Our children have an innate desire for connection and play. By fine tuning our listening skills, observing through the eyes of our child and adding language at their level, we help strengthen cognitive and communication skills for life. Learn about creating language rich environments, how you can communicate through gesture and baby sign, explore first words together and beyond. Whether you are wondering if your child is progressing age-appropriately, or have been recommended to seek specialist assessment, let's explore talking together.

can be a natural, intuitive process. But for some families, early feeding difficulties may arise, and an uncharted journey begins. Babies may present as extra sleepy, have difficulty latching or staying on the breast, fuss during feeds, show discomfort or excessive gas, gulp or leak milk from their mouth, choke or stop breathing. They may get tired quickly, pull on and off, spill and vomit frequently, use top ups or tube feeding for support, refuse or cry with breast or bottle feeds. While the list of symptoms continues, early, effective and efficient support is always best. If you feel like you've already tried everything, maybe I can help.

As infants grow and progress to solids, early feeding experiences can shape the way they interact with their food and the mealtime memories we create. Research confirms what we innately know as parents, getting support and ideas early to set us up for success is a powerful tool. Playful, no pressure, responsive interaction when offering first foods, builds the foundation for lifelong, healthy relationships with food. So weather you choose baby led weaning, spoon feeding or something in between, I love helping with your baby's first bites.

Some children can be slower to progress to solids, may rely on large volumes of milk feeds, gag or vomit when solids are presented. Food refusal can be common such as keeping their mouth shut or turning away, and these struggles at the table can escalate to mealtime distress. Early intervention is best to help our fussy, hesitant feeders. Risk factors can include a history of feeding or growth concerns, feeding related discomfort (reflux, tongue tie, breathing difficulties), prematurity, pressured feeding and parent's own relationship with food. If you find yourself chasing after your little one, continuing to serve smooth textures or serving the same few foods on repeat, let's have mealtime adventures together.

Know of other families struggling with the same feeding or communication concerns? Have you heard comments from parents at your coffee group or at daycare drop off that are similar to your own experience with your child? Let's curate a group or a workshop especially tailored for you. Need some workshop ideas? How about starting solids, picky hesitant feeders, responsive milk feeding, and curating language rich environments to support early communication skills.