A few months ago, a mom came to see me with a baby who could not breastfeed well. She had reflux and did not sleep well either. The mom was depressed and like many times, I was the last stop in a line of many practitioners. Here is her testimony:
I reached out to Kate when my second daughter, A., was four weeks old. I had consulted our pediatricians, dentist, and multiple lactation specialists for help with our breastfeeding issues, and had attempted two separate tongue tie revisions with no noticeable impact. In our first appointment, Kate pinpointed the root of our issues, which began in utero with prolonged fetal malpositioning, resulting in muscle and fascial compression and cesarean birth (and torticollis and tongue and jaw issues that made breastfeeding difficult and painful for both of us).
Kate's expertise and advice, both with addressing my baby's unusually complex physical needs (which required intensive bodywork over a period of four months) and helping me to soothe and connect with her, have been unbelievable important to our family. She pursued every possible treatment avenue while designing a care plan for my daughter, including consultation with an international professional network of CST practitioners and traveling out of state for training in a new technique she believed could (and did) produce a treatment breakthrough. Between appointments, Kate reached out with questions about A.'s progress and what I was noticing at home.
When I first met Kate, I was struggling to meet A.'s physical needs and connect with her emotionally. I was overwhelmed by a fussy, "high-needs" baby who seemed miserable much of the time. Thanks to Kate's skill and persistence, both with CST and with coaching me in how to connect with my baby, I was able to return to work knowing that our bond was strong enough to weather that transition, and at ten months old A. is still breastfeeding.
I cannot recommend Kate enthusiastically enough; she is highly skilled, deeply empathic, and committed to doing all she can to serve mothers and babies. I am wholly grateful for her and her work, and she has been an inestimable blessing to our family.
~from Casey Graham Baber, Charlottesville