Sammy Hammond Speech, Language & Feeding Therapist

Sammy Hammond Speech, Language & Feeding Therapist Speech Therapist and Lactation Consultant specialising in neonatal and paediatric feeding difficulti

How’s your work/life balance going 😋 ❤️
15/08/2025

How’s your work/life balance going 😋

❤️

Spring Competition with .co.za 💛 # speech pathologist
09/08/2025

Spring Competition with .co.za 💛

# speech pathologist

Mouthing objects before starting solids is a crucial developmental stage for babies. This typically begins around 3–5 mo...
04/08/2025

Mouthing objects before starting solids is a crucial developmental stage for babies. This typically begins around 3–5 months of age. It might look like simple play, but it lays the foundation for successful and safe eating.

🧠 Sensory and Oral Motor Development

• Builds oral strength and coordination by helping develop the tongue, lips, jaw, and cheeks—all vital for chewing, moving food around the mouth, and swallowing safely.

• Desensitizes the gag reflex by exploring objects of different textures and shapes, babies learn how far back in the mouth objects can go, which helps reduce an overactive gag reflex when solids are introduced.

• Mouthing promotes sensory exploration as babies gather information through touch, taste, and temperature. This exploration increases tolerance for different food textures and temperatures later on.

👅 Preparation for Chewing and Safe Swallowing

• Mouthing teaches graded jaw movements (not just sucking), which are necessary for chewing soft solids.

• It helps babies learn to move their tongue side to side - a critical skill for moving food to their molars.

😬 Teething Relief (we are currently in this phase)

🧩 Cognitive and Fine Motor Development

• Babies begin to coordinate hand-to-mouth movements, an essential step for self-feeding.

• It supports object permanence and cause-effect learning (e.g., “If I bite this, it feels good on my gums”).

How to encourage mouthing 🤭

• Offer safe mouthing toys: silicone teethers, textured rings, crinkle cloths, or cooled spoons.

• Follow your child’s lead. If they gag and/or get upset then downgrade to a smaller object or encourage mouthing of own hands.

Pop any questions about infant mouthing in the comments below 👇🏼

“Mommy it’s my turn to make milk for Baby Jordy” - Kyla
12/07/2025

“Mommy it’s my turn to make milk for Baby Jordy” - Kyla

👶💛 Newborn Must-Haves — From a Paediatric Speech Pathologist, Neonatal Therapist, LC, and Mom of two 💛👶As a paediatric s...
12/06/2025

👶💛 Newborn Must-Haves — From a Paediatric Speech Pathologist, Neonatal Therapist, LC, and Mom of two 💛👶

As a paediatric speech pathologist, neonatal therapist, lactation consultant, and mama myself, I’ve had the privilege of supporting hundreds of newborns, — both in the NICU and at home. These are the must-have items I recommend not just professionally, but ones I leaned on personally during those first precious (and exhausting!) weeks. 🍼💤 Some of my favourite brands include:
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• Car seat: , • • Baby Carrier:
• Breast pump & catcher:
• Sleep sack:
• Sleep nest:
• Sound machine: .co
• Ready meals:
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💬 What were some of your newborn essential items?

📦 Tag a new mama who needs this list!
📸 Save this post for your baby registry planning!
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#

02/06/2025

The spotlight shifts to Cape Town and SACLC’s Sammy Hammond.

Interoception, our next sense to explore, plays a significant but often overlooked role in breastfeeding—for both the mother and the infant. Interoceptive awareness affects breastfeeding from physiological, emotional, and behavioural perspectives.

Mothers with good interoceptive awareness may be more attuned to the sensations of milk production and let-down (e.g., tingling or fullness).

Breastfeeding mothers who are aware of their own hydration and nutrition needs receive the signals via their interoceptive sense. Breastfeeding success can be affected by stress and anxiety, and interoception can help to regulate emotional responses.

Interoception includes pain signals. Ni**le pain, engorgement, or mastitis are all processed interoceptively.
Interoceptive development starts early. Infants rely on internal cues to signal hunger and fullness through crying or turning away.

Breastfeeding on demand supports the development of healthy interoceptive awareness in the baby—helping them connect internal hunger and satiety cues to their behaviour.

Skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding promote autonomic regulation, influencing heartbeat, breathing, and digestion. .m .marais .dee

Supporting interoceptive awareness through mindfulness can help improve breastfeeding experiences.

A very Merry Christmas to all those celebrating 🎄🎁🎅🏻
25/12/2024

A very Merry Christmas to all those celebrating 🎄🎁🎅🏻

01/04/2024

April is that you already? 🧐

Can’t believe we are already in the second quarter of 2024!

THANK YOU so much to our community and customers for your love and support this year so far, we couldn’t do it without you. 🤍

Featuring little one with our Stage One Training spoon, looking how we all feel. 😉

Address

Cape Town
8000

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 16:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 16:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 16:00
Thursday 08:00 - 16:00
Friday 08:00 - 15:00
Saturday 08:30 - 13:00

Telephone

+27729659770

Website

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