For parents of fussy and restrictive eaters
ThE Food
Lab
Turn mealtimes from a daily power struggle into a playful experiment.
Live online feeding therapy for your children aged 2-7 years old.
The Food Lab is a 3 month, play-based feeding therapy programme, led by a Paediatric Dietitian and Feeding Therapist.
One of the things that makes The Food Lab truly unique?
Your child joins us live on the calls for real feeding therapy sessions, where I guide you both through playful food exploration activities together, in real time, in your own home.
The same stressful script
every EVeNING
You’ve tried the Instagram tips. You’ve tried the “hidden veggie” recipes. You’ve tried waiting them out. And still, every evening follows the exact same stressful script.
You cook a meal, introduce something new, and instantly watch your child shut down, gag, or throw a tantrum. So you end up cooking the same beige ‘safe foods’ day after day, just like you have for the past year, to ensure they don’t go to bed on an empty stomach.
Living with a restrictive eater isn’t just exhausting. It’s an invisible mental load that takes over your entire life:
- The Social Anxiety: You dread birthday parties, family gatherings, or eating out because you know the inevitable questions and judgments are coming.
- The Financial and Physical Waste: You spend a fortune on fresh, nutritious food, only to scrape it directly into the bin night after night.
- The Unhelpful Advice: You’re tired of being told “They’ll eat when they’re hungry” by well-meaning people who don’t understand that, no, your child actually won’t.
- The Middle-of-the-Night Worry: You lie awake wondering if their development is stalling, if they’re lacking vital nutrients, and why mealtimes became something you dread rather than enjoy.
Please hear this: you haven’t failed and your child isn’t just “being naughty.”
When a child severely restricts food, it’s rarely about stubbornness. Standard parenting hacks won’t work here because they don’t address the nervous system. To change how they eat, we have to change how they feel about food.
Where food science meets pressure-free play.
Most feeding advice fails because it forces children to look at food as an obligation. “Just take one bite.” “No dessert until you finish your peas.” To an anxious or sensory-overloaded child, this feels like an attack.
The Food Lab takes a fundamentally different approach.
We take food off the pedestal and bring it into the laboratory. By reframing your child as a “Food Scientist,” we remove the expectation to eat and replace it with the freedom to explore. Through low-stakes, clinical, play-based sensory experiments, we slowly desensitise their nervous system to new textures, smells, and tastes.
They don’t feel pressured to eat. They just feel curious. And curiosity is the gateway to trying new things.
Life on the other side of fussy eating
Hi, I’m Emma
I’m a Paediatric Dietitian, Feeding Therapist and mum. I know how stressful feeding can feel, because I’ve been there too.
I dreaded mealtimes, especially weaning. My little girl wouldn’t put food (or even toys) in her mouth unless I spoon-fed her from a pouch. It felt lonely, frustrating and scary, and the advice I got didn’t help one bit.
That’s why I do this work. I support families who are tired of being told to “just keep offering it” when what they need is a proper plan. As a Dietitian and Feeding Therapist, I bring together nutrition, feeding therapy and real, lived parent experience to help children feel safer and more confident around food.
The Food Lab brings all of that together in a way that feels fun and exciting for your child, too. Because eating shouldn’t feel like a battle, and your child shouldn’t feel like they’re failing at food. Sometimes they just need a different way in.
Emma xx
The Food Lab Framework
Over 3 months, we’ll have 6 deep-dive, fortnightly 1-2-1 sessions alongside continuous email support. Your child is welcome to join us on the call for live feeding therapy sessions where we do real food exploration activities together in real time, though this is completely optional and works just as well with parents only. Here’s how we build your child’s confidence, step by step:
The Foundation
Weeks 1 to 4
We start with a full nutrition analysis to see exactly what your child is eating and where the gaps are, then begin gentle feeding therapy strategies to lower mealtime anxiety so we know exactly what we’re working with.
The Safe Table
Weeks 5 to 8
We reshape what’s happening around food (language, routines, pressure points) so your child feels safe enough to explore, then introduce playful food exploration entirely on their own terms.
The Expansion Framework
Weeks 9 to 12
We build food chains connecting safe foods to new ones, continue fortnightly support to troubleshoot, then finish with a session reviewing progress and planning ahead.
Ongoing support between consultations
Any queries or questions you may have between our online chats can be raised via email as they arise. I’ll respond just as soon as I can, so you are always in the best and most confident space to keep working through the programme.
Online resources
You’ll also get recipe ideas, games, and books tailored to your child’s age. Learning won’t stop with the support I give you. I want you to draw on a range of resources to keep mealtimes fun, engaging, and full of opportunities for your child to explore new foods.
Food Chaining Masterclass
Food chaining is one of my favourite ways to help children expand their diets, so much so that I’ve even been called the “Food Chaining Queen”! In this programme, I’ll share my masterclass and guide you step by step, giving you prompts to build your own food chains and a spreadsheet packed with ideas.
Join The Food Lab
Getting access to a clinical Paediatric Dietitian for 1:1 feeding therapy usually requires months on a waiting list or thousands in private clinical fees.
The Food Lab
or Payment Plan: 2 x £299.50
Unsure if the programme is right for your family? Book a free discovery call here.
Everything you need for lasting mealtime peace
The Food Lab is 1:1 support
- 1 virtual session with you, plus 5 live bespoke feeding therapy sessions with your child: In our first session, we plan out your next 3 months together. Then I work live with your child in 5 sessions tailored directly to their specific feeding challenges and sensory needs.
- Customised Action Plans: step-by-step guidance after every single session so you never have to guess what to do next.
- The Food Lab Experiment Toolkit: practical, play-based ideas and sensory strategies to make food feel safe and fun.
- Direct Support Between Sessions: ongoing access to ask questions, share wins, or troubleshoot difficult days as they happen.
FAQs
Is this a totally personalised plan?
Yes. Everything is built around your child: their nutrition, their sensory preferences, and what’s actually happening at your mealtimes. There’s no generic template here. We plan what foods we will select for the 5 live sessions together.
What age range do you work with?
2 to 7 years old for the live feeding therapy sessions
How soon are you available to help?
Usually within 1 to 2 weeks. Choose a time that suits you in my online diary, and you’ll be booked in for your first session. No long waiting lists, and no waiting months for an NHS referral.
How long are the sessions?
The first session is 1 hour and the 5 feeding therapy sessions with your child are 45 minutes long
What if I have a question between sessions?
Will I get a report or plan?
I have another question that's not answered here.
Ready to join the Food Lab?
Don’t spend another 12 weeks dreading dinner.
Let’s turn your kitchen back into a place of connection, curiosity and joy.
Secure your spot in The Food Lab today.
Email em**@*************************co.uk for payment plan options