Respect within your family begins at birth and blossoms into your family’s legacy
Serving the Greater Houston, TX area
Michelle Fassell
MA, IBCLC, CEIMI strongly believe that everyone has a unique infant-feeding journey that is empowered by personal values and life experience. I am not going to convince you to breastfeed/chestfeed exclusively if that is not your goal. I want you to feel good about your feeding choices and succeed. I am here with you at every step along the way with encouragement and evidenced-based feeding support!
My beliefs in personal autonomy and creating a strong family attachment are deeply rooted in my parenting philosophy. I love sharing in the community that develops with every new family, including my own. My husband and I are raising two sons, 19 and 16 years old. They are both emotionally grounded individuals who care deeply about their family and friends. They trust us to share their deepest hopes and fears.
These strong bonds and attachments were not created overnight. In fact, breastfeeding and parenting were hard for me with both children. My first had severe reflux and vomiting with slow weight gain. It took months of frequent weight checks, constant breastfeeding, and lots of worrying to get to the point where he began to gain weight. Through it all, I held him close, practiced infant massage I learned in a class, and reassured us both that all would be ok. With my second son, I had bleeding nipples due to his high tone and a shallow latch. A lactation consultant helped us achieve a deep pain-free latch in a new position. I was so proud that we reached our breastfeeding goal of 2 years each!
I was inspired by my own lactation journey and made a career switch as a Geologist to La Leche League leader and aspiring IBCLC in 2018. Since then, I’ve provided over 1000 hours of peer lactation support for LLL families, took many health science courses, completed a certified breastfeeding specialist training, and passed a board certifying exam to become a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). Recently, I became a Certified Educator of Infant Massage with Infant Massage USA.
I look forward to helping your new family grow together and succeed with your milk story!
Kiara Aponte
OTR, CBSKiara Aponte is an occupational therapist (OT) and certified breastfeeding specialist (CBS) based in Houston, Texas. While completing her undergraduate studies in Anthropology and Women’s Studies, Kiara developed a special appreciation for the vast diversity of the human experience. This led her to pursue a career in healthcare which could both celebrate people’s differences and support their independence in ways that are most meaningful to them. Through her eyes, occupational therapy represents the combination of many of her favorite things: creativity, community, autonomy, movement, and holistic mental and physical health care. These are the values she holds dearly both as an occupational therapist and a certified breastfeeding specialist, with goals to help her clients learn, grow, and adapt to change through collaborative and fun intervention.
Kiara has clinical experience in a variety of OT settings including: outpatient private practice, schools, summer camp, telehealth, home health, and non-traditional consultation. Her specialized training includes Dynamic Movement Intervention (DMI) and Masgutova Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration (MNRI). With her special interest in early childhood development, primitive reflexes, and infant feeding, Kiara has chosen to further her OT career with 100+ hours of lactation-specific education and recently began a Pathway 3 Lactation Internship in pursuit of becoming an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She’s excited to receive mentorship from the lactation experts at Your Milk Story and to learn with/from the families who see them!
Contact Us
4909 BISSONNET ST, #115
HOUSTON, TX 77401
