meet our founder
Paola Vallarino, IEP, IBCLC, CBS
FOUNDER
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Internationally Educated Physician
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Certified Breastfeeding Specialist
Certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist
Child Nutrition Diploma
Infant Craniosacral Therapist
Paola is a lactation consultant with over 10 years of medical background and over 3 years of clinical experience in Lactation Medicine. She is an Internationally Educated Physician, a Certified Breastfeeding Specialist and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (L-303520), the gold standard certification for health professionals working with breastfeeding families. She’s always updating her knowledge with continuing education to give families the best care.
Paola holds a diploma in Child Nutrition and provides families with advice on how to feed their babies when starting solids or supplementing. She's also a Certified Pediatric Sleep Specialist and help families and babies sleep better with an holistic approach focused in attachment and well-being.
She specializes in Tethered Oral Tissues (tongue and lip ties) and in the last years she has worked with several families with tongue-tied babies, along with pediatric dentists and pediatricians, including Dr. Jack Newman in the International Breastfeeding Center in Toronto. She has completed a masterclass of Oral Habilitation of the Breastfeeding Dyad and incorporates oral motor exercises and rhythmic movements to her practice, specially when working with babies with oral dysfunction. She also specializes in Breastfeeding Multiples and has plenty of experience working with mothers in their Relactation journey and with Low Milk Supply. She has extra training in Pumping and Feeding Gear, which allows her to fully support her patients in their pumping journeys as well as the ones using specialized feeding devices.
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After a few years or working with babies and children having feeding and sleep difficulties, Paola became very aware of the significant benefits of manual therapy in these areas, so she received additional training in Infant Craniosacral Therapy to provide this service to her patients and offer a holistic approach when helping families. She's also an IBCLC mentor and guides students through their certification process by providing them with their lactation specific clinical practise.
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As a mother herself, she struggled with breastfeeding and that's what motivated her to specialize in Lactation. She understands the difficulties that women can face when feeding their babies, and that’s why her mission is to support, educate and empower mamas with evidence based information so that they can feel confident and give their babies the best start. She's fluent in English and Spanish.
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For Paola, every family is special, and giving them compassionate, judgement-free support by working on their unique feeding goals is her number one priority.
meet the team
Marta is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), a Registered Nurse and a proud mother of two amazing boys, with whom she had a 6-year breastfeeding journey. During that time, she realized that every journey is different, it requires a lot of practice and persistence and it can also be quite challenging, but extremely rewarding and joyful, with proper breastfeeding support. While overcoming various breastfeeding challenges herself, she became very passionate about breastfeeding. She wanted to help other women, by providing hands on support and empowermen.
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Marta completed the Breastfeeding Program at Mohawk College and her clinical internship in various clinical settings, such as: Sick Kids Hospital, Markham Stouffville Hospital (Breastfeeding Clinic, NICU, Post Partum, Labour and Delivery department), and in private practice. Marta is fluent in Ukrainian and English. If you are facing breastfeeding challenges, Marta is here for you! She will support you, and your vision of feeding success. You can count on hands-on support, evidence-based education and management strategies, which will help you continue your breastfeeding journey with confidence, and meet your breastfeeding goals.
Milena is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and a mother of successfully breastfed twins. She received her Lactation Medicine Diploma after over 90 hours of Lactation specific education and over 750 hours of supervised, hands-on experience helping families with Dr. Jack Newman and staff at the International Breastfeeding Centre. In addition to working at Millcreek Children’s & Breastfeeding Centre, Milena loves to support parents through private practice.
Having faced her own challenges with fertility, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and parenting, Milena is here to hold space for conversation, community, and support while sharing evidence-based research, tools, and resources to help you build confidence at any stage of your journey. Whether you are a new mom or a seasoned mom, Milena's mission is to support families in their vision of breastfeeding/infant feeding success.
Milena Pingitore
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Alena Brashavitskaya
Registered Nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Alena is an experienced Postpartum Registered Nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She has been a part of Mount Sinai Hospital High Risk Mother & Baby Program for almost a decade. For the last two years of her career she is based at the ambulatory breastfeeding clinic as a Lactation Coordinator, helping families with newborns meet their feeding goals.
As a Lactation Consultant, Alena’s approach is to provide family-centred, gentle, non-judgmental care directed at accomplishing your feeding goals. Alena takes into account individual health history, birth story, and family dynamic in order to create a realistic, effective, and manageable feeding plan. As a mother of two breastfed kids, Alena had to overcome her own challenges on the path to breastfeeding them. The importance of getting help early was the key for the eventual success. Alena is honoured to be able to extend her care into the community setting as a part of Mamas Au Lait team.
Nadia Bellio
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Formerly Practicing Midwife
Nadia is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Certified Breastfeeding Specialist with 20 years of experience providing lactation support. Nadia initially trained as a doula in Toronto and a midwife apprentice in Peru and Argentina, before completing the Ryerson Midwifery Education Program in 2006. She worked as a Registered Midwife in Ontario from 2007 to 2023, providing comprehensive prenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care to hundreds of families. She has also taught prenatal and HypnoBirthing classes.
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Nadia has extensive experience providing anticipatory guidance to pregnant people as they prepare for feeding their baby, and seeing them through the transition to successfully breast or chest-feeding. Nadia specializes in supporting families through difficult or painful latch, low milk supply, excessive weight loss and/or slow weight gain. As a Lactation Consultant, Nadia has received extra training and experience with assessment and management of tongue and lip ties, as well as management of mastitis. She brings a kind, compassionate and non-judgemental approach to the care she provides, as well as a strong desire to support families from all backgrounds. She looks forward to getting to know you and your family during this special time in your life. She is available for prenatal lactation planning consults and postpartum lactation support visits at any time through the lactation journey.
Dr. Aida Martinez
Naturopathic Doctor
Aida is a Naturopathic Doctor, graduated from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. She trained in homeopathic medicine and completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Zoology at the University of Manitoba. She also has additional training in a multi-faceted approach for the natural support of autism and ADHD which includes homeopathy and nutritional support. She has 10 years of clinical experience and prides herself in having a purpose-driven career.
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Aida uses her naturopathic tool box to customize plans to treat, prevent and optimize. Her promises to her patients are to treat all patients with respect and as unique individuals and to invest time to educate and empower them to make positive changes in their life; consequentially, they will have more energy to enjoy their life, whether it’s spending more quality time with their family, getting back to their hobbies or performing better at their job. She's fluent in English and Spanish.
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When she’s not in clinic, Aida loves to explore many of the attractions Toronto has to offer such as hip restaurants and festivals with her spouse Sheldon and her son Aspen. She absolutely loves cooking, baking and going for long walks with her side-kick Aspen. She is here to serve and to make a difference and she looks forward to working with you and your family!
