Where Clinical Expertise Meets Personal Experience
Some babies take to feeding effortlessly. Many don’t. And when feeding is hard —whether that’s a difficult latch, a tongue tie, a baby who won’t settle, a gut that seems constantly uncomfortable — it can feel overwhelming, isolating and exhausting.
I’m Heidi Nowalany, and for ten years I’ve been helping families in London find their way through exactly that.
My journey
I began my clinical career in the United States, graduating from Washington
University in St Louis before gaining experience working with hundreds of families at clinics in Chicago and San Diego. I co-founded the Boob Group, a weekly breastfeeding support group, before relocating to London where I founded The Milk Practice in 2017.
Since then I have supported over 1,200 families — and what started as a breastfeeding focused practice has evolved, year by year, into something much broader and deeper.
Today, my work spans infant feeding in all its forms, tongue tie assessment and rehabilitation, infant oral function and airway, primitive reflex assessment and integration, gut health, intolerances and nervous system support for both baby and mother. I am also a Registered Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist and certified yoga instructor with a focus on breathwork and nervous system regulation — qualifications that inform everything I do, even when they’re working quietly in the background.
What connects all of it is a simple belief — that feeding difficulties rarely have a single cause, and that the best outcomes come from looking at the whole picture.
My Personal Story
I’m also a mother of four, and I’ve navigated my own feeding challenges with each of my children — from a baby who nursed for hours without transferring milk, to mastitis, blocked ducts, oversupply, low supply, and everything in between. Those experiences gave me something no training course ever could — a deep, firsthand understanding of how hard feeding can be, and how much the right support at the right moment can change everything.
How I Work
No two babies are the same. No two feeding journeys are the same. My approach is always personalised, always evidence-based, and always led by what is right for you and your baby — not what the textbook says.
I take time to understand the full picture before drawing any conclusions. That means looking beyond the immediate presenting issue — at oral function, airway, gut health, reflexes, nervous system, and maternal wellbeing — to find the root cause rather than just managing the symptoms. My toolkit draws on both contemporary evidence and time-honoured hands-on therapies — always chosen for what will work best for you and your baby, not what is most conventional.
I work collaboratively with a trusted network of GPs, paediatricians, midwives, airway dentists, osteopaths, tongue tie practitioners, sleep consultants and doulas, and I am not afraid to refer on when another specialist can add something I cannot. My goal is always the best possible outcome for your family, however we get there.
Credentials & Training
• International Board of Lactation Consultants (IBCLC)
• Registered Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist
• Board of Trustee member & Treasurer, Lactation Consultants of Great Britain
(LCGB)
• Chrysalis Orofacial TOTS Training ®
• Certified yoga instructor — breathwork & nervous system focus
• IBCLC Master Class: Oral Habilitation of the Breastfeeding Dyad
• Gut/Brain IBCLC Masterclass
• Breastfeeding without Birthing — Alyssa Schnell
• Rhythmic Movements for Babies — Bryna Sampey
• Nancy Mohrbacher & Di Huimin — Hands-on Therapies for Breastfeeding
• Mothers from Ancient Roots, UK Workshop
• International Tongue-Tie Congress, Switzerland
• Currently: Women’s Health Affiliate Mentoring — Tanya Borowski
