I highly recommend Crumbs and Smiles to any family needing help with their children’s eating or speaking development. Working with Amy has had an incredible positive impact in our lives. Our son has pediatric feeding disorder and a tongue tie so he always had trouble obtaining the proper nutrition. We lived around the country and for the first time we have an actual diagnosis and treatment plan that is working for my son. He is starting to eat a variety of foods and is losing his anxiety and fear. I feel supported by Amy and couldn’t recommend her services more. I don’t know what we would do if we hadn’t found her. Her professionalism and expertise besides her care for children are remarkable.
Raquel M., San Francisco, CA
“Our daughter had a g-tube from infancy. She has struggled with chewing and swallowing food. She also has some texture aversions. Amy Nunez brought her expertise and experience to our situation and helped our daughter learn to chew and swallow. She gave us tools and tricks to help our daughter adjust to the textures she struggles with. She was so patient and kind. Our daughter loved her sessions with Amy. With Amy’s help we were eventually able to wean off of all g-tube feedings. She no longer has a g-tube. We still use some of Amy’s techniques to help our daughter with textures she doesn’t like and she no longer struggles with chewing or swallowing.”
Michele H., Cayucos, CA
“I’d like to share a little about my son. He is now 7 years old and just a few months ago I could count all the foods he would eat on one hand. We didn’t have a lot of choices and his preferred food list kept getting shorter and less healthier as time went on. I realized my son wasn’t going to outgrow his feeding troubles and that’s around the same time I met Amy. I felt like the worst parent in the world. I felt like my son’s feeding difficulties were my fault. Maybe I gave him too much of this and not enough of that, and so on. Mealtimes were so stressful and they should not be. There was so much negativity around food we couldn’t enjoy a single meal together. Not to mention how the rest of my family felt about my son not eating at our gatherings. They didn’t understand how I couldn’t make my son eat. “If he’s hungry, he will eat”. Nope. He didn’t. He was never that hungry. In fact, he never told me he was hungry. He never asked for food.
With Amy’s help I was able to understand why my son was having a hard time trying new foods. She pinpointed what about specific foods he disliked or didn’t tolerate. With her guidance I’ve been able to gently introduce vegetables and other non-preferred yet necessary foods. It’s still not easy, but I’ve learned how to encourage and change his experiences around food so that he now enjoys eating. I think that’s huge. I’m grateful for Amy’s knowledge and grace in working with my son. I think she makes him feel confident and he’s refusing a lot less now. Sometimes our kids don’t just “grow out of it” and sometimes we need outside help. That doesn’t make us bad parents. I’m grateful for Amy. She has many gifts, I’m sure, but being a feeding therapist is one of her greatest. “
Diana G., Coachella Valley, CA
Amy was a huge help to my son and his eating habits and I highly recommend her services. At 1 year my son was refusing to eat solid foods. He briefly tried BLW at 6 months and then had a full aversion to food to where he wouldn’t eat for the next 6 months. Working with Amy she taught me new tricks to create a positive eating experience, find solutions for the way he was incorrectly chewing and swallowing and she had incredible patience to attempt multiple strategies with my son. Ultimately after meeting with my son weekly, he started to find eating a positive experience and he is now 20 months and thriving. I attest this to working with Amy who is the professional to diagnose/point out things I was originally missing with his eating habits.
Tiffany A., Indio, CA
Amy has been an absolute godsend for our family as we navigate our daughter Presley’s special needs. From the moment we started therapy with her, it was evident that Amy’s dedication and pexpertise were unparalleled. She has a natural gift for connecting with children, and her patience knows no bounds. Presley adores her, and it’s clear that Amy genuinely cares about her progress and well-being.
Under Amy’s guidance, we’ve seen remarkable improvements in Presley’s speech development. Her sessions are not only effective but also enjoyable for Presley, which speaks volumes about Amy’s ability to make learning fun. Moreover, Amy goes above and beyond by providing us, as parents, with invaluable support and guidance, empowering us to continue Presley’s progress at home.
We cannot express enough gratitude for Amy’s incredible care and expertise. Presley is thriving more and more each day, thanks in large part to Amy’s unwavering dedication. We wholeheartedly recommend Amy to any parent seeking exceptional speech therapy for their child. She’s truly a gem in her field.
Ryan P., Palm Desert, CA
Amy is truly an angel. I came to her when my daughter was only two months old because she was born with severe tongue/cheek/lip ties and accompanying feeding disorders = i.e. she really struggled to both breast feed and bottle feed. My daughter was so tiny and I was constantly terrified about her health. Luckily for us, we were referred to Amy and from the very first session I could see that she cares deeply about her clients. Amy went above and beyond to help not just my baby, but also to help educate and reassure me as the anxious parent. Amy is incredible with children – she is gentle, kind and comforting. And also silly and playful when the situation called for it, which really helped put my baby at ease. She explained every single thing that she did with my baby and or observed, and also took the time to answer every single one of my questions. Because she provided me with tools to help me help my girl at home between sessions, I felt always felt that we were making steady progress. My baby is now 19 months old, and has overcome ALL of her feeding issues. Hallelujah! She is at a healthy weight, she LOVES food and can feed herself with no issues. I am grateful beyond measure to Amy and I cannot recommend her highly enough to other parents and caregivers!!
Dani P., Palm Desert, CA
Crumbs and Smiles™ 