Founder
Natalie Raven Morris – Founder & CEO
Trustees
Hannah Daw – Chair of Board of Trustees
When Hannah’s son, Lucas was born, he experienced significant feeding difficulties and relied on tube feeding until he was about three years old. During that time, The FED Foundation provided incredible help and support, enabling him to learn how to eat. During this time, she began @thelucasladder on Instagram to share her experiences, document Lucas tube wean and connect with others who also faced feeding challenges.
This experience opened Hannah’s eyes to just how central nutrition and feeding are to family life. Motivated to understand more, she went on to complete an MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition at UCL. Today, she works as a children’s nutritionist and is honoured to serve as Chair of The FED Foundation supporting other families navigating their way through the feeding journey.
Dr. Melissa Bujtor – Board Member
Dr Mel Bujtor (known as Dr Mel to her mini-patients) is the founder of Lifespan Nutrition and a registered nutritionist (RNutr) specialising in paediatric nutrition from birth to 18 years. She is also a paediatric feeding specialist with expertise in feeding and eating disorders, taking an evidence-based approach to care.
Dr Bujtor holds a PhD from Kings College London and Deakin University, where she researched the links between lifestyle behaviours, diet, and children mental health. She also holds Masters degrees in Human Nutrition and Psychology, and is completing a Master in Dietetics at Kings.
Her research interests focus on paediatric feeding difficulties, neurodevelopment, and long-term outcomes, particularly how early feeding challenges may be linked to later mental health and eating behaviours. Prior to her career in nutrition, she spent over a decade in corporate finance across Europe, Asia, and Australia, bringing a distinctive global perspective to her work.
Ambassadors
Hi, I’m Nyla, I’m 12 years old and going into year 8 of secondary school in September! I’m a youth ambassador for the FED foundation My story is that I was born at 23 weeks gestation weighing 520g (extremely premature) I’m a 2/3 surviving triplet. When i was a baby I was very poorly and couldn’t feed properly, the doctors put a feeding tube in my belly to help me to grow. Over time, I grew bigger and stronger but I never learnt the skills to eat (other than blended food). There was no one to help me or my family. My mum found the FED Foundation and after i had feeding therapy I gain the confidence and skills to eat all varieties of foods. My twin brother has just started on his feeding therapy journey. My favourite foods now are Strawberries, pizza and cake.
I’m Kathryn, mum to Phoebe (8) and Jacob (3). I reached out to the FED Foundation for support for Jacob – who has had difficulties with oral feeding since birth due to being premature and having different health problems leading to him being PEG fed.
I accessed the foundation after being told that Jacob was probably a “lost cause” in terms of being able to develop any oral skills for feeding.
I approached the foundation with no expectations, just a hope that at least I could tell Jacob in the future that I genuinely tried everything I could to help him.
With the foundations support Jacob went from not tolerating being sat at a table if food was in the room; to having a list of around 40 accepted foods that he will happily eat and several drinks that he will take sips of.
Jacob still requires lots of support to develop his oral skills; but he is happy and curious with his development and it is a pleasure to help him learn about new foods.
Reaching out to the foundation has genuinely changed our lives, I’m optimistic for his future and can’t wait to see what is next for him.
Hi, I’m Kate, and I’m mum to Edith, who is 4 years old and has Down syndrome.
Ever since we started weaning, Edith has found eating really difficult. She never seemed interested in food and couldn’t manage anything with lumps or texture, often spitting it straight back out or immediately gagging. We were told it was developmental and to just keep trying—eat together, keep offering different foods, and give her time. But instead of improving, things gradually became harder. She started refusing food completely, hitting it out of our hands, and eventually relied on milk, then PaediaSure, with only yogurts and smooth purées alongside that.
We asked for help through the NHS, but apart from being advised to try messy play, we never really got the support or answers we were looking for.
Everything changed when we found the FED Foundation at the end of 2025. We started the programme in May 2026, and it’s been such a positive experience. Edith absolutely loves being a Food Explorer and is now happily touching and licking foods that she wouldn’t even look at before. We’re learning so much about how to support her at her own pace, and for the first time in a long time, we feel hopeful about her feeding journey.
Clinical Expert Advisors
Charlotte Sireshuk
Charlotte qualified as a Speech and Language Therapist in 2008 and has over 18 years’ clinical experience, with specialist expertise in paediatric feeding, dysphagia and complex neurodevelopmental needs.
Charlotte has extensive experience supporting children and young adults with feeding and swallowing differences across NHS community services, specialist education, and multidisciplinary feeding services. Her clinical practice includes children and young people with neurodevelopmental differences, profound and multiple learning disabilities and complex medical needs. Charlotte is ico-founder of The Children’s Feeding Collective, an interdisciplinary feeding clinic bringing together occupational therapy, dietetics and speech and language therapy providing assessment and face to face therapy for children with feeding differences.
Alongside her clinical work, Charlotte is co-author of the Eating as Learning (EAL) Curriculum and has collaboratively developed the wider Eating as Learning Framework, bringing together multidisciplinary expertise to support a developmental and individualised understanding of feeding differences.
As an Expert in Hand at the FED Foundation, Charlotte brings specialist expertise in feeding, swallowing and communication, alongside extensive experience of supporting children and families with complex feeding differences.
Lucy Bates
Lucy is an Occupational Therapist and a leading voice in paediatric feeding, sensory integration, and neurodevelopmental support, with over 15 years of specialist experience in Paediatrics and Neurology.
She qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2005 with a BSc Honours degree, and has worked across NHS, independent and third sector settings.
Alongside her work with The F.E.D Foundation, Lucy runs her own independent Occupational Therapy practice, Lucy Bates Children’s OT Ltd, and is co-founder of The Children’s Feeding Collective, an interdisciplinary feeding clinic bringing together occupational therapy, dietetics and speech and language therapy providing assessment and face to face therapy for children with feeding differences.
As part of her work with The FED Foundation, Lucy co-authored the “Eating as Learning” curriculum for schools, developing the underlying framework that is used in therapy across the organisation and shared with professionals to support children with feeding differences. This work reflects her passion for translating clinical insight into practical, evidence-informed approaches for children and young people with feeding differences.