Sharon and Jack

11/13/2024

When we interviewed Kaylen, she was warm and filled us confidence and we immediately knew she was the right choice for us. She answered all our questions knowledgeably, and even knew specifics about many local hospitals. Prior to birth we had two pre-birthing classes with her which helped us to make informed decisions.

When labor started, we texted Kaylen, telling her that contractions were becoming more intense and frequent. She was able to assess we were not in true labor, and then told us she would check in on us throughout the night into the next day. Kaylen was right, and contractions did not become more regular until the next day. When true labor started, she traveled to our apartment to help manage labor pains. Her presence ensured that this period was calm and manageable, and even recommended that we nap before contractions picked up. Only when she determined that it was time to head to the hospital did we leave. We were in good spirits and felt ready. Upon arrival the hospital, staff determined that we were already 6cm dilated! 

Kaylen stayed with us at the hospital through what would have been an extraordinarily lonely night. She presented choices for birthing positions, and ways to help the labor progress. Without her we would have felt lost, and very scared. She ensured that both of us were engaged and supported. Her confidence in knowing where we were in labor, and the choices we had, helped to keep us informed and make the best possible choices. She noticed that we were ready to push even before the medical staff, and went to get them for us. Once they came in, it was a whirlwind of activity, but Kaylen was right there with us providing her calm and steady presence. Another 30 minutes later we welcomed our son into the world. Kaylen stayed with us until we were able to breastfeed and settled.

We belive she was instrumental in helping us to have a positive experience and could not recommend her more!

Marcela

10/30/2024

I found Kaylen in the DoulaMatch net after I took a course from NYU hospital "preparing for birth" they suggested the website and I scroll through different profiles till I find Kaylen. What I'm trying to make notice is that I went in blind, but as soon as I read her description I heard her words, and I kenw it that she will be the right match for us. My husband and I, we are from Argentina, we were alone here in NYC so we knew that we want a person to accompany us, understands our goal to bring our preciuos baby to the world. We did a zoom call to talk and we didn't doubt it a second we just said we want you to help us, guide us, in this process, and of course it was a plus that she is a native speaker. From the first moment, we feel listened, we sense her kindness, comprehension and also she guide us very well to all the process with a lot of information that she provides us through every meeting and the material that she submit after every class so we could re-read and also make prints of importants things to have in mind. When the moment arrives, Kaylen was there by my side helping me to breath, assisting me with massages, becuase at the beggining I was planning a non medicated birth. But because of I got an induction, the waves of pain were so hard that I ended up asking for epidural. Even though she was always supporting every decision that I made, very kindly. I remember her also holding my hand during the pushes, encouranging me, empowering me. I will be always thankful for that, and I always remember that moments, and of course I will call her right away if a second baby will come. If you are looking for a doula, here you will find the right one, but also if you are looking for a mother, a sister, a friend, here she is, I felt that way. Thanks Kaylen.

Jenna Higueras

9/24/2024

Where do I even begin.... Kay honestly saved me. From educating my husband and I as first time parents, supporting me during a very difficult birth resulting in an emergency c-section, and post-partum (basically therapy) sessions at our home, Kay served as a constant comforting guide through some pretty rough times. Not only is the breadth of her knowledge incredibly wide, her ability to deliver that with such kindness might be even more impressive. I couldn't recommend her more for any stage of your motherhood journey. 

Caroline Black

9/23/2024

Kaylen was "the best decision" we could have made. As a first time (immigrant) mom, with no immediately family in the country/city, I knew we needed extra support in the first months of our parenthood. 

Kaylen provieed a very holistic care for us. She was my counsellor, my physical aid (helping to bind me), helping me breastfeed and use my pump, would cook us nutritious and delicious meals, help us stay on top of chores as I recovered, and most importantly: helped us understand and read our baby's cues.

She has exceptional childcare knowledge, drawing on a lot of experience in US and European hospitals, working with parents from all socio-economical strata and backgrounds, and children at various developmental stages and needs.

Kaylen would gently offer tips and pratical advice (like soothing a newborn) or show us how to use our carriers/stroller. She explained key phases of childhood development in a manageable and not overwhelming way. She helped me and my husband build a lot of confidence as new parents which resonated as a lot of people were "surprised" at how relaxed we seemed. 

Kaylen has a gentle and calm energy - so much so that our timid cat took to Kaylen immediately. She was a much needed presence in our lives and cannot recommend her high enough. 

Stephanie

9/21/2024

We can’t recommend Kaylen enough! From the very start, she was an incredible source of knowledge, guiding us through every step of caring for our newborn. Her educational approach gave us so much confidence, but what really stood out was her calming demeanor. She instantly made us feel comfortable and at ease, which was so important, especially as new parents. Leaving our baby with her overnight felt like the most natural decision, knowing they were in such capable and gentle hands. We are so grateful for her care and support!

Soha Yasrebi

9/18/2024

Kaylen's presence during the birth process was a blessing. She was extremely calm and provided us with the support we exactly needed. She gave us comfort and valuable information during important moments and was super helpful during my worst contractions. She also gave us great resources all throughout the process, even in the post partum period. We're very grateful for Kaylen!

Sara Washington

9/15/2024

Kaylen was my doula for my daughter'a birth and I would highly recommend her to anyone. Kaylen is extremely supportive, empathetic, calming, professional and knowledgeable. She educated my husband and I ahead of labor and delivery and helped us make informed decisions during my 36 hour labor. She was there for the entirety of the 2.5 day labor and ensured I was comfortable and taken care of throughout. I am not sure I could have labored for as long as I did without Kaylen's support and encouragement. Both my husband and I were so grateful we had Kaylen to support us before, after and during labor. 

Rachel

2/27/2024

We had the extremely good fortune to connect with Kaylen about 8 months into our pregnancy journey and I am so grateful that we found her. I knew I wanted Kaylen as my doula because of the depth of her practical experience (300+ deliveries), her expertise in early child development and her warm and caring demeanor.We chose to work with Kaylen both as our birthing doula, and then for follow-up postnatal support. Prior to our delivery, Kaylen gave us detailed information about our birthing options, answered our myriad of questions, and helped us develop a birthing plan. On the day of the delivery, nothing went to plan and I was so grateful to have Kaylen by my side as she provided me a strong focal point and kept me going through a very challenging delivery. I especially appreciated the gentleness and care she showed both me and my partner at a particularly vulnerable time; the level of trust I have in her is enormous.After the birth of our son, Kaylen provided additional postnatal support which was invaluable. She helped educate us both on how to care for our child and tackle many of the new challenges we found overwhelming, including how to use my breast pump and fitting us in our (complex!) baby carriers. We also realized that we needed time out on our own in those early weeks and felt extremely comfortable leaving our newborn with Kaylen (my husband calls her the baby whisperer). It's easy to underestimate the value and necessity of finding someone you trust to handle your little one in those early days so you can get a break and some fresh air. Kaylen also provided support in the kitchen, helping me focus on nutrients and meals -- that she cooked and cooked well!-- to help me get back into shape and replace a lot of the nutrients and minerals I'd lost during delivery.We highly recommend working with Kaylen. If you're looking for someone with a deep level of practical experience, knowledge and kindness, Kaylen is the doula for you!

Steve and Kelsey

2/22/2024

At one point, Kaylen said something along the lines of seeing her job as taking care of the newborn, but also equipping the parents to create a family. As new parents without help in the city, we are grateful for the tools she gave us.

Kaylen met us the first night we got home from the hospital to help us get our feet on the ground. Initially the help was with more pressing tactical items: she helped us navigate pumping and breast-feeding, she stayed overnight to handle night feedings, and she helped us establish feeding and nighttime routines that are still paying dividends today as our newborn is approaching 10 weeks (and sleeping well). She helped us transition to formula feeding when we made that choice, with no drama or judgment. Over time, she paced out her visits in a way that gave us increasing responsibility. 

Kaylen clearly has years of experience and training in childhood development, and she fielded every question we threw at her (there were a lot!) in a balanced and constructive way. Just as importantly, we liked having Kaylen around and enjoyed her presence on a personal level. We’re so thankful to have had her help during those first few weeks as a family.

JK

2/19/2024

Highly recommend Kaylen! Got her info from a local mamas group and scheduled a consultation in advance.  As first time parents with no family nearby, she was an incredible resource for everything from lactation to baby gear and postpartum nutrition, and it was so nice to have someone come to our home (instead of going crazy googling everything!)  She’s also so responsive over email for any questions in between sessions.  Can't imagine our postpartum experience without her - I felt so much more empowered and informed after our time with her - and she had such a lovely, calming and nourishing energy that was so helpful to get through the early days and weeks.

Randi

11/20/2023

We loved working with Kaylen!  She was so helpful during my postpartum recovery. She taught us so much and was such a kind, warm, caring and calming presence.  We were nervous first time parents and I was recovering from a c-section and she helped us feel confident in caring for our newborn son.  She taught us so many useful things and provided practical information and guidance.  She shared healthy recipes, was very helping with breastfeeding and taught me how to use a breast pump.  She helped us get on a good sleep schedule, taught us how to swaddle (and double swaddle), helped us fit/adjust our baby carrier and taught us to tie a baby wrap...  She also gave great advice on which baby products to buy and which we could skip. She was a great resource for our baby-related questions, and I appreciated her extensive expertise in baby development. I highly recommend working with her.

Madeleine Peikin

11/11/2023

We had such a wonderful experience with Kay! She made my husband and I feel very comfortable after bringing home our son. She helped us set up a schedule, identify a tounge tie and teach us so many things along the way from swaddle techniques, new bottles and how to winterize my stroller. She is a great resource and highly recommend her to any other new families! 

Allie

11/10/2023

A week after my baby was born, I found myself completely overwhelmed, exhausted, and undersupported. I reached out to Kaylen and am incredibly grateful that she fit me into a lucky opening in her overnight + daytime postpartum doula schedule. Before I was even a client of hers, she quickly and compassionately shared how she could help and advised me on how to line up additional help that made sense for my needs. She is a total professional, and it made all the difference to know that I could rely on support showing up when I needed it most. During our sessions, I appreciated that she didn't just execute support tasks when I asked for them; she also looked around, saw what needed doing, and seamlessly took care of it. She was also a great resource for all my baby questions, and I particularly appreciated her extensive expertise in baby development. Kaylen's professionalism, reliability, and expertise has been an extremely important part of my postpartum support, and I highly recommend working with her!

Corey Costella

11/10/2023

We loved Kay! She was so helpful with my birth and post Partum recovery. She provided so much support during pregnancy and answered all of my questions with great detail. Can not say enough great things about her!

Brittany

11/10/2023

I can't imagine my birth and postpartum experience without Kaylen. She helped me feel calm, centered, and fully supported during labor. She was there for me with all my questions as a new mom in the several weeks following my baby's arrival. If I have another baby, I would work with Kaylen again in a heartbeat. 

Sam Safer Valentine

7/24/2023

Forever grateful to Kay! We wanted to work with a postpartum doula that had serious credentials from developmental psychology to a lactation certification and had worked with multicultural, and mixed-race families.  Kay is warm, generous, transparent, funny, calm, and insanely knowledgeable - all the qualities I felt my growing family needed to have around us as first-time parents on this crazy beautiful journey. 

I knew I was going to be induced and ended up having a C-section and having Kay made my recovery really smooth. She met us the day after we got home from the hospital and really helped with Mom’s recovery in ways the OBs these days just do not - from how to care for my incision, bring down the swelling in my body, hold the baby without causing pain, sitting to standing, and nourishing myself - I could go on! I also knew I was going to have a hard time producing milk and Kay helped me through that journey, teaching me different latching techniques, how to bump, etc, she helped through the tears and the hormones, and the pain when another day of no milk production - she was there without judgment when I finally made the decision to go all in on formula - Kay was all support, no judgment. 

She taught us a million things - the best bottle-feeding techniques, how to defrost and warm up donor breast milk, how to swaddle, and double swaddle, how to baby wrap in the solly, she fit each of our baby carriers, she taught us soothing techniques, and distraction techniques, helped to craft a daily routine of wake windows, feeding windows, nap times that worked with our family’s flow. Kay even helped us to weigh the pros and cons of different types of childcare. She truly set us up to be confident parents in how we cared for our son and took a ton of anxiety out of the equation.  We even hired Kay back to help us sleep train!  You’d be lucky to have Kay on your team supporting your family.

Justine Young

7/7/2023

During our first meeting, I knew Kaylen would perfectly match our needs. Kaylen is knowledgeable, warm, experienced, and an overall fantastic woman. We highly recommend  Kaylen's Full Spectrum Doula service, especially as a first-time mom. My husband and I were provided with many resources for prenatal learning and infant CPR courses. We gave health updates during our check-ins and began our birth plan process. It was essential for us to be as prepared as we can. When complications arose, we had Kaylen reassure us things would be okay; she immediately adjusted our postpartum services for a premature delivery. We are deeply grateful to have had Kaylen with us. Our son is healthy and growing. Having Kaylen as a doula made a huge difference, sometimes things happen that most people are not prepared for, but we were fortunately guided and ready to go. What could have been a traumatic birth experience became quite regular thanks to the support we had. Kaylen also taught us how to set up our pump for expressing breast milk. If you need a Doula hire Kaylen, she knows every aspect of the birth process, from natural to intervened birthing. We appreciated her range of knowledge and practices!

Lisa

7/5/2023

I started working with Kaylen when I was about 6 months pregnant. She was always so warm and kind and was able to answer any doubt or concern I had. She educated my husband and I on the beautiful act of birth. Her response time was always so quick even when she had other clients that were in labor.

On the night my contractions kicked in she was a phone call away and supporting us on the phone. She quickly made her way to our house the next morning and spent the entire day comforting me, cooking broth, running a bath, massaging my back. She was the reason I was able to spend such a big portion of my early labor at home, she was really a shining light in such an unknown environment. When the contractions got heavier we made our way to the hospital and Kaylen was right behind us.

She spent almost 24 hours by our side in the hospital while I was in labor and never left. She was actively massaging me, helping me with breathing, making me laugh. Even though I ended up having to get a c-section Kaylen was an absolutely vital part of my birth experience. I would not have had as positive of an experience without her. I truly recommend her doula services to any expecting mother, she is a gem and a sweetheart.

Shalin Pei

6/29/2023

As first-time parents without family nearby, we decided to hire Kaylen for postpartum doula services. We searched for someone education-focused that could "teach us to be independent." Kaylen stood out through her full spectrum certification, background in developmental psychology, and experience working internationally and multiculturally. At our first call, she immediately imbued a sense of warmth and calmness that we would welcome into our home during an intimate and vulnerable phase.

At each visit, Kaylen would checkin on mom's recovery and bring care and attention to areas the OB doesn't focus on (i.e. swollen feet, itchy skin, uterine health and expelling lochia). She then turned attention to our greatest concerns at the moment, including efficient breastfeeding and bottle feeding techniques, pumping guidance, and nipple care. She taught us how to use our gear properly (sanitizing, sizing flanges, sizing baby carriers, tying solly wraps) and walked us through new skills (giving baths, soothing). It's incredibly confidence boosting having an expert demonstrate each new skill in context of our home, so we can replicate it on our own. 

During later visits, Kaylen pivoted to postpartum meal prep. The food was delicious, and as she cooked I would give her general updates and casually ask her opinion on things I'm considering for the future, such as travel logistics and childcare options. For any childrearing questions with multiple schools of thought, Kaylen would explain the pros/cons of each approach in a non-judgemental way, so we could make educated decisions for ourselves.

We had a very smooth fourth trimester and hit our stride quickly, lucky to sidestep many of the painful/anxious moments I hear from other moms. I credit much of this to Kaylen's support!

Elizabeth

1/18/2023

Kaylen was a tremendous support. Her knowledge, advice, kindness, warmth, and ready sense of humor were invaluable as my partner and I navigated the end of my pregnancy, prepared for the birth, and then brought our baby home. I am forever grateful!