EPISODE 314: Navigating Motherhood and Feeding Challenges with Aerica Walsh M.S, CCC-SLP, CPFT™

Hi and welcome to episode 314 of the Untethered Podcast. Today we have Erica Walsh joining us. Erica has been a licensed speech language pathologist for nearly 10 years. She received her Bachelor of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York and her master of Science and Communication Sciences and Disorders from Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. She has experience working in public schools, outpatient rehabilitation and private practice settings. She became a mom in 2024 and her bride breastfeeding and tots journey has led her into a deep dive. A deeper dive, I should say, into the world of feeding therapy. Quick Disclaimer all information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Welcome to the Untethered Podcast. I am your host, Hallie Balkan. I'm a certified myofunctional therapist, feeding specialist, podcaster, business owner and mentor. This podcast is all about getting your questions answered and collaborating with colleagues to bring you the most up to date information in the orofacial myofunctional therapy, airway, tethered oral tissue and pediatric feeding therapy space. If you're new here, I challenge you to keep an open mind and join my mission to spread this message far and wide. If you've been around since June 2019, thanks for being a loyal listener. As we jump into today's episode, remember to listen with correct oral rest posture, tongue up, lips closed, teeth apart, breathe through your nose. Let's get started.

Foreign.

Erica welcome to the podcast.

Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.

I'm excited to have you here. So I know that you went through Feed the Peas in May of 2024 and then you went through our first round of CPFT, became a. You became a Certified Pediatric Feeding Therapist. Congratulations. I know this is all very recent, but. But before we talk about any of that, I would love for you to share a bit about you your story. Because I know you became a mom in 2024 and you have a daughter who had lip and tongue ties that were released and everything. So I'm going to turn it over to you and let you kind of take it away.

Okay. Well, yes. So my, my favorite job that I've had thus far has been being a mom. So yeah, I became a mom in January of 2024 and kind of backing up to SLP history. I've been an SLP for almost 10 years, primarily I was in schools. So I spent almost nine years in the school system working elementary, middle and high school, kind of all, all over the place, ran the gamut. And I took a break from that after going on maternity leave back in January of last year. And since then I've been working in private practice through telehealth. When I was working in schools, I dabbled a little bit in some outpatient rehab, per diem work, and also with some part time private practice work as well. So I've had a little bit of feeding experience kind of sprinkled in over the past 10 years. But you know, primarily being in schools, there wasn't a huge opportunity to work with the feeding population. So when, when my daughter was born and we noticed that she had tongue restrictions, I didn't even notice the lip restriction at first. I didn't even think to look there. But the tongue restriction I noticed almost right away about 24 hours after birth. I was new to everything, especially breastfeeding. But I was kind of like, I don't think this should feel like this. So. So I checked it out a little bit and I suspected her tongue tie. I saw a lactation consultant, she also suspected a tongue tie. So we went to an airy centric pediatric dentist when she was seven days old and he also diagnosed a lip tie. So I believe she had a class three lip and a class two tongue. So we had both of those released and just that whole process, only her being seven days old, but you know, getting some of the post release stretches and things. After the appointment, my husband was kind of deferring to me, like, what do you think? Is this okay? Should we, should we doing more? How many of the stretches, how much, how long? And I was like, I feel like I should know this, but I don't feel like I have enough background and knowledge really in this specific area for me to feel super comfortable saying, yep, this is what we're doing, this is how often we're doing it, and you know, feeling super comfortable. So that's really what led me to search out and seek out some feeding experience. And that's how I found Feed the Peds. I enrolled in the May 2024 cohort like you said. And then while I was in that, I also have a friend who has a baby who is born very premature. She has a. And I've kind of consulted with her a little bit here and there, just checking in and she would tell me what she was working on with herp therapist and kind of ask my opinion, like what do you think, do you, do you think we're. We're on the right track? And, you know, even before starting feed the peds with that too, I was like, I feel like I don't have enough experience in this area to give you, you know, a really, a solid foundation or some solid information. So, yeah, that's, that's what brought me to feed the peds. And then while I was enrolled there, you guys rolled out the CPFT program. And I was like, sign me up.

I love it. I love that. And so how old is your daughter now? So you said she was born last January, is that right? 24? Yep.

So she's 14 months. She'll be 15 months on the 18th of April. Oh, so fun.

I love this age. How is she doing? How's feeding going? What's that look like?

She's doing wonderful. So after, I mean, she tolerated the stretches like a champ.

She.

She latched right away after the procedure, and she did really well for the most part. She did have some residual popping here and there. Not too much clicking with nursing. I did transition her to tandem breast and bottle around one month because I knew I was going to be working a few months after a few months postpartum. So we introduced a bottle. She tolerated the bottle well, and she didn't really seem to have a preference for breast or bottle, which I really loved. I was kind of nervous about that, wondering if she would continue nursing. But our breastfeeding journey went really well. We ended up going back to exclusively nursing when she was around nine months, just because her schedule for eating and my schedule with work just ended up working out that way. Looking back and now, since going through the certification program where there was breastfeeding and bottle feeding courses, I can look back and say I probably chose the wrong bottle. I probably didn't have the right nipple type. I think it was way too fast of a flow for her. She would guzzle her bottles down. We did some paste feeding to try to mitigate some of that. But yeah, looking back, there's a lot that I would change now. We. She was functional, but I think just to make it a little bit better for her and a little bit more manageable, especially with the bottle and some breastfeeding modifications too. I think those will. Those will be really helpful moving forward. But then in terms of transitioning to solids, we used a baby led weaning approach. I learned so much more about that through the last eight months in this program. But she's doing beautifully now. She loves food, loves to eat, all kinds of textures and different. Different levels. So yeah, she's doing really well now.

That's awesome. Yay. I love to hear that. And hey, look, you know, I think there is also something to be said about like, it's so interesting because like us feeding therapists or SLPs, OTs, you know, therapists working with these babies who don't have a extensive background in like pediatric feeding. Like we have our own children. And this happened to me with Lily with. When, you know, nine years ago. I was working with toddlers who were more like, more eating certain types of textures and consistencies and avoiding others in certain colors. Right. Most of them were autistic, but not all. And I just was. That's. That was the world I was living in, feeding wise. So I didn't know what to do with a baby at that time. And you know, this was nine and a half years ago. And then by the time I had my other one, who's now seven, I was much better versed in working with like infants and you know, the younger kind of infancy into toddlerhood and you know, breastfeeding, bottle feeding, transitioning into solids. And it was night and day, night and day. Between both experiences. Your daughter sounds a lot more like my experience with my second daughter, with Mia, who was released at five days old and completely. I mean, we still had to work at certain things, but she took a bottle when I went back to work and she breastfed and she transitioned to solids much easier. You know, Lily transitioned to solids pretty easily too. But then Lily got really picky, but. And Mia did not. So there was a whole host of different things that happened between them. Um, and it's just very interesting to kind of see the history of. Right. You know, and, and yes, I did use like a doctor Round's narrow neck bottle with them and I had them on like preemie nipples. I think I maybe only ever went up to size one with both of them just because the flow was good. Um, and for Lily, it was like she just refused anything else. So that's just how we ended up there on doctor Rounds that, that, you know, I wouldn't have known otherwise, aside from talking to a friend. So I think there's something to be said about, you know, a baby who is, you know, maybe it's not perfect.

Right.

And especially through our lens of like feeding therapy, we kind of go, oh, I could have done that differently. Like enter mom guilt. If the child is fed and they're not having all these symptoms and they're happy and they're growing and you know, it's functional like you said.

Okay.

You know, like, could we have changed it going forward? Absolutely. But did it work in the past? Yes, it totally worked. And I think that comes up so much and yeah, it's just the whole bottle and like, bottle nipple discussion is a wild one because there's so many differing opinions on that.

Yes. So, yes. And the, the bottle feeding course served me really well from the CPFT program. I didn't even know there was so many manufacturers of bottles.

Really.

My, my choice, we went with a Philips Avent. I believe we were using a level one. I would have to go back and look and make sure. I'm pretty sure it was a level one, but that even, like, that's where we started with her when she transitioned to a bottle at one month. So I, I had no idea that I could have looked at a slower flow and I had no idea that a Phillips Avent Level 1 is pretty fast compared to some other Level 1 nipples. So, yeah, definitely. Professionally and personally, this has opened up a new world for me.

Well, I love that for you. Love that. And I think you. I think you highlight a really good point. So for anybody who maybe you may be a parent or someone who's maybe not a feeding therapist or someone who's not in the bottle feeding world, you highlighted something that I think most people don't know that one. There are so many different manual. A couple of things actually. Right. There's so many different bottle manufacturers out there. Um, and really the big point is across all of them, like a level one nipple on one bottle is not the same as a level one nipple on another bottle. And so actually looking at the flow and just turning the bottle over and seeing how fast the flow milk, you know, the milk flows out even into your own hand or into the sink for a second to see. Like, is it a constant stream? Is it slow drip, drip, drip. Like, is the baby going to have to actually compress and work for that milk or is it just falling right out of the nipple? It definitely has a big impact on how the child manages the milk, especially depending on what their oral motor skills are. Like their whole sensory, oral motor experience.

Absolutely.

Yeah. So, okay, so I love that. Did you have any other, while we're on it, any other, like, favorite courses that you took from the CPFT curriculum?

Um, I mean, I loved about all of them that there was so much research and so many references.

I.

My Amazon cart has been full of books about all, all of the different courses and modules and Things like that. I've followed a ton of new people on Instagram since. Since going through this with all of the, you know, the recommendations, the research, the. The references and things. So I would say, personally, I took the most from the breast and bottle feeding courses. Just you. And that really piqued my interest. I never. I mean, prior to being a mom, I never really even thought about breastfeeding and bottle feeding and what that entailed. But now, again, both personally and professionally, that is an area that I'm like, ooh, this is actually really cool. And I would love to be able to teach people like myself who, being an slp, I. I was almost embarrassed, feeling like, I should know this, I should know more about this. My baby has lip and tongue ties. I should know what type of, you know, what type of bottle nipple we should be using. I should be looking for more signs of distress. I should be more concerned about this. So, yeah, those. I would say those two, definitely I took the most away from overall. But there were just so many great ones. Some of the NICU courses and the pediatric nutrition course that was. I think it was taught by the same SLP who worked in the nicu. Those were really interesting, too. That's something I've never experienced and a workplace that I've never experienced. And that just seems so amazing. She offered so many great pieces of information, not even just for NICU primarily, but post NICU and how to work with some of those babies. So those were some really good classes, too.

I love that. And I love that you highlighted the whole, like, NICU and post nicu, because sometimes we get people who come into the CPFT and they're like, and I'm talking to our next cohort now, and people are like, well, I don't really have any goals to work in the nicu. Am I going to have to take that course? Because we have, you know, slightly more courses than hours required. And so we're like, well, you could probably pick and choose. Like, there's some three core courses you want everyone to start with, and then you can kind of pick and choose, like, what you take. But truly, I almost feel like that NICU1 should be mandatory for everybody, because regardless of what age group you work with in pediatrics, if a child was in the nicu, you kind of have to know the medical history and understand the background of what they went through or what. What's even possible in the NICU to fully appreciate, like, how far they've come where they started, because that can look very different. For a NICU baby than a baby that didn't spend any time in the nicu. Right. Whether they were a preemie or something else was going on. And so that has come up quite a bit. And I know that, like, Taylor was telling our coo, she was telling me, she's like, hallie, it's so cool to, like, get feedback because some of the, you know, CPFT candidates were saying things like, oh, my gosh, I might want to go into the NICU now, or, oh, my goodness, this is so interesting to have this information. And I was never interested in NICU or never thought it was information I needed to know. And so that. That's really cool to, like, see things like that happen, because I know all. It's just.

It's going to benefit the kids that.

We work with so much more.

Definitely. And some of the diagnoses that were discussed in that course through the case stud and just the informational modules were things that I had never heard of before. So now I feel like I love that we have lifetime access to all of this. So down the road, should I get a little guy or little girl with EOE or something like that, I can look back to that and say, like, oh, yeah, okay, refresh. Refresh my brain where post or pre. Pre cpft, I would have been a deer in headlights getting something like that. So, yeah, definitely beneficial for not only people who work in the nicu, but individuals who are going to get some of these little, little ones post nicu.

So true, so true. I love that. And so, okay, so now I know that you also shared a little bit about not yet on the podcast, but that you've had your own journey, as it were, you know, comes to kind of healing through food and had the connection between the gut and, you know, I always say our gut, not I always say, but I've learned the gut is basically our second brain. And there's such a big connection, like gut brain connection. I have been on a massive healing journey myself the past. I don't know how many handful of years with healing my own gut and just kind of getting back to health, like holistically in a sense. Right. Not that I was, like, severely ill, but I was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome last summer. And basically anything I was eating was just sparking my immune system to attack. And so I was just so inflamed and, like, gaining weight and just uncomfortable and exhausted. And I didn't have, like, these outward skin systems symptoms that usually come with it, but it just felt like all of these past gut things that I've dealt with kind of came to a head all at once. And I was just like, okay, well, since I can really only if I go to a restaurant, I can only order like a piece of grilled chicken, a steamed vegetable and a baked potato. Like, literally nothing else on the menu is going to work for me. And I was like, I can't live life like this. And so I've just been on this massive healing journey. Journey since last summer. But anyways, share with us because it sounds, it sounds like we have a lot of parallels here. Tell us about your experience and your journey.

Yeah, so I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis when I was 18. And I kind of managed without medication for a little bit. But When I was 20, almost 21, I had a massive flare. I was hospitalized for eight days. I was put on intravenous medication. And they, the doctors at that time kind of told me, this is something that you're probably going to have to take forever to keep this in remission. And I am, I'm definitely not a GI or a doctor or I don't have a medical degree or anything like that. But the longer I took it, the more frequent I started having to take it because my symptoms would start returning. So, for example, I started every eight weeks and then around seven weeks out, I would start getting symptoms again. So then it was seven, I got it every seven weeks. And then around the six week mark, things started returning. And I was like, this just doesn't seem right. Something seems off here. So the holistic side of medicine was never something I even knew existed really, until I sought it out. And I was just looking for really anything, anything to try. So I started working with a functional medicine doctor. Um, this was probably eight years ago now, and we did a really strict elimination diet. So very similar to what you were experiencing and, and talking about. No gluten, soy, dairy, you know, any, any of that stuff, no caffeine. I really cut everything out to the point where I was basically just eating grilled meats, fruits and vegetables. And then slowly I worked things back in and slowly I weaned off the medication. And I've been off medication for about close to eight years now.

Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you. And that was something that was always in the back of my mind, knowing in the future that I wanted to have children. I wanted to have a good starting point for them. So thinking about me taking an intravenous medication, I wasn't really comfortable with that. While, you know, thinking about the Possibility of, of being pregnant and growing a baby. So again, I'm not a doctor, this is not medical advice. But that was just kind of my thoughts on, on the whole, the whole deal. So that really, as I, I went through my feeding journey with my daughter and just thinking about the potential impact that these ties, if we didn't have them released, could, may. May have had, potentially may have had on her ability to manipulate foods, transition to solids, things like that, and thinking about the fact that I was able to do all of that food modification to heal my gut and heal just my overall self. It just really got me thinking that this is so important for so many kids. If they don't have the access to good food, whether it's financially or physically, they can't tolerate or manipulate these things, how is that going to affect their gut? How is that going to then affect the whole system? So that also reminds me, I loved the gut course too. That really, that really rang home for me and hit home with all just. It really makes you want to dive a little deeper and think about, okay, these kids who are struggling to eat a variety of foods or they can't move past purees and they can't tolerate different textures, how is that impacting their overall health? How are they getting the nutrition and the vitamins and the nutrients that they need? So, yeah, it all kind of came full circle for me.

I love that. I love that. I love everything about this conversation. I think you are really awesome with kind of leaning in and trusting your gut and kind of listening to your own intuition about, like, hey, okay, I know that, like, modern medicine is awesome, but also I found this holistic thing that tells me maybe I don't have to be on these meds for the rest of my life. So let's give this a go. And like, I think that's the very same kind of person I've become with also the same kind of thing in mind where, like, I've always been lactose intolerant. I've always had digestive struggles. I was never diagnosed with anything in my 20s, per se, other than a peanut allergy that went away. And just my lactose intolerant and kind of, you know, maybe IBS type symptoms. But it's something I feel like I always managed pretty well through food. And I was the same way. I was like, I don't want to be taking any medications leading up to, like, having a baby. I just, I want everything as natural, clean as possible. And man, have I fallen down the crunchy, clean, like, rabbit hole since like getting hagnant. Although I will tell you all, because I am a fully open book. As healthy as I plan to be during my pregnancy. I couldn't tolerate like chicken and things like that. So I ate a lot of bread and cheese. So I'm just gonna, just gonna put that out there. There is no perfectionism over here. Everything in moderation. Exactly. You have to treat yourself sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do to survive, especially when pregnant. But it just, it really kind of opened my eyes too because then I had my kids and like we started going to, you know, doing all the normal things that the pediatrician recommended. And then I all of a sudden had my second kid who was constantly sick and she was getting. She got croup r recipe and dehydration in her first year. And we were in the hospital and she got. It was just overnight for like IVs and some meds. She was okay. But then it's just like croup kept coming back to the point that it was like diet. And this was now in, in the pandemic, like that summer, that first summer she was diagnosed. And I'm like, we weren't around anybody either, so it was weird. But they were like, it's either environmental or viral induced asthma. And I was like, well, we have this new virus floating around. We don't know what it is. And it just kind of freaked me out. I was like, I don't have enough information. But he's like, well, those kids grow out of it by the time they're, you know, five or something. And she was, let's see, two. Yeah, had just turned two. So I was like, okay, well what can we do to support that, like holistically, because we know that, you know. And then as a three year old, we moved to Florida. She was a three year old, she had croup nine times. And I was like, ah, like something.

I'm like.

And they constantly just put her on steroids. Well, we know steroids deplete the immune system. So I'm like, I get that we need to support her airway, but this doesn't seem to be working. So again, it was kind of like another, you know, not, not just me going, oh, something is off for me, but me going, oh, something is off for my kid. And it was, it's just very interesting because I was in the airway space. I was all about early intervention for like expansion. We had expansion done and she stopped getting croup every time somebody Sneezed around her. She would maybe get a cold, but it didn't progress into croup that night. And so we didn't need the steroids anymore. And then we could use, like. I took a homeopathy course and just kind of fell, like, deeper and deeper down the crunchy, crunchy rabbit hole. And I call myself Scrunchy. I'm like, I'm semi crunchy because, you know, everything in moderation. I look at some of these accounts online and I'm like, y' all need.

To have a glass of wine or.

Pick something that you enjoy. Maybe it's not alcohol, but something that you enjoy that might be a little toxic and, you know, live life a little, breathe. It's not healthy to be so, like, perfect all the time either. There is some toxicity in that. But anyways, it's just. It's just a fascinating conversation, I think. And when it comes to, like, the gut health stuff, which. Which I've realized through, like, my first one having crazy reactions to food dyes and pulling her off, food dies and her behavior being completely improved at 18 months, like, she would have. What would she have? Like, M and Ms. At a birthday party or some cake at a birthday party or something. And then it was like the Exorcist, like, her head was spinning. There was no. It wasn't like we couldn't reason with her because she was, you know, a year and a half old. No, it was like, we are in an existential crisis right now. This child is absolutely flipping out. There is no coming back from this. We just gotta let her, like, cry, shriek, and, like, spin her head for an hour and then she would come down. And it only happened, I realized, when she had few dies, and I was like, this is wild. So anywho, all that to say, I think, like, what we're eating, what we ingest, medicines, what we put on our bodies. Right? All these things are. And more and more is coming out now, but more and more we realize how this impacts us and how it all kind of makes its way to the gut or our brain. And so I think it's just a fascinating, fascinating conversation. Because when Nadine, who's the lead feeding therapist on my team in my private practice, was like, we, you know, she was like, I want to do the gut course. I was like, yes, I'm so excited. Excited for a gun course. Because it's just not. It's not something that's talked about that frequently. And I've always. Even back in my days when I was working with Autistic children who. I can think of one in particular who was constantly constipated. The BCBA was always, like, in the room during our sessions, not necessarily working with the child, but just kind of there because it was during their hours and they stayed. And this kid would hop up and down, like, trying to control bowel movements, and was so uncomfortable. And I. I was like, I. You know, and then the kid was crying because they were in pain because they're withholding bowel movements. And I'm sitting here going, like, I'm supposed to be doing speech language therapy like this. Not physically available. He doesn't feel well. Like, how am I supposed to work with this kid? You know? And it just, again, kind of opened my eyes to what the child was eating. The colors, the textures, how they were chewing. Maybe we're not digesting things so well. Maybe we're not chewing things well enough. We're not eating enough roughage. Maybe our gut health is not so healthy. And, yeah, that was. That was an earlier window, actually into my feeding journey than the tots and MYO stuff even. And back then I read, like, the GAPS diet, Gut and psychology syndrome, and I read the. I think it was like the SCD diet, SCB or SCD diet, one of those. And again, it was just this whole very interesting intro to, like, the connection between the gut and the brain. And I think that is such a huge topic that we don't focus on enough with the kids that we work with, because if they don't feel well, what they can chew and swallow or not, they're not physically available for our services. So I love that. That was a big. A big highlight here, definitely.

I. I agree wholeheartedly. And before, you know, I've always kind of had this in the back of my brain since I've been going through it myself. But really, before having a. A daughter where I wanted to dive into feeding a little bit more, I didn't even really think about that connection. I feel like a lot of kids, you know, the. The correlation of kids with autism, too, with celiac disease or any of those digestive issues that may be going on, some alarm bells start to go off and it's like, okay, well, why do we think that maybe they're really selective with their eating and, you know, it does make you, like you said, kind of dive down a rabbit hole a little bit and start making all of these connections. And, um, yeah, it's. I. I loved Nadine's gut course. That was really, really cool.

Amazing. I love that I love that. And I think it just helps you kind of appreciate the human sitting in front of you a little bit differently too, because sometimes people are just like, oh gosh, it was an awful session and the child refused to do anything that I put in front of them today or they wouldn't touch this or they wouldn't touch that. And I'm like, well, how are they feeling? Like, how are they presenting? Like we're working with humans. Like we have so many different systems in our body and if they're not all intact enough at the moment to functioning as they should, you know, maybe there's something more going on. Like, you know, these are little, little humans especially that a lot of us are working with. So, yeah, I think it's just such a good reminder.

Definitely.

Now you're also, I believe, in the beginning stages of starting your own private practice. So before we wrap up today, I want you to share about that and tell everybody what you're offering, where you're located, how they can find you.

Yeah, definitely. So I, I'm in the very beginning stages. I'm still waiting for my articles of organization to come through and everything like that, but it's going to be thrive, feeding and speech therapy solutions. I am located a little bit outside of Charlotte, North Carolina, so that's, you know, home base primarily where I'll be. But I assist aspire for in person and telehealth. That's. Telehealth has been what I've been doing primarily for the last about year or so. So I feel like I, I've gotten pretty well versed in that. At first thinking about doing feeding, especially evaluations through telehealth, I had no, no idea where to even start. But that was another great thing about having access to mentors. Throughout this whole program, I was able to ask questions and, and get some ideas not only from mentors, but from the other small group. The small group meetings have been really helpful where it's, it's more intimate. I feel like you can really get good information and have your questions answered and you get a lot of input from OTS and SLPs alike. I, I really love that. But yeah, we're or not we, I, It'll just be me, at least for now. But yeah, I'm. I'm really hoping to work with infants and toddlers with hopefully some bottle and breastfeeding that I can do within my scope. I would love to further my training in that. So I'm hoping to eventually do that and work a little bit more primarily with that infant population. But I also really enjoy working with toddlers and even, you know, adolescents who are having difficulty just expanding their. Their repertoire, expanding what textures they can tolerate and things like that. I just. I have found such a niche, I think, with this, and I feel like it's so important not only for the kiddos that we're working with, but, again, kind of going back to my own personal journey. I'm like, I feel like parents need more education about this stuff. Parents need more support. Yes. You can go to an influencer on Instagram and see what they're recommending for baby led meaning and where to start and all of these things. But for me, I wished that I had someone that I could call and book a consultation with and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm seeing. Do you have any recommendations for my specific baby or my specific kid? So that's something that I would love to kind of dive into a little bit too, is more parent coaching and training and things like that just to help people feel more supported. Because I think that that is a really, really big piece that can sometimes be missing. So, yeah, that's kind of where. Where I'm hoping to go. I'm hoping to have everything established relatively soon and kind of hit the ground running.

Well, I love that for you. I'm excited and I wish you all the best. I know you shared a ton of information about the cpft, so thank you for sharing that for our listeners, because I know this will be. This. This is going out like April 7th when people listen to it. And actually right now we have. The door is open and available to enroll in the CPFT through. I believe it's April 20th or 21st, whatever that Monday is the 21st, I believe. And so, yes, if anybody has any questions, you can email us@supporteedthepedes.com and I'm sharing that because we have a lot of Feed the Peds alumni who were just not getting some of our emails.

And they're like, what.

Wait, you created what? I didn't know about that. So for any of you listening who were not aware, yes, this is a thing. Um, is there anything else that you experience? I mean, you mentioned. I feel like a lot of things. You mentioned the small group and the mentorship and everything from the mentors and connecting with a small, you know, those in your small group, Some of the courses. Was there anything else that you either felt was really challenging, that you're really proud of yourself for doing, or anything else that you felt like was really beneficial from, from the CPFT experience that, you know, maybe surprised you. I don't know anything else to share on that front.

I think for, for me, this feels like such a culmination that I, I, I can't even believe that we're finishing next, next week, next Monday. But just going right from finishing feed the peds to jumping right into the CPFT program, it just feels like I said, like such a culmination, such a light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm so, I'm so glad that I did it. Not only feed the peeds, but I left Feed the peds thinking, okay, I have a good place to start. I feel more comfortable taking some, some feeding clients and feeding, feeding patients. But really furthering all of that through the CPFT program I think has been my favorite part. I can say now with much more confidence that I'm a pediatric feeding therapist. I work with infants and toddlers who have feeding difficulties. I can help assess with some breast and bottle feeding within our scope of practice as SLPs. Yeah, I can definitely give you some help and take a look and see if I'm seeing a suspected tongue or lip tie. That was something even with my own daughter. I'm like, I think she has a tongue tie, but I don't really. I mean, looking back now, I'm like, oh yeah, her tongue was heart shaped. Why did I even question that? But now I just, I feel so much more confident, especially with this, this eight month program. So it sounds like a lot and it is, I mean, it's, it's hard work, but I think this end result is very much worth it.

Well, thank you for that. I'm glad to hear that. That obviously was, our goal, was to make sure that it was really worth it for you all. And when we were creating the cpft, I was like, I want to create a certification program that is functional, where you all actually kind of each, you're challenged, right? And you're working with real cases. You're advancing your coursework as well. And you have mentors to help you kind of guide you through three things, plus colleagues going through the same journey as you to connect with like, we wanted like all these things in place because I felt like all of them were such an important key component to the program where they all like serve different purposes, but holistically it's sort of like this is, this is like all the pieces to the puzzle that we need to help everybody kind of go a bit further and feel like, okay, I Actually, really, I know what I'm doing. I'm confident in this because I've even talked to some others who are like, I feel like I can go out and educate others now. Like, I feel like I could educate my families. I could even educate other colleagues. And, you know, I can take on students. I can work with cfs, I can work with someone who may be brand new to feeding and kind of guide them now. And I was like, oh, that's really cool. Like, that was not necessarily one of our main goals for you all, but I know some of you came in with that goal for yourselves. And so I was like, I love that so many of you. And that's. That's why I do these conversations with you all, one on one before, to make sure, like, one, is this the right next step for you? And two, I remember, I think when we were having our call, I heard your baby in the background. I still remember that in my brain. But I'm like, I want to get to know you all. I want to know what your goals are. I want to know, like, what is it that you want out of this? Because maybe if it's not something that we intended to create with the program, maybe we can kind of. It was the first round, so I'm like, we can adapt. We can add things. We can throw bonuses in. We can make sure that what you all want to get out of it, you're going to get out of it. And so that, again, is our goal with our next round. And we're, you know, we're keeping these, these smaller, and we only, like, allow up to 50 individuals into a given cohort. The first one we kept very small because it was the first time we were doing it. This next one, because we're still primarily taking people from, like, our feed the Peds alumni will probably also be similarly sized, but in the future when we open it up to the general public. But more to come on that and all the requirements, which taking Feed the Pizza will probably be easier just going to put that out there, but we will allow other people who have been in the field for a long time or who have been, you know, taken 40 plus hours of similar coursework to submit that to us to see, like.

Where you're at and What's.

What's needed to. To apply anyways.

I digress.

The idea was just that we wanted everybody kind of coming in on an even playing field. And then we wanted to create this experience. Experience for you all where you actually were like, whoa, this is. This is like, this is what I need. Like, this is what I need in order to actually get out there and help my patients and work with their families. And so I just, I love the feedback.

Yeah, I, I, maybe this will resonate with some other people who are thinking about maybe joining the, the program. But I feel like for myself personally, I can suffer from imposter syndrome. So I, you know, thinking after taking Feed the Peeds, I'm like, okay, yeah, I feel like I definitely have more knowledge, but I don't know that I really feel comfortable yet saying, yes, I am, I'm experienced in this, this and this. And I took, you know, I have, I have all this knowledge. And so for, for me, I just felt like having the certification, having that, having those letters, I don't know if it's the letters themselves or if it's just, you know, having that more extensive and more widely birthed knowledge base, but that's what really. I kind of have had private practice in the back of my brain for a little bit and this was what I needed to get myself there. I felt like I didn't have enough qualifications or I'm just an slp. What, what was going to make people trust me to work with their kids for feeding? What I, I feel like I need to be a specialist. I need to tell, I need to be able to say that I am a, a specialist or something like that. So, yeah, for, that was a big, a big thing for me and that really gave me the push that I needed. So imposter syndrome, it's, it's definitely real, but no more.

I love that. I love it. And, and that is so common. I talk to somebody. So many, so many SLPs and OTS, whether it's going into business, it's going into mayo, it's going into feeding, it's diagnosing, tongue ties, it's. Whatever the case may be. I think imposter syndrome is a big theme and not just in our, like, our particular arena, but I think across the board, right. For medical professionals and people in general, like, it's, you get major imposter imposter syndrome. And so, yeah, I mean, I think one of the ways to definitely combat that is to become really competent in what you're doing, gain that confidence. And then it's so much easier to be like, oh, like, I don't have to worry about that anymore. Like, I actually have earned these credentials. And the thing that you pointed out is like, you get the letters after your name, the cpft. And yes, you do. And so I Want to just point out really quickly, like feed the piece, since we've been talking about both, is a. You get a certificate of completion because that is a true course. Yes, there's mentorship and live calls and case studies and everything. But the CPFT is a true certification where that's where we're able to give you those letters after your name. Certified Pediatric Feeding Therapist, cpft. Because it is a true certification. And so they're two very different things. So while there is like intermediate to advanced coursework and more high level mentorship and a whole other number of components in the certification, two very different things. So I just want to clarify that for anybody who might be new to like feed the PEDs and the CPFT, because you did both. And obviously everyone who's gone through CPFT at this point has done both because that's just how we set it up for the first couple cohorts. But yes. So thank you, Erica, so much for your time and for sharing that with us. Did you tell us where we can find, like where they can find you.

On social media or wherever?

I mean, we'll link that to the episode, but that way they can find you if they want your services.

Yeah, right now I just have my personal Instagram, but once I have everything set up, I'm waiting for the business name to make sure that that is good with the, you know, the articles of organization and everything. But as soon as I have that set up, I will tag you, Holly, and then we'll, we'll blast that out there.

Yes, we will get that out there. We will add, if it's not in the next week when we, we launch this episode, then we will make sure we go back and add it so everybody going forward has access to it and we'll make sure everybody knows how to find you. Congratulations on your CPFT and on your, your private practice that you're starting.

So thank you so much.

Thank you for joining me. Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you found value in this episode and want to hear more of these Myotots, airweight and feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode on your social media platforms. You can access free resources and all I offer@halibalkin.com or pop over to hollybulcken on Instagram to get all the latest updates.