The OT Mom

The OT Mom 👋 I’m Olivia, a pediatric OT & mom sharing tips to support your baby & toddler’s development.
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From feeding to fine motor, potty training to play—follow for realistic advice, helpful tools & baby gear recs that actually make sense.

08/22/2026

Hi, I’m Olivia! I’m a pediatric occupational therapist, mom of a 3 year old, and I love sharing simple ways to support your child’s development through everyday play. 🤍

Scissor skills are about so much more than just cutting ✂️

Using scissors helps kids practice bilateral coordination, hand strength, visual motor skills, motor planning, & fine motor control, all skills they’ll use for so many everyday and school activities.

You don’t need complicated crafts either. Start simple with snipping paper, cutting play dough, or short straight lines, and build from there as their skills improve.

Always supervise closely and choose age-appropriate scissors.

Comment SCISSORS and I’ll send you the link to my favorite kid-friendly scissors! ✂️

And if you enjoy this kind of content, hitting the like, save, share, or comment buttons is a free way to support my page and helps me keep creating more practical developmental tips for you. 🤍

08/18/2026

You might be doing tummy time… but missing one really important piece: baby’s form. 👀

Tummy time isn’t just about how long baby stays on their belly, it’s also about how they’re using their body while they’re there.

As baby develops, look for things like:
✨ Weight bearing through the forearms
✨ Elbows moving closer underneath the shoulders
✨ Head and neck lifting with more control
✨ Weight shifting from side to side
✨ Hands beginning to open and reach
✨ More symmetrical use of both sides of the body

If baby’s arms are constantly stuck out to the sides, they’re struggling to lift their head, or they always seem to favor one side, you can help by bringing their elbows forward underneath their shoulders and giving them a little support at the chest as needed.

And remember: tummy time is a progression. We’re not looking for “perfect” form from day one, we’re giving baby opportunities to build the strength and coordination that eventually support rolling, sitting, crawling and so much more. 🤍

If this was helpful, hit all the buttons 😂🤍 Likes, saves, shares + comments are free ways to support this page and help more parents see it!

Save this for your next tummy time session!

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08/18/2026

Texture progression is about so much more than simply moving from purées to solids. 👇🏼

As a pediatric OT, I love reminding parents that eating is a skill and babies need opportunities to practice different textures as their feeding skills develop.

Smooth purées can absolutely have a place when starting solids, but we don’t want babies staying on only perfectly smooth textures indefinitely. Gradually offering thicker, mashed and more textured foods gives babies opportunities to practice the oral motor skills they’ll eventually use for chewing and managing a wider variety of foods.

That’s one reason I love the Baby Food Maker. It steams + blends in one, and the auto and manual blend options make it easy to adjust the texture for different stages. It also has an elevated steam basket designed for better nutrient retention.

Every baby’s feeding journey looks different, so follow your baby’s developmental readiness and talk with your pediatrician or feeding professional if you have concerns about feeding or texture progression. 🤍

Are you team purĂŠes, baby-led weaning, or a mix of both?

You can find the Grownsy Baby Food Maker on Amazon and use code THEOTMOM for 15% off.

08/18/2026

Teaching kids why we wash our hands > just telling them

This simple pepper & soap experiment is such a fun way to make something invisible (like germs) feel a little more concrete for young kids.

All you need:
🫙 A shallow bowl of water
🦠 Black pepper
🧼 Dish soap

Sprinkle the pepper on top of the water and pretend it represents germs. Have your child touch the water with a clean finger, then add a little soap to their finger and try again. Watch what happens! 👀

Quick science note: the pepper isn’t actually germs, and the soap isn’t “scaring the germs away.” Soap changes the surface tension of the water, which causes the pepper to quickly move away. But it creates a great visual for starting a conversation about how soap helps remove germs, oils, and dirt from our hands when we wash properly.

Save this one for an easy toddler/preschool science activity!

08/16/2026

Before you judge your toddler’s meltdown… try looking at their world from their perspective. 🤍

Imagine if you couldn’t reach most of the things you needed. You had very little control over your day. You didn’t understand how long “5 more minutes” actually was. Someone could stop what you were doing at any moment. You were still learning how to communicate exactly what you needed. And sometimes, the things that felt REALLY big to you were brushed off as “not a big deal.”

You’d probably have some BIG feelings too.

Toddlers are navigating a world that wasn’t exactly built for them, all while their communication, emotional regulation, impulse control, and ability to handle transitions are still developing.

That doesn’t mean we never hold boundaries or that every behavior is okay. It means we can hold the boundary and have empathy for why it’s hard.

Sometimes changing the way we see the behavior changes the way we respond to it. ❤️

If adults had tantrums, what would trigger yours? 😂 Tell me below 👇

Follow for more pediatric OT content 🩷

08/13/2026

Toe walking, hand flapping, lining up toys, what’s one thing your toddler does that made you go ‘wait, is that normal?’ It’s probably more common than you think. Tell me below 👇🏻

08/12/2026

Before I had my own son, I worked in a preschool classroom, and the biggest difference between kids who walked in prepared versus the ones who struggled wasn’t academic.

It was whether they could open their own snack, get their pants back up, put on their own shoes. Whether they’d had practice being away from a parent before that first drop-off. Whether they could tell a teacher their own name.

To be clear, academics still matter, just through everyday experiences, not drilling. But the confidence gap between kids who had these basics down and kids who didn’t was huge, and it showed up in everything.

That’s what I’d actually tell you to focus on these next few weeks 🤍

Want my full preschool back-to-school list? the exact products I’m using to get my three-year-old ready? Drop “LIST” in the comments and I’ll send it your way!

What’s one thing you hope your child learns this school year?

08/10/2026

Does your child seem to ALWAYS be moving, crashing, climbing, chewing, touching, or looking for the next big activity? 👀 They may be seeking more sensory input throughout their day.

But here’s the important part: sensory seeking isn’t automatically something that needs to be “fixed.”

ALL kids seek sensory input. Running, jumping, climbing, touching, chewing and making noise are normal parts of childhood. We start paying closer attention when a child seems to need significantly more (or less) input than expected AND it’s affecting their ability to participate in everyday routines.

And the goal of sensory input isn’t always to make a child “calm.” 👏

Different types of input can have different effects:

✨ Heavy work/proprioception can be organizing & often calming
✨ Movement can be alerting OR calming depending on the child and type of movement
✨ Deep pressure can feel calming and grounding for many kids
✨ Oral input can support regulation and attention
✨ Tactile play gives kids opportunities to explore and process different sensations

You also don’t need a designated “sensory time” or a house full of sensory equipment. Some of the BEST opportunities are already built into everyday life, pushing a laundry basket, carrying groceries, climbing at the playground, jumping, helping with chores, drinking through a straw, playing with water or getting messy outside.

And more sensory input isn’t always better.

A child who has been running around the playground for 40 minutes may not need another 20 minutes of movement. They may actually benefit from something slower and more grounding before transitioning to the car.

The key is to watch the child, not just the activity. 👀

Do they seem more organized afterward? More available for the next task? Or are they becoming more revved up?

That response gives us information about what THEIR nervous system needs.

💬 Comment SENSORY and I’ll send you more easy ways to incorporate sensory input at home.

And if sensory differences are consistently interfering with feeding, dressing, sleep, play, transitions, school or other daily routines, that’s a great reason to talk with an

08/09/2026

As a pediatric OT and mom to a 3-year-old, I’m always looking for toys that support development but, more importantly… that he actually wants to play with. 😂

These are some of my 3-year-old’s current toy obsessions, the ones he comes back to again and again. I especially love toys that can be used in more than one way because open-ended play gives kids opportunities to problem solve, get creative, move their bodies, and build new skills without there being one “right” way to play.

Save this for the next time you’re looking for a birthday gift or wondering what toys are actually worth adding to your playroom!

Comment TOYS and I’ll send you the links to our favorites. 🤍

08/07/2026

Teaching a child to wipe independently isn’t just about handing them toilet paper and hoping for the best.

As a pediatric OT, I focus on the underlying skills that make independent wiping possible. By practicing these skills through play first, children can build confidence before they’re expected to use them in the bathroom.

In this reel we’re working on:
✨ Motor skills (shoulder mobility & trunk rotation)
✨ Body awareness (knowing where they’re reaching)
✨ Motor planning (learning the movement and sequence)
✨ Grading force (not wiping too hard or too softly)
✨ Confidence (practicing outside of the bathroom first)
✨ Sensory awareness (learning when they’re clean)

Remember, independent wiping takes time. The goal isn’t perfection overnight, it’s building the foundation one skill at a time while continuing to supervise and help as needed.

💬 Comment POTTY and I’ll send you my favorite potty training products plus everything I used in this video!

Have you started teaching your child to wipe independently yet?

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