Our Consultants
CREATING CONFIDENT MOMS
WITH HEALTHY BABIES AND HAPPY FAMILIES
OUR LACTATION CONSULTANTS ARE FULLY VACCINATED
COVID-19 UPDATE:
To ensure your safety and quality of care
Meet Our Founder
Naiomi Catron, RNC-OB, IBCLC
My Vision for Milk Diva: Pursuit of Passion and Purpose
Naiomi, founder and owner of Milk Diva Lactation Services, uses her expertise to educate and empower parents on their breastfeeding journey. One of her main objectives is to enable parents to feel a sense of reassured confidence as mothers embark upon one of the most significant, bonding experiences they will have with their child. As an award-winning Labor & Delivery Nurse and Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), her dynamic background gives her the ability to navigate through the certainties and uncertainties of the lactation process.
After having children, Naiomi took off a few years from work to focus solely on being a wife and a mother. During this time, she experienced a period of vulnerability like never before. She felt judged and ill-equipped from lack of resources to help prepare her for one of the biggest challenges of her life. This, in turn, fueled her passion to start Milk Diva Lactation Services and provide judgement-free, expert breastfeeding support.
With over 8 years as a Perinatal Nurse, Naiomi knows how anxious families can feel about breastfeeding. Many people try to ‘wing it,’ only to be overwhelmed by frustration, sadness, and self-doubt. All of this can be prevented with accurate and timely education and guidance.
She is greatly encouraged when she has the opportunity to work with pregnant women and mothers who value educating and preparing themselves for what will turn out to be some of their bravest moments. Naiomi approach includes evaluating the whole body as opposed to just working on ‘the latch.’ She takes time to provide education, resources and invites parents into her hands-on evaluation process of mom and baby. Naiomi also invites parents to take pictures and video during her consultations, to help them recall important details, when they are trying to remember things late at night. Milk Diva prides itself in its ability to consider the entire family’s well-being such as energy, finances, goals and emotional health, along with the baby’s long-term wellbeing.
Why Milk Diva?
Naiomi knows breastfeeding isn’t one size fits all. With that understanding in mind, this is one of her foundational principles which continuously sets Milk Diva apart . Feeding the infant can happen in a number of ways and it’s her goal to help find the best method for each family, based on their situation.
Naiomi is one of less than 5 practitioners in Austin, Texas who has completed the IBCLC Masterclass. This masterclass is an international course taught from a holistic perspective and focuses on supporting the habilitation of the breastfeeding dyad in overcoming oral dysfunction such as tongue-tie. With this knowledge, she is able to help parents work through feeding difficulties that are less obvious and often misunderstood. In addition to standard IBCLC education, Naiomi has taken the In-person, TOTS training course aka tongue tie.
As Naiomi continues to expand the Milk Diva team, she is very deliberate with her selection of consultants. Milk Diva Consultants will always place emphasis on the root cause of feeding issues, and are here to inform, guide, and support families by connecting the pieces of the puzzle, as parents experience the amazing journey of breastfeeding.
Naiomi's Perspective and Approach
Wife & Mother
My process of becoming a mom wasn’t easy. Neither of my children came into this world without complication. It was this experience that fueled my desire to do something more for mothers.
Award Winning
Naiomi was awarded the prestigious Daisy Award not once but twice. She also won the Human Care Award, an annual award that is only given to a handful of employees of the Seton Healthcare System.
Mentor & Volunteer
Naiomi has served as a volunteer for Austin Smiles, Heart of Texas Pregnancy Resource Center and is currently volunteering with at-risk women at The Source Women's Health Center. She also supports Saruni International and Every Mother Counts. In addition she mentors new Labor and Delivery nurses.
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Mary Kay Rybiski, BSN, RN, IBCLC
A Wealth of Experience to Share with others
With over 30 years of lactation and perinatal nursing experience, Kay offers simple, flexible, evidence-based care. Since childhood, Kay wanted to be a nurse who worked with moms and babies. Believe or not she started out working as a journalist which would soon prove to be a value add to her future career as an obstetrical (OB) nurse.
The delivery of her first-born child carried lots of anxiety and stress. The birth was a difficult emergency Cesarean. People in masks and gowns flew around the room dumping instruments on tables and putting monitors on Kay. All the while, she was continuously sobbing and yet at the same time, scared for her little Claire. Kay’s labor nurse, Pat, grabbed her hand and held on, bringing much comfort in the middle of chaos.
After the C-section , Kay knew she had to be someone’s “Pat” one day. After she had her first baby in 1980, an unsuccessful breastfeeding experience, she did not want to repeat that with her second child. Kay is no stranger to balancing a career with that of being mom. On her quest to be a “Pat”, Kay received her nursing degree from The Ohio State University resulting in a rewarding 35-year career in obstetrical (OB) nursing. This decision finally gave her the opportunity to be “Pat” to many new mothers.
Always yearning for new knowledge, Kay read everything she could get her hands on to stay abreast of the quickly evolving field of lactation science trends. Kay can be considered part of the first generation of lactation consultants. She has been board certified since 1991 within a profession which only starting credentialing in 1985.
Employing her pioneering expertise, Kay spent 6 years at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center developing and running the Outpatient Lactation Department. She would eventually leave Ohio and to reside in Texas where she was the first lactation consultant with the Mothers' Milk Bank of Austin. Kay also worked for Any Baby Can, where she developed The Navigator, a manual to help parents of special needs children learn about area resources for their family. She also maintained a private practice in the San Marcos and surrounding area for 13 years.
Kay is very thoughtful, gentle, calm and soft-spoken. Her approach is based around discovering the short & long-term goals of the parents, then performing an assessment and evaluation of the couplet. After her assessment she adjusts the focus as needed but is careful to get the input of the parents as they prioritize their goals together. After each consultation, she provides a personalized document, with text, images and video, describing the details discussed during the visit.
Why Milk Diva?
Kay feels that she was pre-ordained to work with Milk Diva. She brings decades of diverse expertise and she stays current with the latest research on lactation medicine.
In her lengthy career, she’s worked with families experiencing all kinds of problems: from too much or too little milk; to painful, damaged nipples; babies with special needs; and women wishing to induce lactation or to re-lactate. She has ten years of specialized focus in the area of anklyglossia (aka tongue-ties). Her specialized training and education with infant feeding difficulties helps her to work with parents to bring babies to full, comfortable breastfeeding.
Since joining Milk Diva, Kay is now is one of less than 5 practitioners (including the founder, Naiomi) in Austin, TX who has completed the IBCLC Masterclass, which is an international course that focuses on supporting the habilitation of the breastfeeding dyad in overcoming oral dysfunction such as tongue-tie, from a holistic perspective. In addition, Kay has taken the Tethered Oral Tissue aka tongue tie (TOTS) training course.
Kay has come to truly recognize her calling as she is excited and humbled to play a role in helping families with their blooming breastfeeding progression. As a mother of two lovely daughters and a Grandma, there’s nothing she loves more than working with families and their babies. The beauty of working with Kay is parents get the benefit of her amazing lactation know-how, combined with her journalistic inclinations. You can best believe a mother will receive the guidance that meets the needs of both baby and family.
Kay's Perspective and Approach
Christen R. Bettis, LMT, IBCLC
Offering evidence-based expertise with faith-filled compassion
Christen has been an International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) since 2017 and is also a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) who actively incorporates body work into her visits. Christen’s specialization in bodywork and licensed massage therapy, gives her ability to show new parents how to enhance the comfort of their babies. She believes that bodywork is a great complement to caring for the whole baby which can contribute to improved breast feeding outcomes.
Starting with the natural childbirth of her daughter, Christen’s reignited faith put her on the path of licensure in therapeutic massage and labor support. This continues through her dedication to bodywork and emphasis on infant massage.
Christen offers evidence-based expertise with faith-filled compassion to meet your feeding needs and goals. With every session, parents witness first-hand how Christen brings a fresh look and keen strategies in helping to make personalized feeding plans for each family. She aims to support the health and vitality of the entire family while upholding primary provider recommendations. She’s here to help parents meet their goals through support and education.
Christen especially enjoys the opportunity to meet clients prenatally. Always eager to answer questions and/or perform prenatal assessments, she is all about preparing parents for their big day.
Why Milk Diva?
Christen found a personal connection with Milk Diva’s founder, Naiomi. Milk Diva offers her the opportunity to exercise advanced knowledge on specific topics such as tongue restrictions and dietary concerns. At Milk Diva, she feels like a part of a team of consultants who continuously strive to improve the standard of care for breastfeeding families. An example of putting this standard into action, is her completion of the Tethered Oral Tissue aka tongue tie (TOTS) training course. Overall, as a consultant at Milk Diva, she’s been blessed with the privilege and honor of assisting hundreds of families in meeting their infant feeding and breastfeeding goals.
Armed with the knowledge that breastfeeding provides unmatched health benefits for babies and mothers, Christen feels that it is her purposeful gift to share lactation know-how with as many families as possible. She treasures opportunities to help families enjoy this season of their lives. Christen understands how much of a privilege it is to work with families and have their trust in taking care of their babies.
Christen's Perspective and Approach
