Planning a pregnancy? Even making better food choices up to 3 months before conception can improve fertility for couples or individuals. Melissa can support you whether it be getting healthy, making positive food changes, supporting weight loss or insulin resistance for positive pregnancy outcomes. Melissa can work with you throughout your pregnancy journey to support your nutrition from the critical time of organogenesis (the development of your baby's critical organs) in the first trimester through to your third trimester. Melissa specialises in understanding challenges of certain conditions in pregnancy such as hyperemesis, diabetes in pregnancy or pregnancy following gastric banding or sleeve gastrectomy. Melissa can support vegetarian and vegan mothers and prevent nutritional deficiencies such as iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy. After pregnancy, your body needs additional nutrition for healing and breastfeeding. Melissa can provide guidance and support to take the guess work out so that you can focus on these special moments with your newborn.

Whether it be new onset of gestational diabetes or pre-existing diabetes, Melissa specialises in managing diabetes in pregnancy through nutrition. Learn what foods are drinks are carbohydrates and how certain foods can affect your blood glucose levels, while ensuring that you meet your nutritional requirements for a healthy pregnancy. Melissa can work with your doctor or diabetes nurse to support your pregnancy journey so that you have a healthy pregnancy and delivery.

Meet with Melissa to optimise your diet and nutrition to help manage the symptoms of hormonal health conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis. Melissa will work with you to find the best approach for you and your needs.

Melissa can support positive changes in nutrition and lifestyle to improve your overall wellness or for digestive health, cardiac (heart) health, hyperlipidaemia, insulin resistance to reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Melissa believes in a whole food sustainable and non-judgemental approach and support you to feel best through good nutrition.

Melissa can manage GI conditions such as constipation, diarrhoea, GI reflux, carbohydrate intolerances (lactose, sucrose, fructose intolerances), coeliac disease or irritable bowel syndrome. Please inform Melissa if you have a Gastroenterologist and she will be happy to liaise and communicate with your medical team.

Melissa can support you navigating the journey with starting solids for your infant or with any feeding or growth concerns that may occur in the first year of life. Melissa has specialised skills in supporting infants born prematurely.

Melissa works in collaboration with your child or teenager, focusing on each individual's abilities and strengths. Melissa provides personalised nutrition, hydration and growth goals to enable each child to be the best they can be. This may include oral nutrition support or enteral feeding in conjunction with other allied health practitioners, nursing support and your Paediatrician. Melissa provides community nutrition rehabilitation for any child or teenager that requires ongoing nutrition support following either prolonged illness or acquired injury. Melissa also provides long term nutrition support for those with underlying neuro-disability or conditions such as Trisomy 21, Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), demyelinating neuropathies or cerebral palsy (CP). Melissa can work with you and your medical team on achieving your child's growth and feeding goals. Weight management success in disability and rehabilitation is best achieved through a multi-disciplinary team. If you already have a Paediatrician or other allied health involved in your child or teenager's care, then Melissa will be happy to support the nutrition component of weight management. Melissa will focus on balance, variety and regaining energy and work collaboratively and sensitively with you and your child.

For various reasons some children require additional nutrition support for growth. Even if your child is a good feeder they may need some extra top up nutrition support to ensure that their growth remains on track. Melissa can get to the bottom of what is going on and what kind of additional nutrition support works best for your child. Melissa believes in simple, non complicated approaches that make life easier. If your child has a Paediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) as a result of an underlying medical condition Melissa is able to support this whether it be nutrition support, nutritional supplements or home enteral nutrition while they increase skills and confidence in eating. This approach is best managed within a team including a Speech Pathologist. Melissa is happy to work with your other therapists to achieve your child's nutrition, health and feeding goals. Please note Melissa does not manage eating disorders which are different to PFD and are best managed within a specialist team such as the Statewide Eating Disorder Unit.

Melissa works with children with Autism, ADHD or sensory processing disorders to work towards food and meals being nutritionally balanced, expanding variety and making mealtimes less stressful for all. Melissa can support your child in a fun, nurturing and engaging approach to make food and mealtimes less of a chore. Melissa takes cues from your child to support increasing variety through creativity and engagement.