Nuzzle & Nurture: Infant Feeding Therapy

Welcome to Nuzzle & Nurture! I'm Emillee! I am a busy mom of 2 kids, 2 cats and 1 dog. My husband and I are basically the ring leaders of the Parson Family Circus, but I love the chaos! We enjoy exploring new parks, swimming, going to the cabin, hiking, biking, playing outside, family game nights, art projects, and so much more! In my free time, you will find me snuggled up with a cup of coffee and a good book (or probably just re-reading Fourth Wing again)! I also like to dabble in photography, fitness, gardening and refinishing furniture when time allows as well! I graduated with a Masters in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2014 and have been working as a Speech Language Pathologist ever since. I have experience in a variety of settings including schools, hospitals, and outpatient clinics. After a challenging feeding and postpartum journey with my first born, I decided that I wanted to start focusing more on feeding infants in my career. In 2019 I completed extensive training in infant feeding required by my organization and began treating infants with feeding difficulties in an outpatient pediatric clinic. I loved being able to support infants AND their families during the complex newborn stage. Through this experience, I decided I wanted to focus my career more on infant feeding therapy rather than general speech and language therapy. In 2021, I started in a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. My time in the NICU showed me the importance of early intervention in feeding difficulties with infants. I learned that the early feeding experiences truly shape infants future feeding skills and relationships with eating. Negative early feeding experiences not only impact the infants immediate and future growth and development but can also impact family stress levels during an already stressful time. In 2025, I opened Nuzzle & Nurture to offer services that better support infants and families struggling with feedings. I have experience in breastfeeding and bottle feeding challenges, swallowing dysfunction (aspiration) assessment and management strategies, reflux management strategies, feeding infants with complex medical histories, Infant Driven Feeding (cue based feeding), bottle refusal/aversion, history of failure to thrive, NG/G tube dependence, development of feeding skills in premature infants, and improving quality of feeding experiences. I believe Infant Feeding Therapy should be family centered and accessible. I believe that feeding your baby and meeting your feeding goals should never be a 'chore'. I believe that every baby and family has different needs and different goals and therefore, therapy needs to be specifically tailored to meet each families needs. I believe feeding your baby should be a positive, nurturing, and bonding experience for both baby and family and I am here to be your partner in achieving this!