Infant Feeding Wellness and Therapy Sessions

with Stacia Paganelli, MA, CCC-SLP, CLC, IMH-E

Let’s create a personalized feeding plan for you & your baby!

Balancing Breast and Bottle

Breastfeeding does not come easy to all mothers OR all babies. There are many reasons why a newborn may struggle at the breast, and while you continue to work toward breastfeeding success, it’s important to optimize how you are supplementing with the bottle and managing the overall feeding schedule. Prolonged use of triple feeding, parent or infant stress, and signs that your baby is also struggling with the bottle are ALL reasons to consider scheduling a functional feeding session with me today. Feeding your baby should be enjoyable and there are many strategies to help you reach your feeding goals. Let’s meet so we can talk about your baby’s state regulation, temperament, cues of hunger/fullness, sucking skills, and how you as parents are doing in this transition as those are all things that can impact feeding.

Bottle-Feeding Support

Common challenges I can help with:

  • Slow/poor weight gain
  • Baby falling asleep during feeding
  • Difficulty latching on the bottle
  • Concerns regarding tongue, lip, or cheek ties
  • Lack of progress after a tongue/lip tie release
  • Digestive concerns, reflux, or significant gas
  • Clicking, liquid loss, or loud gulping
  • Coughing/choking during feeding
  • Finding the best bottle fit for your baby
  • Supporting “nipple confusion” concerns

What do parents have to say?

Stacia is an amazing human! She helped us when our infant struggled with bottle feeding. She has helped us encourage him to eat. We attended her solids class. The class was extremely beneficial in helping us plan the introduction to solids for our little one. Stacia has supported us in trying a variety of solids. She not only supports our child in learning but all of us as well. Stacia has support groups for feeding. We met a number of wonderful people through Stacia’s groups. Stacia also works with other professionals in the community to support children and their families. We enjoyed participating in the “Growing Together” classes. Our family highly recommends Stacia Paganelli. We cannot thank her enough for all of her support. - E. Shepisi

Not sure I can help? Let’s talk…

Stacia was wonderful! My baby has been struggling with a bottle and I was referred to see her from my chiropractor. She is super knowledgeable and was amazing with our little girl. We now understand what the issue is. Stacia gave us a plan moving forward that we are comfortable with. Highly recommend her! - A. Marie

Getting advice and support from Stacia has been a blessing. She took her time examining our baby, listening to our concerns and giving many recommendations with a lot of detail.Stacia made us feel super comfortable from the beginning as she was very sweet and kind. We made a tremendous progress within the next 24 hours after we had an appointment with her. We cannot thank her enough for her help! I highly recommend her! - V. Yang

Bottle Refusal and the Transition Back to Work

Preparing for the end of your maternity leave is an emotional and sometimes stressful time. If your baby struggles to take a bottle, let’s work together to

  • Discover what your baby is communicating and how we can ease the transition
  • Determine the best bottle/feeding tool to try
  • Provide safe, comfortable practice with feeding outside of the breast prior to the transition
  • Build your baby’s skills and comfort level with swallowing milk outside of the breast
  • Create a plan with clear guidelines for care providers so your baby will be fed in the most nurturing way and without pressure
baby led weaning, transition to solids

Transition to Purées or Table foods

Common reasons for consultations:

  • Frequent gagging that doesn’t improve over time
  • Difficulty learning to chew; overstuffing or swallowing foods whole
  • Refusing or spitting foods out (difficulty swallowing)
  • Coughing or choking during eating or drinking from a cup
  • Parent worry/anxiety about choking, food allergies, or baby’s weight gain

Toddler Mealtime Challenges

Navigating mealtimes with toddlers can be quite challenging! Some common reasons families contact me include:

  • Poor chewing resulting in limited foods accepted/swallowed
  • Frequent food refusals and "picky" eating habits
  • Difficulty transitioning from a bottle
  • Challenging behaviors at mealtime including throwing food, tantrums, and pushing food away
  • Parent AND child stress during mealtimes

If you’re struggling to survive mealtimes with your toddler, I can help! Schedule a virtual parent consultation session today so we can problem solve your biggest challenges and create an individualized plan together to eliminate stress at mealtimes!

More about my services

Every session includes assessment (babies change so quickly and so does the feeding dynamic) and next steps for improvement of feeding skills. My goal is to provide feeding support, developmental information and strategies, AND the space and time for you to have all of your questions answered and concerns heard. I am also available for questions via email or text between sessions or when you need more support.

All services are PRIVATE PAY ONLY at this time. I do not accept insurance, but DO accept payment via HSA/FSA cards. I can also provide a superbill with your payment receipt if you would like to submit documentation for reimbursement to your insurance company on your own.

For more details on what to expect during our sessions, click HERE.