Child feeding consultant · Kaliningrad and online

Yulia Klimanova

Breastfeeding Formula feeding Starting solids Food aversion Paediatric feeding disorders

I help families get feeding right — from a child’s first days all the way to adulthood.Member of the RuLacta association, SOS Trained Feeding Therapist

Yulia Klimanova holding an apple and a stack of books
About me

Yulia Klimanova

Yulia Klimanova sitting with a stack of books on her lap

I have worked in children’s nutrition for more than 7 years, since 2019, including more than 5 years with feeding problems in children over one (food refusal, picky eating, adjusting eating behaviour, feeding therapy for ARFID) and 2 years with infant feeding aversion.

  • Breastfeeding, formula feeding and complementary feeding consultant; member of RuLacta, the international association of lactation specialists
  • Specialist in feeding difficulties and eating disorders in children
  • Early-childhood nutritionist
  • Author of programmes, intensives and webinars for parents on starting solids and nutrition after age one

Education

“Novy Uroven” project:

  • basic breastfeeding counsellor training (80 academic hours, 2019)
  • advanced training for breastfeeding counsellors (120 hours, 2020)
  • “Non-exclusive breastfeeding” course (35 hours, 2021, 2026)
  • “Modern newborn care practices” course (30 hours, 2021)
  • baby-led (developmental) complementary feeding course (105 academic hours, 2020 and 2023)
  • “Low milk supply” course (35 academic hours, 2023)

Academy of Medical Education — “Early-childhood nutrition” programme (120 academic hours, 2021).

Mary’s Academy (Maria Kardakova’s programme for doctors and nutrition specialists) — “Children’s nutrition and eating behaviour” (2021).

Body Coach project:

  • “Children’s nutrition” course (20 academic hours, 2021)
  • “Nutrition for pregnant and breastfeeding women” course (15 academic hours, 2021)

Advanced training “Counselling and feeding therapy for feeding difficulties and eating disorders in children” (taught by Alexandra Slautina, 2023).

SOS Training Course (8–11 August 2025, 39 academic hours), taught by Dr. Kay Toomey, Erin Sundseth Ross, PhD, CCC-SLP, and Susan Kniffen, MS, OTR/L. Qualification: SOS Trained Feeding Therapist.

Experience in children’s nutrition

One-to-one consultations (in person and online):

  • since 2019 — breastfeeding
  • since 2020 — complementary feeding and nutrition after age one
  • since 2023 — feeding therapy for children with ARFID
  • 2024–2026 — co-author and co-host of “TASTE GAMES: sensory therapy for picky eaters”

Courses I have created

  • “O da! Eda!” — a course on starting solids, since 2020
  • “The Clean Plate Club” — a club on the basics of nutrition for children aged 1–5, since 2022
  • more than 20 webinars on breastfeeding, children’s nutrition and adjusting eating behaviour
  • co-author of the professional training course “Infant feeding aversion”, since 2026

Projects

  • Co-author and keeper of the Code of Ethics of the community of specialists in children’s nutrition, feeding difficulties and eating disorders
  • Speaker at the RuLacta conference of lactation specialists (2026)
  • Speaker at the online conference “Developmental complementary feeding” (Novy Uroven project, November 2023)
  • Lecturer on the “Beremushki” antenatal course, topic “Foundations of successful breastfeeding” (in person in Kaliningrad, since 2019)
  • Head of the KDMILK family support centre in Kaliningrad (founded in August 2023): breastfeeding, complementary feeding and nutrition support for mums, seminars for pregnant women and mums with children, group sessions on child development and the mother–baby bond
  • Curator of the professional course “Counselling and feeding therapy for feeding difficulties and eating disorders in children” (by Alexandra Michaelides (Slautina)), since 2023
Infant feeding aversion

Five signs worth paying attention to

If you recognise your baby in several of these, it is worth talking the feeding through with a specialist.

1

Gets anxious or cries even before a feed — in the usual feeding position or at the sight of the bottle.

2

Presses the lips tightly together, closes the mouth, turns the head away sharply.

3

After a few sips arches the back, pushes the teat out, pushes the bottle away.

4

Is clearly hungry but flatly refuses to take the bottle.

5

Refuses while awake, but sucks calmly when drowsy or asleep.

Signs from the checklist by Yulia Klimanova and Alexandra Mikhailidis. This is not a diagnosis — a consultation will help assess the situation.
Reviews

What mums say

Reviews translated from Russian.

We came to Yulia close to despair. My baby completely refused to eat while awake, and his daily milk intake had dropped to a catastrophic 350 ml. Fear, guilt and helplessness — that is what we came with.

Our work lasted 10 days. Yulia worked with us remotely and was available almost all the time, despite the 9-hour time difference, answering all my anxious questions quickly and adjusting what we did. It gave me an incredible sense of confidence: you are not alone in this difficult situation.

The result exceeded all expectations. We managed not just to increase the volumes but to settle the feeding routine itself. Feeds became calm, predictable and, most importantly, stopped being a source of stress for the whole family. Thanks to Yulia’s advice I began to understand my baby’s cues and realised a simple but very important thing: my baby KNOWS how much he needs. The outcome? Now he eats MORE while awake than he used to in a whole day!

If you are facing aversion, food refusal or falling volumes — don’t wait and don’t experiment on your own. Don’t listen to doctors with their “your child must eat as much as the norms say”, don’t push, don’t force — the baby knows how much he needs. 🙏 I am endlessly grateful for the help!

Elizaveta and Dima, 5 monthsinfant feeding aversion programme

Without you I would probably have given in to the pressure from relatives and the paediatrician, kept topping up with formula, never built up my supply, raised the volumes sharply and ended up with combination feeding at best, formula feeding at worst.

So a huge, heartfelt THANK YOU

Anastasiain-person + online consultations, moving from combination feeding to breastfeeding, 2 months

Good afternoon.

Every time I watch my child eat, thanks to you, I am delighted. Now we are both completely at ease! And at last we eat together and enjoy it! That is what I dreamed of. Thank you for being there

Olgachild nutrition consultation: food refusal, refusing new foods

We ran into aversion at 2 months.

We tried to solve the problem for a very long time, 4 months, going from doctor to doctor, and nobody could understand why the baby refused formula. Whatever doctors we saw and whatever we tried, nothing worked in the end.

By a miracle we found you and started working with you. Honestly, we had no hope left that anyone could help, but the miracle happened and you helped us enormously — I will never stop thanking you.

Everything went well, you were always in touch, explained everything, and I really liked that; every question got a thorough answer.

In this time we achieved a very good result: the baby eats and has become much calmer, she is not afraid of the bottle and even asks for it three times a night 🫶❤️❤️

I will always recommend you. Besides the work itself, you gave real support to the baby’s mum, and that helped me a lot — I became much more relaxed myself.

Now everything is wonderful ❤️🥹🥹

Mum Irina, daughter Mia, 6.5 monthsinfant feeding aversion programme

I so wanted to share this with you, because without you we wouldn’t have managed :) My little girl is now 7 months old and weighs over 10 kg — yet in the first month she gained only 500 g, and I despaired that formula was our only way.

And yesterday I became a breast milk donor for the first time! Such an indescribable feeling, to be able to feed your own child and help others.

Thank you once again

Elenain-person consultation on setting up breastfeeding

I want to thank you for the consultation on introducing solids for my daughter. Everything was explained in detail — how to help in our situation, clear and useful videos showing exactly what to do with the baby — and most importantly, we saw a result from the very first time: my daughter is interested in food, we are happy 🤩🥳

Karinaconsultation on introducing solids

Huge thanks from me, my husband and our little girl for really helping us solve this problem. Because it was very acute — it got to the point where they almost wanted to hospitalise us with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and put her on a feeding tube. I was in such a daze, but over these days I truly felt that I am a mum! Feeding is no longer stressful, you can actually enjoy it — no more constant screaming and crying, but real smiles from the baby. Working with you changed our whole way of life, because honestly it was awful. First terrible colic, then a terrible allergic reaction. The baby would take 30–40 ml and then scream horribly, with a tense tummy and everything else. That happened at about half of the feeds. Then it got worse and worse, until we couldn’t feed her while she was awake at all.

Thank you so much. This is truly an enormous contribution you make to people’s lives. I didn’t know such specialists even existed. We searched for a long time and came across you, because there really are very few specialists like this. Thank God there are you and specialists like you. Thank you. Simply huge thanks.

Mum Tatiana and daughter Polina, 4.5 monthsinfant feeding aversion programme

Yulia, good afternoon

I wanted to say a huge thank you 🙏🏼 we got rid of the nipple shields very quickly, we keep gaining well, and the pain is gone (mine)

My breasts are back to the same shape too :)))

Anastasiaonline consultation on weaning off nipple shields

Yulia, good afternoon. We are so pleased with today’s meals

We gave our daughter freedom — yes, there is mess, but she EATS! With no fuss and with pleasure

She eats at least 90 percent

All in all, we found the key to our daughter and figured ourselves out

Thank you

Irina P.child nutrition consultation, occasional food refusal

Let me start by saying that my baby gradually began refusing the bottle while awake: at first she would take 30 ml and then scream wildly, then she stopped eating while awake altogether — only in deep sleep, and even then with difficulty. I tried feeding on demand but she refused the bottle; this went on for about 2 months and kept getting worse. Before we started I was afraid that nothing would work, that I wouldn’t be able to change anything and it would go on forever. But Yulia earned my trust, I put myself completely in her hands and tried to follow all the recommendations. Yes, the first days were hard, but not as hard as I had imagined. All my questions were answered; everything was explained competently and clearly — what my baby needs and when. Did we get results? Yes, we did!!! Even more than I could have imagined. Thank you so much for the support :)))) If anyone I know ever faces something similar, I will certainly recommend working with Yulia.

Anastasia and Ulyana, 5 monthsinfant feeding aversion programme