Tiny Feeding Co. - Nurture Development & Lactation, LLC

Tiny Feeding Co. - Nurture Development & Lactation, LLC Infant development, feeding, and lactation education

05/31/2026

Paced bottle feeding is a great tool,  but it’s a one size fits all practice… 

In fact, it’s even, dare I say… incomplete? 

There is so much more to infant feeding than holding the bottle horizontal, using slow flows, or even feeding them on their side.

That MORE is cue based or co regulated feeding. 

(Which is also more than feeding when a baby is hungry)

Cue-based feeding, when done correctly and in its entirety, means noticing and responding to a baby’s communication (cues) before, during, and after the feeding experience and adapting and adjusting how we are feeding, to help ensure the feed is safe, enjoyable, and supportive of development.

Cue-based feeding requires knowledge of feeding development, infant behavior, stress and stability cues, body language, and the ability to not only watch, but to listen, feel, and pay attention to even the smallest forms of infant communication. It means recognizing both subtle and obvious cues and understanding what they mean and responding correctly. 

It is more than simply holding a bottle horizontally or pacing a feed. It is knowing when and how to help a baby stop and go, when to provide more support, and when to step back and provide less.

It is understanding how to adjust the environment, the flow, and your level of assistance so that babies can build skills, confidence, coordination, and independence over time.

It means not only responding to a baby’s needs, but also anticipating and preventing stress, incoordination, and fatigue while maintaining a safe, positive feeding experience. At the same time, it requires knowing how to provide the just-right challenge so babies can build endurance, coordination, respiratory control, and confidence.

Cue-based feeding means becoming your baby’s wingman—supporting them, guiding them, and helping them perform at their best. It is a partnership where we carefully observe, respond, and adapt so that feeding is something we do with babies, not to them.

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05/31/2026

I’ve recently been seeing some posts on social media claiming that bottle refusal doesn’t exist. That it’s simply a lack of skill….

And I’m here to tell you: that all or nothing statement is just not true.

While for some infants, “skill” is  absolutely a reason for bottle feeding difficulties, for others, there may be so much more going on…..

When we reframe refusal, aversion, or avoidance as simply a lack of bottle-feeding skills, we ignore a very important piece of the puzzle.

Safety.

Not every baby who refuses a bottle is refusing because they don’t know what to do.
Even one negative experience, especially one that felt extremely scary, like not being able to breathe can lead to refusal.

Babies communicate with us all the time. They may not use words, but they tell us when something doesn’t feel right. Turning away, pushing the bottle out, arching, crying, shutting down, becoming distressed, or consistently avoiding feeding are all forms of communication.

And repeated experiences that ignore or push past those cues can and do lead to shut down refusal, avoidance and aversion. 

So when we first work with an infant who is “refusing” we need approach cautiously. 

The question isn’t just, “Can this baby do it?”

More importantly it’s, “How does this baby feel about it?”

&

“What experiences has this baby had prior?”

When we fail to acknowledge that babies can and do say “no” in their own ways, we risk overlooking the experiences, emotions, discomforts, and physiological responses that influence how babies approach or don’t approach feeding.

So Before we work on skills.

Before we try to get a baby to feed.

Our first goal should be helping them feel safe. Letting them know we see them, we hear them, and we respect them and their no. 

Because feeding is never just about what a baby can do.

It’s also about how a baby feels.

And before learning can happen, safety has to come first.

Who guides the therapeutic feeding plan of care? In the NICU, people can become possessive around feeding…. Red tape, po...
05/04/2026

Who guides the therapeutic feeding plan of care? In the NICU, people can become possessive around feeding…. Red tape, policing our coworkers, restricting certain disciplines from being able to feed.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.

OT, SLP, PT all bring a unique lens to feeding care and we all have feeding with our scope.

And in the NICU is so important to acknowledge that.

Because when we level the playing field and when we stop gatekeeping and fully collaborate NICU A babies thrive.

As a therapist who once worked in a unit where one discipline gatekept feeding, it was so frustrating and even hostile, especially when I couldn’t step in to help a baby who was clearly struggling without fear of pushback.

So my goal became to remove barriers and make us all part of the Feeidng plan.

And once we embraced a team approach—trusting each other, giving feedback, staying educated—we didn’t just help the babies; we grew as a team.

I know this isn’t the norm everywhere, but i honestly think it should be.

But it’s not easy… To make this dynamic work, we have to let go of control over feeding, and truly trust each other, be willing to teach and learn from each other without fear or arrogance and start with humbling ourselves.

At the end of the day, we’re all neonatal therapists, and understanding development and feeding for preterm infants—and beyond—goes hand in hand.

You can’t separate feeding from development; they grow together. And when we work as one team, our babies do better.

✨ This mama saw me in her home at 4 days postpartum.Baby had lost >7% of birth weight, milk was just beginning to come i...
09/04/2025

✨ This mama saw me in her home at 4 days postpartum.

Baby had lost >7% of birth weight, milk was just beginning to come in, and latch was painful. Baby’s diapers showed mostly dark stools that were beginibg to transition.

Here’s what we worked on together:
✅ Achieved a deeper, more comfortable latch
✅ Discussed strategies to support milk transfer
✅ Completed pre- and post-feed weights to see how much baby transferred
✅ Initiated hand expression/manual pumping and gave expressed milk after breastfeeding to support intake and protect supply
✅ Encouraged family to share our plan with the pediatrician at their follow-up right after our visit
✅ Scheduled a follow-up to keep tracking progress

Supporting families through these early days is about balancing baby’s intake, protecting supply, and helping feeding feel more comfortable for mom. 💛

What was your postpartum journey!!

Coming September as a 4 week series! Sep 13thSept 20Sept 27Oct 4th A mommy & me class that targets one of the most commo...
08/24/2025

Coming September as a 4 week series!
Sep 13th
Sept 20
Sept 27
Oct 4th

A mommy & me class that targets one of the most common issues I see as a pediatric occupational therapist!

Flat Head Syndrome!

This 4 week series class is designed with moms and babies in mind.

I’ll teach you the same tips and tricks to fix flat spots, that I teach my clients, and have personally used as a mom of 4.

Not ready to commit? 1 Drop in class: $35

Ready to round? Full 4 week series $160 + Free FDA cleared head shape positioning hat. A 50 dollar value!!! (Tortle)

* Optional add on!! $45 1 PediaMetrix SoftSpot head scan & consult: (Digital scan of your baby’s head to assess degree of flatness and 15 minute consult with the OT)

Spots are limited! Drop a comment or send a DM, or text register!

Address

6310 N Mesa C-1
El Paso, TX
79912

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