Welcome to The
Collaborative
SproutWell was designed to bring families more than just integrative pediatric medicine - it’s a place where collaboration thrives. In addition to Dr. Julie Sweeney’s medical practice, SproutWell is home to independent practitioners who share our vision for whole-child wellness.
Kristen Smaldone MS, RD, CSP, CD-N
Pediatric Registered Dietitian
Kristen Smaldone is both a full-time mom and a full-time dietitian. She founded Kristen Smaldone Nutrition to help families support their children’s health from infancy through the teen years. With over 10 years of clinical experience and plenty of real-life parenting insight, she creates practical, family-friendly strategies that work for your child - and for your busy life.
Kristen specializes in picky eating, feeding disorders, and digestive issues, and also helps families with food allergies, weight concerns, developmental challenges, and tube feeding.
She holds degrees in Nutrition, Dietetics, and Sports Biology, along with a Master’s in Human Nutrition. Kristen trained at Yale New Haven Hospital and spent years caring for children at Yale Children’s Hospital both inpatient and outpatient care, with a focus on gastroenterology, aerodigestive, and feeding clinics.
Certifications
Registered Dietitian
Board Certified Specialist in Pediatric Nutrition
Jessica Andersen MS, CCC-SLP, CLC, NTMCT
Speech-Language Pathologist and Pediatric Feeding Specialist
In Jessica’s own words, she is “a perfectly imperfect mom of 3 and SLP with a passion for providing care during the most fragile moments of life and beyond.” Jessica is the founder of Andersen Pediatric Feeding & Swallowing, a private practice providing concierge quality care to families in CT and NY. Through her practice, Jessica provides specialized intervention to children with unique and often complex feeding, swallowing, voice, and developmental needs.
Jessica’s approach to intervention considers the whole child and the whole family, supporting them to engage in nurturing feeding. Her evidence-based approach to care is infant driven and child guided, allowing for moment-by-moment responsiveness to a child’s communication of need. Jessica provides intervention to infants and children whose oral skill challenges impact their ease of bottle feeding, breastfeeding, or management of solids. Her experience also includes helping children who struggle with accepting new or non-preferred foods. Jessica enjoys working alongside families as they anticipate feeding milestones such as introduction of solids, self-feeding, & cup/straw drinking.
Jessica holds additional certifications as a certified lactation counselor (CLC) and neonatal touch and massage therapist (NTMCT). She has worked within the Yale New Haven Health System for over 17 years. For the past 10 years, Jessica has provided highly specialized pediatric care within the NICU, inpatient & outpatient settings, and multidisciplinary feeding clinic at Greenwich Hospital. Jessica provides evaluation & treatment to a wide range of patients including those who are premature, medically fragile, high risk, & feeding tube reliant.
Certifications
SHA certified SLP
Certified Lactation Counselor
Neonatal Touch & Massage Therapist
Chloe Massey, Ed.D
Parenting and Child Development Expert
Dr. Chloe Massey is a parenting expert, educator, and researcher dedicated to helping families thrive from the earliest days of parenthood through adolescence. With over a decade of experience in child development, teaching, and parent support, she brings both professional expertise and practical insight to her work. Chloe holds a doctorate from The George Washington University along with two master’s degrees from New York University.
Through her private practice, Chloe supports parents in navigating the real challenges of raising children, whether it’s sleep struggles, sibling dynamics, behavioral concerns, routines, or academic hurdles—always offering strategies that are grounded in research and easy to put into practice. She also partners with schools, companies, and community organizations to deliver workshops and education for parent populations, alongside teaching at the university level and contributing to ongoing research.
At the heart of Chloe’s work is a passion for empowering parents to feel confident, supported, and connected in their role. Outside of her professional life, she enjoys time with her husband and their three young boys.
Marisa Kurz
Yoga and mindfulness Educator
Marisa is a children’s yoga and mindfulness educator based in Fairfield County, CT. She began her career in early childhood special education, which fostered her love of play-based education. She enjoys meeting her students where they are both physically and emotionally and includes developmentally-appropriate mindfulness in all of her classes for children.
Marisa is a 200 hour certified yoga teacher through Dew Yoga in Stamford, CT. She has completed children’s yoga teacher trainings with Karma Kids Yoga in NYC and Deep Play for Kids in CT. She is also certified to teach postnatal classes through Baby Om in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently enrolled in coursework with Mindful Schools to learn new ways to bring mindfulness education to children.
She welcomes the opportunity for new experiences and believes everyone can benefit from a little play, movement and mindfulness.
Certifications
CYT-200
Karma Kids Yoga Teacher Training