Feeding & Swallowing

If you’ve found yourself here, you probably either:
a) already know something’s not feeling quite right about your child’s feeding, and/or
b) didn’t know that speech pathologists can work with feeding and swallowing (and were curious what this page was about) - and now you know!

Feeding is a big way through which we show love to our little ones, and feeding your child should not be stressful.

I repeat - feeding your child should not be stressful.

As a highly experienced Speech Pathologist with a very special interest in feeding and swallowing, I’m here to help you - and while very often this is part of a bigger team which may require Occupational Therapy, Psychology and/or Dietetics, my roles are assessing, diagnosing and supporting treatment towards:

  • Optimising breast and bottle-feeding through positioning, equipment, pacing and flow rate recommendations

  • Introducing and moving through solid food textures, guided by your child’s skills and strengths

  • Developing and strengthening your child’s chewing skills

  • Optimising swallowing safety when there are concerns around coughing, choking or aspiration (food or drink going down the wrong way) which can result in children having a chronic cough or poor chest health; as well as supporting onward referrals for objective swallowing assessments including videofluoroscopy (VFSS) or fibreoptic endoscopic evaluations of swallowing (FEES)

  • Reflecting together on mealtime routines, expectations and the language we use around them to manage and reduce mealtime battles and refusal

  • Team contribution for children who are NG or PEG tube fed

    … and any and all combinations of the above, as detailed within the services I offer below!

I have extensive clinical experience from receiving and delivering clinical education in multiple large tertiary paediatric hospitals and community services internationally, including caring for infants and children with complex medical diagnoses including neurorehabilitation, nasogastric tube and PEG feeding, tracheostomies, paediatric videofluoroscopies, and leading multidisciplinary feeding services.

Supporting families on their feeding journey towards learning and understanding more about how mealtimes can be improved for everyone is a passion of mine. Integrating my speech pathology knowledge from a medical lens, together with a balanced and holistic infant mental health approach, I focus on your empowerment through warmth, wisdom and wonder.

Get in touch

Feeding & Swallowing Services

  • Beginning here, we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of your child’s development, feeding history, anatomy, physiology and oral motor skills for feeding. Information you provide before the session, together with what we discuss and I observe during our session together, helps guide our plan to hit the ground running with immediate guidance on adjustments you can start making at home towards happier mealtimes!

  • Just as unique as you, your child and your family - feeding therapy looks different for everyone! Integrating strategies, skills and experience distilled from years of feeding-specific clinical experience, we’ll unpack what’s going on for your child and together explore how best to create positive mealtime change at home - and from there, ensure transfer of these strategies daycare/kindy as required.

  • For some little people, swallowing doesn’t go to the plan as we know it. Through close collaboration with tertiary paediatric hospital teams as indicated, we’ll establish a treatment plan and carefully monitor for changes - carefully finding the right balance of safety, skills and quality of life for you and your child.

  • Have you sought support for your child’s feeding but feel like something was still missing from the puzzle? I’m available to work with you through your experience to date to unpack what more can be explored, and put into place to help your child’s feeding journey.

  • I actively deliver clinical supervision to speech pathologists looking to discuss their feeding and swallowing cases, as well as for those keen learn more about the field of paediatric feeding and dysphagia with the lens of international and tertiary-level experience.