Speaker: Gill Rapley, BLW creator

Join Gill Rapley, the pioneer of BLW, for a course that takes us back to where it all began. Together, we’ll explore the why behind BLW — and what professionals need to know to support families with clarity and confidence.

Learning objectives:
- The true philosophy and key features of BLW.
- What’s been lost as BLW became mainstream.
- The real benefits of BLW for babies and families.
- Whether BLW should be supported in group settings like daycares.

Speaker: Tamara Soles, PhD, psychologist

This training will focus on the profound connection between mental health and feeding, equipping professionals with the knowledge and tools they need to help promote well-being in the family unit.

Learning objectives:
- Help professionals gain insight into the complexities of parental discord.
- Learn how to appropriately refer parents for therapeutic support.
- Assist mothers in learning how to let go of the stress, anxiety, and control.
- Emphasize the importance of involving both parents in the feeding journey.
- Explore the connection between mental health and feeding.

Speaker: Jill Rabin, Speech Language Pathologist and IBCLC

Join Jill Rabin, co-author of Your Baby Can Self-Feed, Too!, and learn about the adapted baby-led weaning approach™. Learn how shape, size and texture of different foods can be used systematically and therapeutically to assist with chewing skills, jaw strength, growth and gag desensitization.

Learning objectives:
-How to adapt BLW to neurodiverse babies (tongue tie, Down syndrome, feeding aversions, GERD, etc).
- Introduction to Jill Rabin’s sequence: types of foods offered & approach.
- Explanation of the benefits of a baby-led and responsive feeding approach for babies with feeding challenges.

Speaker: Diana K Rice, registered dietitian

This course will explore what a positive relationship with food is, the health benefits of fostering one and actions that practitioners can encourage parents to take foster a positive relationship with food in their children.

Learning objectives:
- Recognize the influence of a parent’s relationship with food on a child’s eating competence, identify signs that a parent may need support for their own disordered eating and direct parents to appropriate resources.
- Describe the seven the main factors that play a role in a child’s relationship with food and demonstrate how to screen for them in clinical practice.
- Identify the existing evidence-based paradigms clinicians can use to assist families in both helping their children foster a positive relationship with food from birth onwards and apply them in clinical practice.

Speakers: Maude Perreault, PhD and Sarthak Matravadia, registered dietitians

When kids learn how to eat, caregivers learn how to feed. Yet, this last part is often overlooked. Informed by our research and clinical experience, we will shift away from a kid-centric approach, turning our attention toward the role of caregivers when discussing feeding kids.

Learning objectives:
- Critically consider the role of diet culture that occurs even in the first year of life of children.
- Explain the complexity of the bi-directional feeding dynamic between a parent and their child.
- Support modern families and reflect on their needs and challenges around feeding.
- Include fathers and other parents in their professional practice.
- Appreciate the importance of family values in biracial and immigrant families in order to support them in culturally appropriate ways.

Speaker: Emmanuelle Dumoulin, registered dietitian

This training, hosted by Emmanuelle, RD, will discuss the intricate relationship between foods, intestinal microbiota, and overall health, to shed some light on this super interesting topic within the world of pediatric nutrition.

Learning objectives:
- Define intestinal microbiota and its components.
- Understand how diet influences the composition of the microbiome.
- Understand the connection between nourishing your body and how it contributes to overall health.

Speakers: Dr. Philippe Bégin, pediatric allergist and Jessica Coll, registered dietitian

The introduction of allergens raises many questions for parents. For dietitians and nutrition professionals, staying on top of constantly evolving scientific literature can be a challenge. How can we break down the information that circulates and better support families?

Learning objectives:
- Explain the fundamentals of allergen introduction in infancy.
- Describe why early exposure to allergens is important, starting from the very first bites.
- Discuss the importance of maintaining tolerance and outline how frequently to offer allergens.
- Adapt allergen introduction advice to align with individual family needs and preferences.
- Demonstrate practical ways to introduce each allergen.

Speaker: Amy Manojlovski, registered dietitian

Utilizing case studies, you will see how Adapted Baby Led weaning has been used in clients where medical professionals might have recommended other feeding methods to “get” children to eat. When we let go of the get, we begin to see what a child is capable of and are better able to support families in their feeding journeys.

Learning objectives:
- Identify barriers to ABLW and how to address them.
- List ways that ABLW can help with weight gain.
- Identify how ABLW can increase nutrients in an infant’s diet.

Speaker: Heidi Liefer Moreland, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, CLC - Speech language pathologist

This training focuses on the important role internal motivation plays in the baby's ability to process food experiences and make meaningful progress in feeding. You will learn the role of the brain-body connection in recognizing, interpreting and integrating external information and internal body signals.

Learning Objectives:
- List external motivations to eat and explain the problems with using them in feeding.
- List internal motivations to eat and explain why they are important for motor development, sensory processing and the development of self-regulation.
- List the internal and external barriers to recognizing and responding to internal motivation.
- Explain how to facilitate internal motivations in mealtimes and feeding therapy.