The Gentle Village

20/03/2026

There are some people who just hold everything together behind the scenes…and our beautiful Renee is absolutely one of them! 🤍

Renee, thank you for keeping us sane, keeping the clinic running and being the warm, kind voice that greets our families every single day. You make such a difference to every parent who walks through our doors (and to me too) and I truly couldn’t have asked for a better person to be the face and supporting The Gentle Village.

We are so lucky to have you! 🥹

And to our beautiful TGV families, thank you so much for your patience. We know wait times are long at the moment and when feeding your little one is hard work, it can feel even more overwhelming waiting for an appt with us!

Between the high demand, Easter and school holidays with our own little loves, our availability is a little tighter than we’d like. We are actively working on reducing wait times as much as possible.

Brenda’s next appt available for an initial consult is the 15th of April at this stage. Cheryl has a couple of home visit appointments left available on the 2nd of April. So, if you see an appointment pop up - grab it straight away and make sure you leave a note to be put on the waitlist too!

We are trying our best to bring families forward whenever we can! Please know that we also triage appointments - so filling in your intake form as soon as possible helps us find ways to bring your appointment forward!

Once again, thank you for trusting us, waiting for us and allowing The Gentle Village to be part of your village 🫶🏼

16/03/2026

Bottle feeding should feel calm and comfortable for you and your baby!

But sometimes babies show subtle signs that feeding is actually much harder work than it should be.

If you see signs like:

🍼 hands clenched or a stiff/straight little body during feeds
🍼 a shallow or pursed latch on the teat
🍼 suction breaking or clicking sounds
🍼 milk spilling during feeds
🍼 tiring quickly even though they’re still hungry
🍼 breathing up after a few suck swallows

These signs can sometimes point to reduced tongue function, oral tension or feeding mechanics and a bottle/teat that may not be working well for your little one.

The problem is most bottle fed babies will still gain weight, so these challenges are often dismissed as “normal” or nothing to worry about.

But over time they can contribute to things like reflux symptoms, gassiness, long feeds or your little one becoming frustrated or unsettled during feeds and they stop taking in the volume they need.

Understanding what to look for during a bottle feed is one of the most important steps in supporting your baby’s feeding.

Inside my upcoming Formula & Bottle Feeding Masterclass, I teach parents not only how to choose the right formula, but also:

💫 the red flags to watch for during bottle feeds
💫 how oral function affects feeding efficiency
💫 how to choose bottles and teats that support better tongue movement
💫 practical ways to make feeds calmer and more comfortable for your baby

If you’d like to join the early access waitlist, comment MASTERCLASS and I’ll send you the link.

15/03/2026

Over the past few years in my clinic, I’ve supported so many families who are formula feeding their babies but feel like they’ve been left to figure it all out on their own.

There are so many wonderful breastfeeding classes available for parents, but what I kept seeing was a gap when it came to clear, evidence-based education for families who are choosing or needing to introduce formula to their baby.

So I decided to create something I wish parents had access to much earlier in their feeding journey.

I’ve been quietly working on a Formula Feeding Masterclass (it’s taken me a long time and a few gentle nudges from my lovely mamas, I’ll be honest haha), sharing the same knowledge and guidance I give families in my clinic every day.

My goal is to help you feel informed and confident when it comes to choosing a formula, preparing bottles safely and understanding, how to feed your baby a bottle while still supporting their oral development and what may actually be behind feeding discomfort or reflux symptoms.

This course has been created from my perspective as a registered nurse, endorsed midwife, IBCLC and orofacial Myofunctional therapist. It’s designed to support families without judgement, whether formula feeding was always part of the plan or something that happened along the way.

I’m really excited to finally share this with you.

If you’d like to be the first to know when the masterclass launches and receive early access pricing, comment FORMULA and I’ll send you the waitlist link.

Here’s to closing the gap in infant feeding!

11/03/2026

09/03/2026

I see so many babies coming in to our clinic with a ‘white tongue’ and their parents are concerned that it’s thrush…but 95% of the time…it isn’t!

Yet so many parents are told to treat it with thrush medication straight away. Even when no other symptoms are present!

What I often notice 👇

The majority of babies I see with a ‘white tongue’ will also have reflux or silent reflux, combined with reduced mid-posterior tongue elevation, which is very often linked to a tongue tie.

When the tongue isn’t lifting well to make contact with the palate, it can’t help clear the tongue surface as effectively.

So instead, milk residue, reflux, normal oral bacteria and dead skin cells can begin to build up…creating that white coating parents notice.

Sometimes it’s thrush, but there’s usually other symptoms present with both you and your little one.

What I tell my parents in my consults is that their little one’s ‘white tongue’, can give us all a visual clue about how bub’s tongue is moving and what might be happening with their digestion.

If you want to start identifying what might actually be driving your baby’s reflux symptoms, comment TRACKER and I’ll send you the reflux symptom tracker I use with families.

And if your baby has a tongue tie or suspected oral restriction, comment GUIDE to access my tongue tie guide and learn how to support your baby’s feeding.

Because sometimes the symptom isn’t the root cause 💜

04/03/2026

Today is IBCLC Day and it feels like the perfect moment to recognise the people behind the letters IBCLC and what it actually means!

Becoming an IBCLC is not something you just decide to call yourself one day.

It takes years of education and hundreds to thousands of clinical hours supporting real families before even undertaking such a rigorous worldwide exam!

Then once you qualify, there’s still the continued 1000s of
ongoing professional development hours, commitment to evidence based care that we must maintain every 5 years in order to keep those credentials.

But beyond the qualifications, the study and the financial cost it bares, IBCLCs carry something else, a torch and an immense desire and care that can’t ever be measured on piece of paper!

💜 We carry the emotional weight of the vulnerable families we support every single day!

💜 We sit with mothers, when their hearts are feeling heavy, anxious and exhausted and when breastfeeding just sometimes feels impossible.

💜 We advocate for your feeding goals and babies whose feeding struggles are often misunderstood or easily dismissed.

💜 We work through complex medical, anatomical and developmental challenges surrounding lactation and infant feeding.

💜 But most importantly we celebrate those tiny wins that mean everything to a family that are deep or in the thick of it!

Can it be exhausting being an IBCLC? Hell yeah!

This work asks a lot of us! Emotionally, physically, financially and professionally!

And while it may sometimes feel like there is a lot of unsolicited advice floating around these days or many people taking an interest in infant feeding and lactation, becoming an IBCLC is a very specific professional pathway that requires extensive training, supervision and accountability.

The word “lactation” itself is not a regulated term. But IBCLC is. There is no substitute for the level of knowledge and care an IBCLC provides families.

For that, I feel incredibly privileged to be part of this specialised profession! 🥹

Happy IBCLC Day to my incredible colleagues, the ones who continue to show up for families every single day with dedication, skill, compassion and integrity.💛

25/02/2026

We’re so pleased to welcome Hayley to The Gentle Village 🤍

Hayley is a mama of 3, an Occupational Therapist and is currently completing her IBCLC training with us. She is practising in a supervised capacity under direct mentorship with Brenda, supporting families alongside our team.

Hayley brings a calm, thoughtful approach to care and is passionate about helping families feel informed, supported and confident in their feeding choices.

Welcome, Hayley! 🌼

14/02/2026

If your baby had a tongue tie release and feeding is still hard work or painful, you are not imagining it.

It’s not that the release “didn’t work” either!

I see this almost every day in my practice. Here’s my why 👇

Your baby’s tongue tie forms in the first trimester of pregnancy. That means your baby has spent months learning to suck, swallow against restriction. They compensate. They begin to recruit their jaw, neck and body (especially if you feel a crazy amount of hiccups in the late third trimester 🤔💡

When the tie is released, it just changes the anatomy. But your baby’s habits don’t change.

It doesn’t automatically restore function but it allows range for function to be restored with the right help!

This is why some families feel confused or devastated when feeding doesn’t magically improve after the release.

Function needs retraining. Just think about when we need knee or back surgery - we have physio before and physio after! A release procedure is no different!

Optimising feeding before AND after release with IBCLC support, oral therapy and bodywork is what actually optimises outcomes!

In our Gentle Guide to Tongue Ties, we explain:

👅 why feeding may not improve straight away
👅 what compensatory patterns look like
👅 how tongue posture affects airway and digestion
👅 what to do before and after a release
👅 and how to know if progress is actually happening

If you want answers instead of guesswork, this is for you.

Comment GUIDE and we’ll send you access - 60% off to get you started but it won’t stay at this price!

10/02/2026

If your baby sounds like a struggling little trumpet when gas finally comes out, it’s not just “all babies struggle with trapped wind”, especially when they’re so uncomfortable or visibly in pain! 💨🎺

Unfortunately, I see this all the time in clinic. Very uncomfortable little tummies, or babies who haven’t opened their bowels for days. And in the early weeks, this matters!

Did you know 👉🏻 Babies under 6 weeks of age usually p**p several times a day, including breastfed babies? From around 6 weeks the average is usually 1-3 a day! So when things slow right down, there’s usually a reason.

Often, that reason isn’t just your little one’s gut!

When feeding takes more effort (for example with oral restriction or poor oral function), babies can swallow more air during feeds. That extra air increases pressure through the abdomen. A tiny gut under a lot of pressure doesn’t move so smoothly, which is why reflux (even silent), trapped wind and delayed p**ping can often show up together.

Now add in body tension…

Digestive discomfort can cause tension through your baby’s diaphragm, abdomen and hips (lots of crying and hiccups doesn’t help either). The hips are closely connected to the abdominal cavity through muscles and fascia (including the psoas), which means when your baby’s hips are tight or locked up, their abdomen often is too…and this is where gut movement can slow down!

This is why gently moving your baby’s hip can help.

Working the hips helps reduce tension through this connection and creates space and allows that built up pressure to move or release.

This is the WHY to the “bicycle legs” technique you are often told to do to get your baby’s wind moving!

So when your little one’s body finally softens, that wind finally has only one way to go 🎺💨

This is why reflux, gas and constipation are often feeding and body issues, not just ‘normal’ baby issues and why looking at the whole picture matters far more than treating symptoms in isolation!

👉🏻 Did you know tongue ties can contribute to trapped wind and constipation? Comment “MINI” to get our free tongue tie guide and understand our why!

💫 Supporting tiny tummies 💕