Beyond Birth Lactation Consultant Services

Leslie is a totally non judgemental down to earth easy going kind of person: I felt really comfortable around her! I would recommend her to anyone struggling or just needing some support. She has a lot of knowledge and resources!

After the birth of my first child, I felt completely lost when it came to nursing. The lactation consultants that I saw at the hospital were not very helpful, and after I got home, I had a serious issue with engorgement and getting a proper latch.
I found Leslie through Unilocal and gave her a call. She was able to come to my house the very next day (oh my goodness, so appreciated during those first few days with baby), AND she accepted my insurance.
I don’t know what I would have done without her assistance. She helped with my son’s latch, showed me different nursing positions, gave me invaluable tips for healing my cracked nipples, and used a scale to help show how much milk my son was actually getting (that did wonders for calming my anxiety).
I cannot stress enough how much of a difference she made. I am still nursing my son 8 months later because I got her help early on.
I would recommend Leslie to any mom who needs lactation support. I am so grateful that my insurance covered her services 100%, but even if they hadn’t, it would have been worth every penny.

Just sit back and «re-​latch» with Leslie. :) I had a great experience when she came to my rescue. She showed me proper alignment and latch and helped give me the confidence to try laid back and side lying nursing positions. She knows her stuff! She comes to your home which is invaluable during the first weeks after delivery. She helped me with pumping issues as well and can supply «Pumpin Pals» flanges which are way better than the ones that come with most pumps. Oh, and she accepts insurance. I highly recommend if you are having any kind of breastfeeding issues! You will be pumped afterward and won’t be let down (ok I know I was milking it but I’m done with my breastfeeding jokes)

Leslie was super helpful and made me feel very comfortable! I am a second-​time mom and had expected nursing to go smoothly this time– not so! I appreciated how she was super knowledgeable and was able to mention studies and the like to support the things she said. She gave me tools, tips and tricks to make it through the rough part of healing and helping my son gain weight and was there for support every step of the way! She is also a great listener!
Her professionalism was incredible too – my pediatrician was so thrilled with Leslie’s plan for us that they let us go further between weight checks and even let us «call in» to share his weight (we rented a scale and checked it at home!) to see if we needed to come in yet again.
In the process of having nursed my daughter for 20 months and now with a newborn I’ve seen no less than seven lactation consultants (not counting nurses with lactation training) and Leslie is BY FAR my favorite. I am SO glad I contacted her! I know you will be too!

Leslie is amazing! After an extremely painful first week breastfeeding, due to shallow latching problems and a lip tie, we called Leslie to see if she could help. By recommending different positions and bringing an aura of warmth and calm with her, she really helped us to hit reset and finally get a few nursing sessions that were pain-​free. Her first house visit gave me the hope and encouragement that I needed to soldier forward during the next few rough weeks of healing and practicing, and it was wonderful to be able to text and call her with questions. I could not believe she had us nursing better within the hour. Leslie is super professional and knowledgeable. It did take weeks of patience, healing, trying, and pumping, but we gradually ramped up the amount of breastfeeding we could do, and now we are doing great. My baby has gone from fussing at the breast to nursing all the time, while getting fat and happy and climbing up the growth chart percentages. Thankfully, we were able to resolve issues just with practice and adjusting positions, using gravity and the baby’s natural reflexes to help get better latches. I asked Leslie to come back to give some additional tips after I had healed enough to try some other techniques, including feeding the baby from inside a sling wrap. Leslie has provided invaluable guidance on establishing a solid and ample milk supply, healing from the early days of struggle, local and online breastfeeding resources, and great products for breastfeeding mothers, many of which she can give you a sample of or sell to you. She can also rent you just about any piece of equipment you might want. My only regret is that I wish I had met with Leslie BEFORE heading to the hospital. If I had the information about biological nursing and the laid back positions BEFORE starting to initiate breastfeeding, I’m sure I could have saved myself a lot of pain and agony. But it all has worked out, and now I wouldn’t trade my breastfeeding cuddle sessions with my baby for anything.

I worked with Leslie Stern of Beyond Birth Lactation and she was super helpful and caring and helped me feel more confident and comfortable with nursing and lets me text her with random questions as needed. She doess home visits and lives in Durham but will go anywhere in the triangle area. Her tips made pumping go from painful to bearable and helped me increase my milk supply.

From my wife: «Leslie was an IMMENSE help for me when breastfeeding; she is extremely knowledgeable and resourceful. Leslie was my second lactation consultant as the first one could not figure out what was happening with me and baby. Leslie was always available for appointments, emails, phone calls and text messages which is extremely helpful when you are having pain breastfeeding. Our breastfeeding problems were not the most obvious or common and Leslie continued to look for an answer. Once we figured out my issue, it was also a huge help for me to understand so I didnt feel like a failure. Leslie is very professional, supportive, positive and great at what she does. I highly recommend Leslie to anyone who wants a lactation consultant for any reason!»

Leslie is fantastic. Every expecting mother should have her number on hand.
I successfully breastfed my first child and thought I knew everything I needed to know about breastfeeding when I was pregnant with my second. Once she was born and we were home from the hospital, I knew that something wasn’t quite right with her latch. I kept working on it but, wasn’t able to get it right. Then, when we went for her 1 month checkup, she hadn’t gained as much weight as she should have. I was panicked and went to a LLL meeting for help. It was there that a meeting leader suggested Leslie.
Leslie came to my house a few days later and spent a lot of time watching me nurse and helping with the latch and making really good, thoughtful suggestions. She took her time with us and she was wonderful. She gave me some suggestions and also said that she thought the baby may be tongue tied. Lactation consultants in the hospital and the baby’s pediatrician never noticed this or mentioned the possibility. We were scheduled to go back for another weight check in a week so Leslie recommended two ENTs and even called and made an appointment for me while still at my house. The ENT saw us the very next day and confirmed that the baby was tongue tied. Once she was clipped (Leslie was right — not traumatic at all), nursing was much better. At the next weigh in, the baby had gained plenty of weight and she hasn’t stopped gaining since. Leslie followed up with me multiple times in the week after our visit and I could tell that she genuinely cared and was invested in seeing me succeed.
Nursing can be hard and new moms can be fully of worry for their baby and doubt in their ability to successfully breastfeed. Leslie helped me remain calm, put the doctor’s concerns in perspective, and she gave me the tools I needed to confidently breastfeed my baby.
Her help was priceless!!!

I work as a birth doula and have referred several clients to Leslie. They have all been very pleased with her skills, patience, compassion and support. I love that she will go to their home, since it is so difficult to get out of the house with a newborn.