Jennifer Lisimachio, IBCLC, RLC

Nothing short of amazing. She is my 3^rd lactation consultant– and my last ;) I had so many issues — and she explained each one and came up with a plan to help me. She knows EVERYTHING! she was referred to me by upper breast side and from our first conversation– 20 minutes of help before I was even her patient– I knew I was in the best hands. She told me that one of my supplements was counteracting one of my medications– something the previous 2 consultants missed and no one else had told me. She cared so much and was so thorough! From then on she has only continued to impress me with her deep knowledge of all things breastmilk and baby as well as her caring approach and amazing responsiveness. You can tell she really cares for you (both) oh yea, and my baby loves her! You will be in great hands with Jennifer on your side. Also she takes Aetna– someone previously said she doesn’t accept insurance and that’s no longer the case.

Meeting with Jennifer at Mahala Lactation just several days after getting out of the hospital saved my nursing relationship with my son — I am sure of it. At the hospital, my little boy was diagnosed with a tongue tie and because of the damage done to my nipples, i had to feed with a nipple shield and start pumping immediately. Straight from the hospital, we took our little guy to get his tongue tie released. Soon after, I wanted to meet with an lc to check on progress and help me with latching. After my nipples healed, he was not interested in my breast, and when he did show interest, the latch was still very painful. The first moments with Jennifer, I felt like I was in the hands of a pro. Her office is serene, clean and inviting, and her personality exceptionally warm and reassuring. She immediately advised that the tongue tie was not released enough and that in addition, everyone to date had missed my son’s lip tie. She referred me to a specialist who corrected the tongue tie and performed the lip tie release. In addition, she showed me awesome tips to get my little guy to latch with minimal pain. After his procedures, we met again, and she coached me through an after-​care program to ensure that we minimize the chance of reattachment. Every visit includes a take-​home summary of after care, and she is super responsive via email and text. Finally, she also looks at mommy’s well-​being, asking about your pre-​natal and pregnancy conditions that may need to be monitored. For example, I had a hypo-​thyroid, and Jennifer advised I get a panel of tests to ensure that I am at my best, as well as supplements to strengthen my system while I am breastfeeding. Finally, patients of Mahala Lactation get invited into a private forum with other patients, and not only have I felt supported by these women and their posts in my own breastfeeding journey, but I have also learned a lot from their experiential posts and questions. An all-​around 5 star experience and highly recommended for anyone who wants to make the best decisions on feeding their little one.

Jennifer is an outstanding Lactation Consultant — her descriptions and explanations make everything more clear and what was difficult before, suddenly becomes easy. She is efficient and yet friendly and caring. She covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time while not feeling rushed, and she clearly knows what she is talking about.
Visiting her has been extremely helpful to my daughter and me, and I would certainly return should I need more advise. I would recommend her to my friends in a heartbeat.

I was referred to Jennifer by a lactation consultant in the hospital where I delivered. My son was thought to have a deep posterior tongue tie before we were discharged from the hospital and was evaluated by ENT. I was told that deep posterior tongue tie does not affect breastfeeding, that I should try a nipple shield. If we wanted the tongue tie to be fixed, it would have to be under general anesthesia in an operating room with an overnight admission to the pediatric ICU. Now as a mom that scared me, and as a pediatrician, it did not make sense. I had never heard of a tongue tie being fixed in an operating room. So… I toughed it out for 2 weeks, but the nipple pain worsened. I was almost crying upon latching from the severity of the pain. This was my third child… I nursed the other two for 1.5 years each. I knew something was wrong… but pediatricians, myself included, don’t know much about tongue ties, unless they are «classic».
I called Jennifer and made an appointment at about 3 weeks of age for the baby. I drove 45 minutes from my house to see her because she was highly recommended. Let me tell you. .she did not disappoint! Professional, Personable, Knowledgable!
She did a tongue function test on my son and agreed that there was a deep posterior tongue tie. She also diagnosed a lip tie. She showed me the test as she was doing it so I could understand. She watched me nurse. Taught me how to shape the breast to get it deeper into the baby’s mouth when latching. Explained that it was not my latch that was causing the pain, but rather the tongue tie/​lip tie. She gave me a referral to a reputable laser dentist in central Jersey who took care of both the tongue and lip tie within 5 minutes without any anesthesia! She also emailed me reading material to help me make a decision about the procedure.
48 hours after the procedure she saw us again. Taught me tongue stretches and exercises necessary for proper healing and nursing. She was very flexible with scheduling appointments. Always stayed in touch via text/​email/​phone.
She is wonderful with babies! Holds, cuddles, shushes in a comforting way… even the spitty ones! (Mine is quite spitty). I learned so much from her as a breast feeding mom and breastfeeding supporting pediatrician!
Her office is beautiful. Clean. Stylish. Properly equipped with a scale and changing table. Metered parking outside the building. Parking garage nearby. Oh. and enough space for a stroller.
Go see Jennifer if you are having any problem breastfeeding! You won’t be disappointed!

Jennifer saved me nursing my son. I called Jennifer in a panic after the ped group I was with tossed formula my way and told me I MUST supplement. I received more information in the first five minutes in my meeting with Jennifer than with 3 appointments with the ped. She went through everything she needed to without rushing me and we left much more confident that my 4 day old son was fine and gaining weight perfectly. Could not ask for a more gracious, professional, and compassionate consultant.

Professional, courteous, efficient. Able to diagnose problems quickly, provide fixed and references for other providers as needed with a true opinion as to whether they are good. Speaks French and English which was a plus for me. Very delicate and nurturing with the newborn. A real pleasure to work with.

Jennifer is the best! I reached out to Jennifer after being told by another lactation consultant that my son had tongue tie and needed several interventions in order to be successful with breastfeeding, despite my son gaining good weight. Luckily I met Jennifer who also assessed my son’s anatomy but more importantly assessed function. With her guidance on positioning and technique I realized that I could be successful without the invasive procedures. Jennifer is very knowledgeable and has helped me with all my breastfeeding concerns. She gave me the confidence I need to be successful. Another plus is that she taught me how to use a ring sling which has helped with breastfeeding outside of home.

The best! Super thorough. Recommended to my best friends and sister-​in-​law. They said they wouldn’t have wanted anyone else!

Deserves six stars. You get Jennifer and you get the crème de la crème of lactation consultants. My wife had to be induced early and then had some complications that got him admitted to the NICU of the hospital he was born in and then had to be transferred to another NICU. Being in the NICU for two weeks and this NICU did not have any kind of live in situation for us, my wife was unable to breastfeed our baby immediately and the NICU got him immediately used to the bottle which was a fast flow bottle. Ugh.
After our baby was born and the hospital lactation consultant at Hoboken University was horrible. She was OBSESSED with our baby being tongue tied and made it seem like a painful procedure with a long recovery to fix the tongue tie was all the latest rage and reading off a litany of the who’s who of Hoboken who are all getting their babies tongue tie fixed. Until then, my wife cannot breast feed according to this «lactation consultant.»
When we went to our pediatrician, she took a good strong look at our baby and immediately dismissed the lactation consultant’s claim of being tongue tied. Yes, he was tongue tied, but just slightly and it would not impede his ability to breast feed.
Next up was yet another «lactation consultant» who seemed to be the first one’s partner in crime. Not only was she sitting here talking about her baby for half the time, but then, finally after almost an hour and a half of talking about herself, she finally got to my wife and baby. Two seconds into looking at my baby, once again I hear this crap about my baby being tongue tied and there’s NOTHING my wife can do until he’s clipped and fully recovered. Of course, this has nothing to do with the fact that my wife’s milk supply seemed like it was drying up – for which the lactation consultant had no help for. See my review of this «lactation consultant» for further information.
We went to a different doctor and once again she affirmed that our son was not tongue tied.
My wife remembered a friend from our local synagogue highly recommended Jennifer and with everything going on with our baby, subsequently forgot the recommendation. After facing so many challenges with our baby, we were hopeful that Jennifer could be of help. Be of help? Jennifer was and is AMAZING! Jennifer came over THAT MORNING in the middle of a snowstorm to help my wife not only increase her milk supply but also breastfeed our baby.
Around 10:30 the doorbell rang and in came a tall woman bursting with incredible energy. Her positive attitude was absolutely infectious. While my wife was her client, she immediately went over to our baby who normally hates strangers and won him over in 5 seconds. Then, she went over to my wife and treated my wife as if she was her only client. She did an incredibly thorough physical examination of my wife’s breasts to check for deficiencies and actually found some. She looked at my wife’s blood tests during her pregnancy and suggested she get something new checked that would physically hamper her milk supply. Talking with Jennifer, I felt like was talking with a walking talking lactation EXPERT. Jennifer had a wealth of knowledge and information that is absolutely invaluable. Then, Jennifer went back to our son and gave him a thorough examination, which after being in the NICU for two weeks he was not a fan of anyone examining him. Jennifer was gentle, kind and sweet and our little baby is absolutely smitten with her now.
Jennifer needed to give my wife two weeks of time to get her milk supply back. Once she did, she made a follow-​up visit. When she weighed our baby on her first visit, he weighed just under 7 pounds. In her second visit, he now weighs just under 9 pounds. My wife has been pumping out milk faster than a dairy cow due to our son’s high demand for the white stuff. Now was the time to see if he could latch now that my wife’s milk supply was back. Jennifer walked in the door, quickly weighed our baby (see above) and got to work and in under 5 minutes, our son fully latched on and was getting milk straight from the manufacturer! The smile on my wife’s face could not go away and once again, my son got to interact with Jennifer and is now asking to borrow money so he can send her flowers.
Do not even think about getting another lactation consultant. Jennifer is the best out there. She is incredibly professional, incredibly knowledgeable and overall the experiences we have had with her are very highly praise worthy. No, her services are not covered by insurance, but consider her cost compared to the cost of buying formula at least twice a month for at least a year, combined with the fact that the formula you buy may or may not agree with your baby’s stomach, combined with the fact that your baby may outright reject the formula and you and your baby have to go through this painful process of buying formula and let’s be honest, there’s nothing better for a baby than mommy mil

Jennifer completely turned my baby and I around to be able to thrive and be happy again. I was super stressed and feeling hopeless… by the same evening after Jennifer had worked with us, my baby and I had made a 360 degree turn around. After 3 previous lactation consultants that we found to not be too helpful and we were going downhill fast as far as nursing at breast and milk production, we were lucky to be recommended to Jennifer by someone we knew. Not only was she EXTREMELY knowledgable and very thorough in her examination assessment and follow through during our session, it was also very clear that she has a deep love for her work, and takes true joy in bringing a mother and child together to have everything they require to thrive and progress BOTH bonding and feeding. Not only was I capable and aware/​knowledgable after Jennifer worked with me and educated me on everything needed specifically for whatever little quirks were our issues, she also left me feeling empowered which was a huge deal after all we’d been through.
Our full-​term baby being in the NICU for a week and a half, we’d previously worked with 2 lactation consultants in each of the hospital’s he was in and a third one after who did not help us as my milk continued to deplete and our baby would not latch and nurse. We had just about given up hope and was very concerned as Formula was almost his only option at that point and we had already tried 3 that were painful for him, and were on a 4^th formula and he didn’t like much but at least not painful. We were at a loss how to proceed. My mother’s instincts told me that he couldn’t feed naturally/​instinctively because he’d been through so much at hospital (IV, tubes, spinal tap, all kinds of other tests, etc.) and that we needed help adjusting and learning how to acclimate to each other and also to figure out how to get my depleting milk back before I completely lost it, both my milk and my mind :). The 3^rd lactation consultant completely disregarded me when I tried to discuss all this and was entirely focused on saying he is tongue tied and ignoring all our other issues and needs, and was not particularly caring or thorough. Our pediatrician has pretty solid experience examining for tongue tie and assessed our baby is physically totally capable of feeding and has no level of excessive tongue tie that would impede his feeding… yet we could not seem to find a lactation consultant that wasn’t caught up/​obsessed on the tongue tie.
I could not feel more blessed that we were referred to Jennifer. The business name of «Mahala» could not be more appropriate as Jennifer embodies the spirit of expert help, community spirit, and gentle loving approach in how she works with mother and child. By the end of the week after Jennifer had worked with us, my husband commented to me «ever since Jennifer has been here, you have been a new person, you are so much happier and calmer.» Along with helping mother and child, Jennifer has brought a family together and left peace and love in her wake :-). After all we have been through I appreciate so much more everything we have now, and am unbelievably grateful to Jennifer for helping to educate and empower our family to do so well.

Today I had my first prenatal consultation appointment with Jennifer and she was beyond amazing! Professional and super knowledgable, she was able to give me tons of advice, teach me techniques, and overall get me ready to breastfeed my little girl when she arrives in just over three weeks. I was very nervous about the idea of breastfeeding (dedicated to it but nervous because I don’t have many family members who have done it and limited friends with breastfed babies) and Jennifer answered my questions and stayed with me for two hours going over everything. I feel SO much more prepared to start on this journey and establish such an important relationship with my baby. Before finding Jennifer I had a phone consultation with another lactation consultant and an in person visit with yet another one and found both of them rigid and a bit pushy. On my third try I found Jennifer, who could not be more opposite with her laid back and understanding approach. I definitely plan to use Jennifer again for a postpartum consult when the baby comes home and I highly recommend her services!