Sessions with Milk Stories always include dual scopes as both lactation consultants and occupational therapists, and typically last longer than a traditional lactation visit to also include things like positioning and ergonomics, infant development, nervous system regulation, and caregiver wellness — all through a therapeutic lens. Our holistic, evidence-based approach allows us to understand the unique relationship between you and your baby, identify root causes of feeding issues and developmental delays, and create customized solutions that support your goals.

Milk Stories offers a holistic, integrated approach combining Infant Feeding Therapy, Lactation Consulting, and Occupational Therapy. As infant and maternal health occupational therapists and lactation consultants, we focus on supporting not just your baby, but you as a lactating/feeding parent as well. Infant feeding and development goals involve the whole parent–baby dyad, requiring active participation from both you and your baby or caregiver. Using a parent-partnership model, we’ll collaborate closely on a personalized care plan and playful, practical home exercises that strengthen your bond and development while meeting your goals.

We can begin to support parents with feeding goals prenatally. While we would love to support development and your journey as it unfolds forever, our expertise is for development from birth through the first year of life. We can support breastfeeding and lactation until weaning.

We ask that all new families fill out a request form so we can get a good idea of your goals and what services you are searching for. Your form will be thoroughly reviewed and we will reach out via text and email with next steps.

We try our best to accommodate families as soon as possible. Appointment availability is subject to provider schedules and appointment type. In general, we are able to offer appointments within 1 to 2 weeks from the initial request.

Yes, your insurance may cover lactation services at Milk Stories. We are currently partnered with The Lactation Network (TLN) and Wildflower to provide in-network services to families who carry certain insurance plans. This vastly decreases the out-of-pocket cost of support. If you’d like to seek reimbursement from your insurance, we will provide you with a superbill — a detailed receipt including procedure codes and provider information that you can submit directly to your insurance company. Head over to our Insurance page for details on verifying your benefits and learning about your options.

An IBCLC has met the highest training and certification requirements to become a professional who specializes in and supports breastfeeding and lactation. They must be board certified, having passed an exam to practice, and continue to take professional development to improve and keep their expertise up to date. An IBCLC can support both typical and complex components of breastfeeding and lactation. The credential is issued by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) and is the only standardized, internationally recognized certification in the clinical management of breastfeeding.

We support lactation and breastfeeding goals from pregnancy (or even before!) through weaning. That includes painful or shallow latch, low or oversupply, recurring mastitis, tongue- or lip-tie and recovery after release, nipple shield use or weaning, exclusive pumping, flange fitting, combo feeding, bottle introduction, and returning to work. As occupational therapists and certified lactation professionals, we care for both the breastfeeding parent and the baby in a holistic, evidence-based manner.

Occupational therapy is an allied healthcare service that supports the performance of everyday tasks and activities. For babies and parents, this includes feeding, sleeping, playing, bonding, toileting, elimination, and self-care among other things. Occupational therapists are trained to break down individual tasks into components, which allows us to determine what might be making them challenging and then how to approach the task with the “just right challenge” to make independence, function, participation, and enjoyment easier than it has been. Occupational therapy is not a quick fix and we do not work in isolation with you. We thoroughly evaluate each component that goes into the task and will create an Action Plan together based on what we think can be supported first toward reaching your goals.

Your baby might benefit from OT if, for one reason or another, they’re unable to fully or comfortably participate in the activities they need or want to do — this could be feeding, playing, interacting, elimination, or even just regulating their body’s systems and states.

Occupational therapy uses activities including movement, sensory stimulation, bodywork, reflexes, and other modalities therapeutically to help babies access function, engage, and move in a way that helps them do those things comfortably and to the best of their abilities. It also looks at the environment and context around the activity — a big-picture view — to fully support them outside of treatment.

Working with babies builds the building blocks they need to use movement, function, and engagement for the rest of their lives to access meaningful activities, especially play and feeding.

If you think your baby could use specialized support doing the things they need to live their best lives and happiest selves, we’d love to see them for an evaluation. Start by filling out a request form here.

Infant feeding therapy is specialized support provided by an occupational therapist (OT) or speech-language pathologist (SLP) with advanced training in infant feeding. Our providers are licensed occupational therapists with extensive training in infant development and feeding. We partner closely with your family to uncover the underlying reasons for your baby’s feeding challenges. Our approach is holistic, addressing breastfeeding, bottle feeding, alternative feeding methods, and introducing solids. Together, we’ll create an individualized plan to make feeding easier, less stressful, and more enjoyable for both you and your baby.

Bodywork includes a variety of skilled methods to passively influence anatomical structures (bones, fascia, muscles, tendons) or systems (nervous system, digestive system).

Babies, parents and caregivers can benefit from these modalities to improve nervous system and sensory regulation, reduce body tension, increase circulation, and toward general health and well-being.

As an occupational therapist and Certified Educator of Infant Massage (CEIM), Jessica uses massage and bodywork in combination with other therapeutic techniques toward functional goals and as an education tool to teach parents and caregivers skills they can use for a lifetime.

Infant massage and bodywork techniques are integrated into infant feeding therapy and occupational therapy sessions.

The first visit is considered an evaluation and lasts roughly 90 minutes. We’ll take a look at how feeding and general development is going, as well as what is most comfortable and do-able for you. We’ll start with a thorough review of your baby’s medical history (and yours when relevant) and assess oral motor skills, movement, regulation, feeding abilities, posture, body tension, and coordination. If you’re breastfeeding/lactating, we’ll also review your own medical history, evaluate your milk supply, and complete a breast assessment. We may make some adjustments, talk about recommendations, and create an Action Plan together based on what we think can be supported first toward reaching your goals. We’ll begin intervention immediately, practicing evidence-based strategies together during the session. By the next day, you’ll receive a detailed care plan and customized home exercise program — including helpful notes, photos, videos, and resources — so you feel fully supported moving forward.

The length of care varies widely depending on your goals, where you’re starting, and how consistently you’re able to carry out the Action Plan at home between visits. In general we see clients between 1 and 6+ appointments, and many continue treatment as development and your feeding journey changes over time. As IBCLCs, we are able to address many acute issues right away. As occupational therapists, we are able to follow the development of a baby, parent, and process as it changes, often supporting new things as they naturally crop up. Families who consistently practice at home typically see steady progress. Creating change in feeding and toward milestones can be tough work! If you or your baby reaches a plateau or needs more specialized support, we may recommend collaborating with or referring to another provider to ensure your family gets the exact care you need.

Yes! We offer home visits depending on provider travel radius and availability, with a $75 travel fee for each in-home visit.

Jessica sees babies over 6 weeks of age or those outside of her home visit radius at our office, located at 1900 Steamboat Springs Cove, Austin, TX 78746. She sees babies under 6 weeks and on a case-by-case basis within her travel radius covering parts of South, Southwest, and Central Austin.

Maya offers home visits for infant feeding and lactation support for families in Lakeway, Bee Cave, Dripping Springs, Southwest Austin, and surrounding areas based on availability. At this time, Maya sees cash-pay clients only.

Yes, we encourage you to bring anyone who is supporting your family and helping to care for your baby to your appointment. We take a family- and dyad-centered approach to treatment, and we want you to be successful integrating changes at home in between visits so you can get the best outcomes for yourself and your baby. Keep in mind our space is fairly small. There is comfortable space for two caregivers — more than that can get a bit tight, but we will accommodate.

Depending on the nature and goals of your appointment, please bring the following:

• The bottle and nipple you are currently using
• Any bottles or nipples you would like to try during the appointment
• At least 1 ounce of expressed breastmilk and/or formula

• A food you feel comfortable offering your child
• At least one food your child can self-feed

• Any feeding pillows, supports, or equipment you typically use to feed comfortably

• Your pump and pump parts
• Your current flanges

Prenatal sessions can be in clinic, virtual, or in-home, last about 60 minutes, and include:

• Feeding basics and education tailored to your goals
• Review of your health history
• A custom feeding plan for the early days after birth
• A chance to practice positioning, ask questions, and get answers
• Scheduling your postpartum follow-up visit (in-person, usually in your first week home)

Keep in mind prenatal appointments are designed to be individualized and set you up for success once your baby arrives. They are most helpful as a supplement to a general breastfeeding class — if you’d like a recommendation for a breastfeeding course, we’d be happy to provide one. Jessica teaches both a Breastfeeding and a Bottlefeeding + Pumping class for parents about every 6 weeks at Austin Yoga Lounge. You can find more information on our website here. We generally recommend scheduling the prenatal visit about 4 weeks before your due date.

In most cases, yes. Whether you’re navigating a painful latch, low milk supply, tongue- or lip-tie, nipple shield use, supplementing, returning to work, or rebuilding a nursing relationship after a rocky start, we’ll evaluate both you and your baby and build a personalized plan that fits your goals — including comfort measures and strategies you can begin using right away.

Bottle refusal has many causes, and the success and time it takes depends on the baby’s age, why they are not taking the bottle in the first place, their skills and ability to take a bottle, and how much you are able to work on strategies and support at home. In general, babies younger than 8–10 weeks who are able to use reflexes to drink have success quicker. Babies older than 8–10 weeks take a slower, baby-led approach.

It is important to have a comfortable flange fit because it is the part of the breast pump that directly comes in contact with the breast and nipple. Ill-fitted and too-large flanges can put the pumper at increased risk of mastitis, skin breakdown, narrowed (plugged) ducts, and general discomfort when pumping. Older guidance recommended sizing your flange based on the diameter of your nipple, but recent research shows fit is far more individual than that — many parents pump more comfortably and with better output in sizes smaller than the standard recommendation, and different anatomy benefits from different shapes and materials.

Think of a flange fitting like a shoe fitting: you don’t know how comfortable the shoe is until you try it on and walk around. It would be hard to have every flange out there on hand at home and a waste of resources and money. Luckily, we have a library of flanges available to try. During a fitting, you pump while trying different types and sizes of flanges to determine best comfort, output, and efficiency. We do carry some flanges and connectors in our office to make it easy for you to go home with the one we fitted you with right away.

On average, babies begin attempts to roll around 4 months of age. They become competent and consistent around 6 months of age. If your baby is older than 4 months and has made no attempts to roll, or your baby is older than 6 months and is not rolling reliably, they would benefit from an occupational therapy evaluation to determine how we can support them to get them on track.

While the CDC removed crawling from its standardized milestone checklist in 2022, that doesn’t mean crawling isn’t important. Crawling is a meaningful developmental step that teaches reciprocal (cross-pattern) movement, builds core engagement, and develops weight-bearing through extended arms and knees — all building blocks for walking, climbing, fine motor coordination, and visual-motor integration later on.

Most babies emerge into hands-and-knees crawling between 7 and 10 months, with the typical midpoint around 8 months. That said, every baby’s path looks a little different — some skip traditional crawling, some scoot, some bear-crawl. What matters more is how your baby is moving: are they exploring, weight-bearing symmetrically on both sides, rotating, and building strength? If movement feels stuck, asymmetric, or delayed, an occupational therapy evaluation can pinpoint why and help us support them to get moving.

Honestly, the more useful question is what’s biologically normal for infant sleep. Night waking is biologically normal — it’s not a sign that something is wrong or that you’ve created a bad habit. A large study found that 27.9–57% of 6- and 12-month-olds did not sleep through the night (using a 6- or 8-hour definition), with no association between sleeping through and later mental development, motor development, or maternal mood (Pennestri et al., 2018). Babies who slept through did, however, breastfeed at much lower rates. A baby who wakes to feed is doing exactly what their body is designed to do.

Research by biological anthropologist Dr. James McKenna and the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame backs this up — short sleep cycles, light sleep, and night feeds support brain development, regulate breathing, and maintain milk supply. They’re features of healthy infant biology, not problems to fix.

That said, if your baby’s sleep is disrupting their ability to participate in activities during the day, or your own sleep quality and wellbeing, we can work together on a plan to support better quality rest for both of you.