About Teresa Munguia, IBCLC
Thank you for visiting Love in Leche. I have been helping mothers give their infants and children the best possible nutrition available. I have worked for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program since 2001 as a nutrition counselor and as a lactation consultant since October of 2010. WIC is a pro-breastfeeding program whose goal is to help improve the nutritional status of infants. My affinity for breastfeeding grew as I started to educate mothers and work with babies. The most fulfilling part of being a lactation consultant is being able to help a mother and her baby.
I had the opportunity to study under Gini Baker RN, MPH, IBCLC through the UCSD extension lactation program, where I was able to become a certified lactation consultant in October of 2010. Becoming a lactation consultant was a life changing journey for me, I feel so blessed to be able to do something that I LOVE each and every day. My life's work continues to be rewarding as I enable women by giving the tools they need for the precious gift of breast milk. In all of my years of experience, I've witnessed the special bond of breastfeeding between mother and child. My goal is to continue to help mothers give their babies this lifelong gift.
I have three children Paige, Andrew and Levi who were all breastfed. I breastfed Levi, my youngest for 2.5 years! My breastfeeding journey with Levi started off rough. I was hit with a whole bundle of new challenges that I hadn't experienced with my last two. Starting with the pregnancy, this little guy did not want to turn. He was in a breech position. I tried everything to turn this guy around, chiropractic care, acupuncture, walking on all fours, and breech tilts. He didn't turn and I ended in having a scheduled cesarean. I was hoping to have an unmedicated vaginal birth like I had with my last two. Breastfeeding was a challenge the first week because my milk supply was delayed until day of life 7. Levi lost 12% body weight by day 3 and of course that worried me. I was hand expressing and pumping for stimulation. Not only was I having problems with milk supply, but Levi also had an upper lip tie and a posterior tongue tie. My nipples were very sore and damaged because of it. I had both released by 3 weeks of age and that made a huge difference with latch. He has always been very gassy, he started having reflux at about 4 weeks of age. His pain and fussiness was so bad, I started seeing a Cranial Sacral Therapist. After seeing her, we decided to cut dairy out of my diet and that has helped tremendously with spitting up and fussiness. He is still gassy and has green poops, so now I'm block feeding to get him some more hind milk. This has definitely been a tough journey. It takes a village to raise a child and I've been grateful to have worked with different LC's at the hospital, a pediatric dentist and a cranial sacral therapist.
