She is friendly but not a good fit for me. She is on the extreme side of holistic care. She recommended that I do not consume gluten, dairy, or sugar. She also recommended that I take my newborn to a chiropractor and a dentist. I talked to my predication and another lactation consultant and they said my baby is fine (does not have tongue and lip tie) and does not need to see a chiropractor or dentist. Another thing is her electronic documentation system did not work when I was there in November. I had to fill out and upload several forms (some twice because they did not upload correctly) but when I arrived for my appointment the forms were not online and I had to fill them out again. The system sent me a bill on December 18th and it was due on December 18th. I got a big red overdue notice on December 22nd (less than a week later). After I left my review, she sent the below email. I retract my statement that she is friendly. "Hi Amanda, I provided the best care of my knowledge. I'm not perfect since I'm not God. It doesn't mean that ungrateful mothers should go around defaming other people because they are not happy with themselves and their life. I wonder if was you on the other side of the coin how would you feel? Do you it has a human being here? I hope your breastfeeding is going well. Sincerely, Carolina" read more

Under the guidance of this professional, every mother can be sure of the safety and joy of you and your baby. We know that when a baby is happy, the whole family is happy. And so I would like to thank you Carolina for taking care that from the moment of delivery I could breastfeed my son. For your guidance, caring and patience with us, for encouraging and motivating me in the most difficult hours that were not few. Breastfeeding is a learning process for the mother and the baby, and having the guidance of a professional like Carolina was fundamental to our success. Thanks to this professional who loves what she does and is always updating, today my son is protected because it feeds exclusively on my milk. He is gaining weight correctly and the time to breastfeed is a unique moment of affection and joy for me and for him read more

I knew breastfeeding wasn't going to be easy but the difficulty I was having I was sure was not normal. I found Carolina just searching online, it was easy to get an appointment with her. After the initial appointment, I admit I was overwhelmed with how much I didn't know about breastfeeding. The info she gave me helped understand about lip and tongue tie the doctors I'd spoken to made it seem more of a cosmetic procedure but the more I looked into it the more I knew it was a real issue. I was good to have someone else understand that it was something that would really effect my child's growth and positive breastfeeding experience . We ended up having the tongue and lip tie revisions at the recommendation of Carolina and it has made a night and day difference in the success of breastfeeding for us. That along with how to position baby while feeding really helped. Carolina was upfront with her fees and made sure that we had a copy of all the info by sending it via email as well as sending her report to our pediatrician. I also went to the group in Columbia and it was great to chat with other breastfeeding moms and their babies to swap advice on all things new mom related. His is great for moms in all situations not only the stay-at-home variety but back- to- work- too- soon moms like me too. read more

Breastfeeding did not come naturally to me or my son. When we first came home from the hospital, we had another iblc lined up to help get us on track. This other iblc canceled on me last moment, did not do a thorough evaluation of my son and I and did not answer my questions and follow ups ( either no response or 6+ days to tell me she would 'look into it') and her fee was a surprise at the end and quite expensive since out visit was mostly me listening to her talk about herself. Needless to say it wasn't helpful and as a newly postpartum first time mom, I was overwhelmed, sleep deprived and in pain struggling to nurse my newborn. I felt discouraged and was on the brink of giving up on breastfeeding. Then I found Carolina. I called carolina at my wits end on a Saturday. She scheduled to come the next morning--a Sunday. Upfront, she directed me to her website to let me know what to say to my insurance to try and get the visit covered. I lucked out and had Aetna which Carolina could bill directly. The first thing my husband and I noticed was how professional Carolina carried herself. After introductions, she listened to the struggles my husband and I were having getting our baby to breastfeed and then did a very thorough evaluation of my newborn's mouth, positioning, and body alignment. She also evaluated my breasts and nipples and how the baby attempted to latch on. After figuring out what our issues were (and there were a lot- over supply, fast letdown, tongue tie, lip tie, mild torticollis, reflux, etc) she got down to business explaining each issue and things we can try and do to help correct them. She made sure both my husband and I understood the techniques when we did them and never seemed bothered when we would ask her to show us again or repeat herself. She gave us recommendations for ent and dds doctors to correct the tongue and lip ties and suggestions for craniosacral therapists to help with the bodywork my son needed. Once the visit was over, she gave us a folder with handouts of the things we spoke about and a sense that i could and would be able to exclusively breastfeed like I wanted. She followed up quickly with copies of everything we spoke about on 'box'. Box is a secure online site where she could keep in touch and stay within hippa guidelines. In box, she kept in contact with me and was able to tweak or offer more suggestions and gave me activities to do with my son to help our breastfeeding relationship. Box was especially helpful since once Carolina walked out our door quite a bit of the knowledge left with her in my sleep deprived state. Box offered a place where I could look things back up to refresh my memory. Overall, I would highly recommend Carolina of Mindfulness Lactation to any new mom planning on breastfeeding. She also runs a 1x a month breastfeeding cafe in Columbia where expectant, new and breastfeeding moms get together to support one another. My son and I have definitely benefitted from our experiences and were able to hit our 6 month goal of exclusively breastfeeding before offering solids. I know this goal was met from the help we received from Carolina. read more

I attended a breastfeeding group meet up hosted by Mindfulness Lactation. I enjoyed it and will attend again. It was very helpful to meet others and share experiences with an IBCLC present. read more

I did not have a good experience with Carolina. She gave me incorrect medical information about my baby (which was quite upsetting). She also completely overwhelmed me, making me want to give up breastfeeding altogether. Finally she was deceptive in her charges for the session, failing to mention hidden charges until the END of my session & charging me almost $100 extra. I absolutely do not trust her & would not recommend her. read more

This business is not closed. I'm guessing the owner does not want any more poor reviews so it is being listed as closed. Unfortunately I had a similar experience to Melissa H. I found Mindfulness Lactation through my insurance company as the only in-network provider for lactation counseling. I spoke to her and was able to get an appointment for a couple days later and explained my need for an appointment was based on my pain-baby was fine. I was emailed A TON of forms to fill out (many which did not pertain to my situation since my son was 1) but I filled them all out anyway. When we arrived at the "office" it was a tiny room in the basement of her home. Since some of the forms did not go through to her, I again had to sit there and fill out these forms on an iPad that was not working properly-all while trying to handle my 1 year old and 4 year old in this tiny space while I'm in pain! To summarize the visit, she knew my reason for coming but then pretty much told me she couldn't do anything other than what I already had been doing for myself at home because she is not a doctor! She spent more time examining my son (who had no issue). I had to take all of his clothes off on the floor of this office and try to hold him down for her to look at him! She then proceeded to tell me multiple things that were wrong with my son including his latch, tongue, skin, etc even though he had been nursing from birth with no problems! Then she proceeded to tell me that I had medical/hormonal problems as well. I was there for 2 painful hours! It was a very upsetting appointment and I cried on my drive home not knowing what was going on! I ended up having to go to my OB who cured my problem with ointment in 4 days and told me I did not have these problems she spoke of. I also had my son evaluated by a physician and he does not have any of the issues she stated! Lastly Carolina has been very difficult to work with regarding insurance. Like I stated, I found her through my insurance and triple checked that I would be covered for lactation counseling. She ended up charging me a double claim for both me and my son and then when I contacted her to see why, she threatened me with sending a collection agency after me if she did not receive payment for my son's claim in the next 10 days. She had received payment for my claim already. I spoke to my insurance company that confirmed I should not pay and should not have been charged for two claims. As a mother I thought that a lactation consultant would be understanding and helpful but instead this was a frustrating, upsetting and maddening experience. I would not recommend Mindfulness Lactation services and must say I would be hesitant to ever seek help from a lactation consultant again! read more

I should have read lori's review. Exact same thing happened to me. She charged twice for my son and I (Four service charges total with two appointments). I ended up with over $300 out of pocket charges AFTER Insurance coverage (Aetna) because she billed for the additional charges (new patient fees, in home visit). This is totally out of the normal LC fees and I find this unacceptable. Im currently appealing the charges via insurance company and this is the last thing I want to deal with now - I have a newborn to take care of! Personally I did not find her services to be too helpful either. During my second visit, she measured my son's weight incorrectly and told me he lost the weight which was very distressing to me at the time as he was struggling to put on weight. I had told her that's not possible because we have a scale at home. When she re-measured him, it turns out he gained weight. I cannot speak for others but my experience in overall was not pleasurable. read more