of) help with getting started with breastfeeding or is experiencing any frustrating with breastfeeding, she’ll fix it! She is just amazing.