What is the Fussy to Foodie™ Collective?
Feeding your child wasn’t supposed to feel this hard.
The Fussy to Foodie™ Collective was created for parents who want feeding to feel calmer, more confident, and more connected. Parents often find that the usual advice focuses only on what to serve, without showing how children learn to enjoy food.
The Collective takes a different approach: blending pediatric healthcare, developmental science, and culinary practice into a concierge-style community designed to guide you toward clarity and confidence at the table.
Founded by a pediatrician-chef, the Fussy to Foodie™ Collective is the exclusive community publication of Nibbles and Sprouts™, a first-of-its-kind pediatric culinary medicine practice. Inside, you’ll discover:
How flavor develops in early childhood
How your child builds confidence with new tastes
How everyday kitchen moments shape a lifelong relationship with food
The Collective isn’t about choosing between baby-led weaning or purees or stressing over mess and methods. It’s about understanding how flavor develops and guiding your child with calm, confidence, and flexibility.
Instead of asking, “How do I get my child to eat this?” you’ll begin to ask,
“How can we explore this flavor together?”
Think of the F2FC as having a pediatrician-chef in your back pocket, a trusted guide by your side. With clarity and practical shifts, you can transform feeding from a daily frustration into a calm, confident connection with your child.
Why the F2FC?
Feeding your child often feels heavier than you ever expected. You prepare meals with care, hoping they’ll be eaten, and instead you’re met with refusals, tears, or untouched plates. You wonder if this is just picky eating, if food allergies are part of the problem, or if you are somehow missing something important.
In those moments, it is easy to slip into worry: Am I doing this right? Should I push for one more bite? Should I back off? How do I support their autonomy?
The advice you find rarely helps ease those questions. Maybe you’ve been told, “It’s just a stage or they’ll outgrow it.” Or you have read long lists of “kid-approved foods” that don’t match your child at all. Maybe you’ve tried baby-led weaning but still feel unsure about purees, choking, or the mess that follows.
What’s missing is someone to guide you through how children learn to eat, not just what to put on the plate. Feeding is treated as if it is something you should automatically know how to do. But no one ever explains how flavor develops, how confidence grows, or how small daily moments at the table add up to something lasting.
That’s why I created the Fussy to Foodie™ Collective.
Here, feeding isn’t reduced to a battle, a checklist, or a stage you must wait out. Feeding your child is seen for what it really is: a skill your child can grow into, step by step, when you have the right kind of guidance by your side.
Inside the Collective, you’ll find a different approach. One that blends pediatric insight, culinary practice, and developmental science into something practical and personal. Our approach is not about rules or pressure. Fussy to Foodie™ Collective is about giving you the clarity and confidence to guide your child toward curiosity and calm at the table.
Hi! I’m Dr. Bonnie
The pediatrician-chef behind Fussy to Foodie™ Collective
For more than 30 years, I’ve cared for children and families as a pediatrician. In 2023, I added culinary training to my journey, becoming a certified chef so I could blend the science of pediatrics and the art of food and cooking in one place.
Over the years, I’ve seen countless thoughtful, committed parents sit in my office and share the same quiet frustration: “I’m doing everything I can, but feeding still feels so hard.” Not because they weren’t trying, but because feeding is treated as something you should already know how to do. And no one ever takes the time to guide you through how your child learns to enjoy food.
I understand this not only as a pediatrician, but as a mother of 3 and now as a grandmother. I know the worry when your child refuses a meal you lovingly made, or when allergies and health concerns make every bite feel like a decision with weight behind it.
Through all of that, I kept coming back to one simple truth: The kitchen table isn’t just where we feed our children. The kitchen table is where we teach our children how to enjoy food.
That truth is what inspired the Fussy to Foodie™ Collective.
Think of the F2FC as having a pediatrician-chef in your back pocket, a trusted guide by your side. With clarity and practical shifts, you can transform daily frustration into calm confidence and help your child grow into a curious, confident eater.
What you’ll find inside the F2FC
The Fussy to Foodie™ Collective is more than a set of articles or guides. It is a concierge-style community created by a pediatrician-chef and designed to restore your confidence at the table. Inside, you’ll find practical resources, clear guidance, and an expert voice you can trust – rooted in pediatric culinary medicine and tailored to help you guide your child toward calm and confidence with food.
Free Membership
With a free subscription, you’ll receive an introduction to the Collective
Monthly signature strategy article previews. Story-led insights into taste literacy and flavor-first feeding
Seasonal reflections and updates – occasional notes so you always know what is new
A no-pressure space to explore before deciding whether to step into the full membership experience.
Paid Membership
When you are ready to unlock the full experience, paid membership opens up the heart of the Collective:
Three Tuesdays each month: The Flavor Pathway™, our signature One Flavor, Six Paths™ framework. Each article shows how one ingredient can be introduced across six developmentally aligned experiences. More than a card, it is a practical, evidence-based guide that helps your child explore flavor at their own pace, with printable resources that invite simple, real-life confidence-building at the table.
On the fourth Tuesday each month: A complete Signature Strategy Article. Story-led, research-informed, and rooted in pediatric culinary medicine, each article takes on a common frustration, like constant snacking or protein worries, and shows you a new way forward.
Member-only conversations and Q&As with me, where your real questions meet clear, practical answers.
Invitations to special events, and new resources as the Collective grows.
As a paid member, you step into the full concierge experience, where frustration gives way to calm confidence, one flavor at a time.
Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and publication archives.
Stay up-to-date
Every new post arrives directly in your inbox, so you never miss a chance to grow your confidence at the table. Every new post is sent directly to your email inbox. For a spam-free, ad-free reading experience, plus audio and community features, get the Substack app.
Join our community
Step into a private, concierge-style space designed for parents who want calm and confidence at the table. Share your experiences, connect in the comments, and subscribe to support this work as the Collective grows.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
