Cove Feeding Hub

Taste-safe sensory foam🫧 Just chickpea brine (aquafaba), a squeeze of lemon, and a frother - whip until fluffy and let little hands dive in. Great for kids exploring textures at their own pace, zero pressure to “do” anything with it but touch, squish, and giggle.

🍽️ Mealtimes are about so much more than food. Even without lots of words, children are incredibly effective communicators. They tell us so much through signs, gestures, facial expressions, body language, and eye contact.

Simple signs like “more” and “finished” can give children another way to communicate their wants and needs during mealtimes.

In this moment, we modelled the Key Word Sign “finished”. With time and consistent modelling, he used it to let us know he was all done with the watermelon. Notice this moment... If I’d packed away all the food straight away, I would have missed his opportunity to tell me he wanted more chicken.

One of the most important parts? Slowing down, giving children time to process, and allowing space for them to communicate in their own way.

Sometimes the most meaningful communication happens when we pause and wait.💛

Smoothies are one of our feeding therapy favourites! Easy to drink, fun to make, and a great way to explore new foods.🍓

Feeding difficulties can feel really overwhelming for families, especially when it’s hard to know where to start.

At Cove Feeding Hub, our team works together to help understand what may be impacting a child’s feeding and support families in a way that feels practical, supportive, and achievable.

Feeding progress often starts with feeling heard and understood.🫶

What helps most is creating safe, supportive, and responsive mealtime experiences.

Responsive feeding focuses on safety, trust, connection, and following the child’s cues rather than pressure or expectations around eating.

Sometimes progress in feeding looks different to what people expect. Progress may look like exploring a new texture, touching or smelling food, self-feeding, tolerating food nearby, sitting at the table comfortably, or simply feeling safer around meals.

These small steps matter.

When children feel safe, supported, and understood, feeding skills can develop over time.

EPISODE 4 - The Role of an OT in PFD🍽️

Occupational Therapists play a key role in supporting children with PFD by looking at the many factors that impact a child’s ability to participate in feeding and mealtimes.

This can include supporting sensory processing differences, posture and positioning, fine motor skills, self-feeding, routines, regulation, mealtime environments, and the emotional experience of feeding for both the child and family.

OTs work to create positive, safe and supportive mealtime experiences while helping families build confidence and participation in everyday feeding routines.

Because feeding is about more than just eating — it’s about connection, participation and quality of life.

EPISODE 3 - The Role of a Speech Pathologist in PFD👶

Speech Pathologists play a key role in supporting children with PFD by assessing and supporting difficulties related to swallowing safety, oral motor skills, chewing efficiency, coordination for eating and drinking, texture progression, and overall mealtime function.

Therapy is individualised to each child’s developmental and medical needs, with a focus on building safe, positive and functional feeding experiences while supporting families throughout the feeding journey. 🍽️