About this module
This module explores the psychological and emotional dimensions of infant feeding, including maternal expectations, identity, guilt or distress around feeding decisions, and the broader mental health implications for mothers navigating mixed feeding.
Learning objectives:
- Recognise the emotional and psychological impact of infant feeding experiences on maternal wellbeing in the postpartum period
- Understand how feeding expectations, societal messaging, and identity can influence maternal mental health during mixed feeding
- Identify common signs of psychological distress (including guilt, shame, grief, anxiety, or low mood) related to feeding challenges
- Apply trauma-informed and non-judgemental communication strategies when supporting mothers navigating mixed feeding
- Support maternal mental health while discussing feeding options and know when and how to escalate or refer for additional psychological support
The Expert
Sarah Purvey | Clinical Psychologist
Sarah Purvey is a Clinical Psychologist with 20 years of experience, Founder and Clinical Director of Eastern Shore Psychology in Hobart, and an Honorary Clinical Lecturer with the School of Psychology at the University of Tasmania.
Sarah has extensive expertise in the assessment and treatment of psychological trauma, with a particular focus on PTSD and Complex PTSD. Much of her work sits at the intersection of childhood trauma and the perinatal period — supporting women through matrescence, identity disruption, and the shame that so often accompanies early parenthood. She also works extensively in supporting hey clinicians to provide neuroaffirming assessment, as well as offering neuroaffirming therapy, with a focus on the late identification of ADHD and autism in women and girls. As a late-identified AuADHD clinician herself, she brings both clinical depth and lived experience to the work.
Sarah is a published author, of Keep Sane and Parent On and a regular speaker on perinatal mental health, trauma, and neurodivergence, and provides supervision to early-career psychologists.
Modules in this masterclass
A Practical Guide to Mixed Feeding
This module brings together three leading experts in infant nutrition to address the mixed feeding challenge from end to end. Beginning with strategies to maintain and improve breastfeeding, to recognising when it is best for the infant to move to a mixed feeding regime, to how to initiate and maintain mixed feeding so as to avoid impacting on the mother’s own milk supply. This educational resource is aimed at bringing health professionals up to speed on how best to optimise the nutritional opportunities for infants in this crucial time.
This activity is proudly supported by an independent educational grant from Nutricia
Breast milk is best for babies. Healthcare professional use only – not for distribution to the general public