Susan Cooley-Maree & Associates

12/08/2024

06/07/2023

Any woolly contributions will be much appreciated.😊 Can also be dropped at Vincent Pallotti NICU. I will deliver to Mowbray. ♥️♥️♥️

07/06/2023

07/01/2023

06/12/2022

Why donate breastmilk? Donated breastmilk is a gift that gives hope, health and life. Becoming a breastmilk donor is: Easy Possible for most breastfeeding mothers Potentially life-saving for premature babies Just 50ml of breastmilk can feed a baby of less than 1kg for 24 hours. Every drop really doe...

30/11/2022

The biggest feeding stress for many parents? “My kid doesn’t eat vegetables.” 🥦🥒🥕🧅🍠 Will you tag a friend in the same boat?
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💫 Please know this truth: your kid doesn’t *have* to eat vegetables to meet their nutritional needs. Yes, you read that right, especially if they love fruit. So let’s breathe a little easier on that.
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Of course we would love them to enjoy vegetables eventually…but it doesn’t always happen right away. Or maybe they ate them ALL as a baby and now will only touch potatoes 🙅‍♀️😍
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A lot of us default to what our parents did when we were little to get us to eat veggies:
➡️ “Eat 3 more bites and then you can have dessert.”
➡️ “You have to finish all your veggies.”
➡️ “I’ll give you more iPad time if you eat vegetables.”
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While this sometimes works in the short-term, in the long-term it can teach kids to eat more than their bodies are asking for and can turn them off to that veggie for good.
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➡️ We’re telling them that veggies = yuck, everything else = yum.
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✨We want kids to be in charge of what foods they put in their mouths and to learn to enjoy veggies on their own terms.✨
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So, what DOES work in the long-run when it comes to sharing a love for veggies with your kiddo?
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1. Repeated, low-pressure exposures. If you want your children to enjoy vegetables, it’s important to serve them often. Prepare them in different, tasty ways. Raw broccoli might not go over well, but roasted broccoli might be much more  tasty.
2. Eat vegetables yourself - kids need to see others eating a less familiar food for them to eat it, too. {If you don’t like them consider just putting them on your plate.}
3. Allow your kiddo to interact with veggies in fun, low-pressure ways. Perhaps they help wash and tear lettuce leaves or cut tomatoes with a kid knife. Maybe they help you pick out a vegetable of every color of the rainbow at the store.
4. Give it time and patience. This is a process, and each day will look different for every kid. Try not to get discouraged.
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We have a bunch of practical feeding therapy techniques we share in our online Toddler/Kid course that can help your child love veggies without pressure or bargaining - feedinglittles.com ❤️

22/11/2022

25/10/2022

19/10/2022

Were you part of the clean plate club when you were little? 🍽 Tag a friend who might appreciate this ❤️
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Many of us were made to “clean our plates” growing up. 👉There’s absolutely nothing wrong with finishing our food if we want to, but somewhere along the way we lost the ability to tune into our bodies and know how much to eat because we were made to finish all the food served to us.
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You might be struggling wth this now as an adult.
Maybe you can’t handle leaving a bite (or more) behind.
Maybe you regularly eat until your body is uncomfortable and it doesn’t feel good to you.
Maybe you have completely disconnected from what’s happening in your body and feel like you have no idea what it needs anymore.
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This clean plate club? It came from a good place. Your parents/caregivers loved you. They wanted you to get enough to eat. They didn’t want to waste food. They didn’t want to disrespect those who don’t have enough to eat.
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But…eating more than your body wants isn’t productive. It doesn’t make you a “better” eater or a more compassionate person. It just creates a complicated relationship with food for many, many people. If you think about it, how does eating more food than you might need helping...anything?
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If you were part of the clean plate club and want to break that cycle for your family, here are some thoughts:
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1) Serve small servings - your kids (and you) can always have more! This is less overwhelming to kids and prevents food waste for kids and adults alike. When you don’t see a big pile leftover, you’re less likely to stress about what you didn’t eat.
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2) Remember that your job is to offer the food and create a positive environment - not to make your child eat it. That’s their job. Sometimes we just want to say “three more bites,” but we don’t know what our kids need or if they’re getting full. Try to not make it a battle. Let them choose.
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3) Leftovers are your friend. Wrap up a plate you didn’t finish to enjoy at a later meal or snack. Remind yourself that you can always have it later if you want it again.
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If you need help feeding your baby, toddler or older kid, head to feedinglittles.com to check out our online courses 👊

05/08/2022

When a lot of us step into this work and start to understand intuitive eating and healing our own relationship with food, we worry about setting boundaries with food.

I hear from a lot of my parents that they don’t want their child to feel restricted. They feel like if they want their child to be able to eat intuitively then they should just be able to eat whenever and whatever they want.

And for some families, this works great!

So I’m by no means suggesting that if you’re approaching food this way that you’re doing something wrong or you need to change.

However, there is a difference between structure and restriction.

Structure can actually be supportive in nature. Children tend to thrive when they know what to expect and they have a sense of security and safety, which comes from having boundaries.

Structure involves you having predictable meal and snack times, and this doesn’t need to be a rigid schedule. This lets your child know that food will be offered regularly and they don’t need to ‘overeat’ or beg for food in between eating times. It also includes you choosing what foods to offer so you provide and encourage your child to eat a variety.

All of this is done by noticing and responding to your child’s needs while still providing that sense of safety and predictability.

Restriction on the other hand looks like making choices about food because you want to limit your child’s intake in total amount or type of food.

And when we set boundaries from a place of restriction, we create deprivation, guilt, and shame.

But when we provide structure with food, we create encouragement and support.

15/07/2022

15/06/2022

Our culture is focused on health and wellness being tied to two major factors: food and exercise. And while those things do play a role in our health, this singular focus is at the expense of our actual overall health and wellbeing.⁠
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Trying to get our kids to eat ‘healthy’ - which usually means more fruits and vegetables and less carbs or ‘junk’ - actually ends up taking them away from the healthiest tool they have: the ability to connect to their own internal drive for what and how much to eat!⁠
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Our natural predisposition is to eat when we’re hungry, stop when we’re full, and to seek out a variety of nutrients. Think about a baby crying for food or pushing away when they’ve had enough. Or the toddler who starts to throw food on the floor or turn their head when they’re all done.⁠
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When we try to force our children into a certain pattern with food, what we think they *should* eat, we override those cues. And we also create more stress in the feeding relationship. This often means more battles at the table and negative experiences with food.⁠
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It’s no fun for anyone!⁠
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It can be hard to trust our children to eat, especially if we haven’t seen a reason to trust them in the past.⁠
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To get the guidance and tools you need to help them be a healthy eater who can tune into their signals, grab my free guide: 5 Keys to Raise an Intuitive Eater from https://guides.nicolecruzrd.com/intuitiveeater today!

08/06/2022

Yum!

Your kids will love these fresh and fruity Rainbow Popsicles! 🌈
https://thefirstyearblog.com/rainbow-popsicles/

08/06/2022

09/05/2022

21/04/2022

NEW BLOG Post! Today’s post is a summary of our 50th podcast episode: 10 Truths We Wish All Parents Knew About Food And Bodies.
**10 Truths**
1. The dangers of “clean” eating and wellness culture
2. Kids and teens going vegetarian, vegan, or wanting to “eat healthier” can be a red flag.
3. The absence of menstruation for teen girls isn’t normal.
4. Casual comments on weight loss and other people’s bodies are harmful.
5. Normalizing compensatory behaviors can lead to disordered eating and disordered movement.
6. Fitness trackers are generally a bad idea, especially for kids.
7. It’s OK if your child doesn’t like to play a sport.
8. Nutrition education is often diet and weight focused.
9. Disease and body-related jokes are harmful.
10. “Health” warnings from well-meaning adults can send the wrong messages to kids and teens.

Visit us at www.sunnysideupnutrition.com to read the post.

07/04/2022

When your children see you eat, they are learning how.

We talk a lot about modeling! If you ever feel like you're not sure how to support your child in eating well, remember, the best way is through modeling. Children learn so much by watching others. You don't need to say the "right" thing or "teach" by telling your children what to eat.

♥️ When they see you stopping to eat, they learn the importance of fueling their bodies!

♥️ When they see you putting together a balanced meal with protein, starch, fruits and/or vegetables, they learn what a meal looks like.

♥️ When they see you eating foods they aren't trying yet, they learn it's possible.

♥️ When they see you enjoying a dessert, without diet-y comments or guilt, they learn it's okay to eat all foods!

♥️ When they see you eating until you are fueled and satisfied, they learn that this is what people do!

You've got this. You don't need to be perfect or know exactly what to do. One day at a time, one meal at a time. You modeling for them, can also help you.

31/03/2022

Just a friendly reminder. Focus on building SKILL and creating a FUN, positive relationship with food instead of how many bites a child is taking.
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We know this to be true from decades of work with babies and toddlers but the research confirms it: studies show that when parents obsess over how much their child is consuming the child's eating does not improve. The same goes with pressure. In fact, obsessing over nutrition, bites eaten, and pressuring a child to eat tend to worsen eating. (Wolstenholme et al, 2020)
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Let this knowledge give yourself permission to relax a bit. Sit back, let baby practice, eat together to show how it’s done and trust that consumption will increase as skills increase.🤍

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