NOT CURRENTLY TAKING CLIENTS

Blossom Baby Consulting is run by degree qualified nutritionist and midwife Alexis Fletcher-Reid. My aim has always been to meet parents halfway. There are so many factors involved with why you choose to parent how you do and no one approach is the "gold standard". Science is ever evolving and things do change, especially around recommendations so my plan is always to work with you on these changes.

You are also likely wondering why Blossom Baby detoured to Kekoa's website...Kekoa has taken over a large portion of my time so I tend to do a lot of email consults to help guide you along the way. I can be reached at [email protected]

At Blossom, I focus largely on normal baby behaviours especially around

• biologically normal sleep (debunking sleep programs - many not science backed)
• breast or formula feeding (or both)
• choosing formulas
• bottle feeding
• mild to moderate allergies
• introducing solids, focussing around iron intake (often misunderstood with vegetarian or vegan babies)

I am a formula specialist as whilst we are trained in breastfeeding, there is a huge hole in formula feeding information. Our statistics show many parents use formula (for whatever reason) and before you start down this journey it is good to sit and unpack your feelings so we can figure out if it is actually what you want versus what you think you need.

Formula choice, how to feed a formula fed baby, how to mix feed successfully, what to do when it does not seem to be agreeing with baby are a minefield for parents and it's no wonder you waste hundreds trying to get there.

There are so many myths circulating and the common ones are listed below to give you an idea

• GOAT OR A2 IS CLOSEST TO BREASTMILK - Sadly not the case. Whilst the casein portion of the protein in goat, sheep, A2 is closer to breastmilk casein, breastmilk is predominantly whey protein. Whey is the easier to digest portion of the protein (think water soluble protein shakes), and casein is the harder to digest rubbery part (think cheese). For babies, especially newborns, whey dominant formula is the most important part. If budget allows and you want to use these formulas, absolutely fine, but they are of no nutritional benefit over a standard formula for most babies.
• GOLD FORMULAS ARE CONSTIPATING BECAUSE THEY CONTAIN MORE IRON, OR ARE RICHER FORMULAS - Again, sadly not true. Gold for most brands means added fish oil. Iron levels are regulated by FSANZ, which means levels cannot go over a certain point. It's normal to have variations between brands but they all must fall within a set of guidelines. In regards to richness, that word means fat content. Again, most brands will fall within a certain level as they have to balance calories, carbohydrates, protein etc with overall energy. But of the say 3.5g of fat per 100ml prepared formula, instead of all 3.5g coming from vegetable or milk fat in standard formulas, in a gold formula 3.45g is vegetable/milk fat and 0.05g is from fish oil. Both the standard and the gold contain 3.5g so neither is richer.
• FORMULA MAKES BABIES SLEEP BETTER - This often crops up around the 4 month developmental progression point as parents suddenly think their waking baby is hungry. It also coincides with when your hormones balance out so breasts may not feel as full or tight as usual - eeek dropped milk supply! However, milk supply hasn't dropped, it has just balanced out, and formula feeding won't suddenly make your baby sleep the way they used to. If a baby was waking due to hunger i.e. has not been gaining/growing well, formula may be the exception to the rule. But, please to have a chat first as it is extremely uncommon to get to this point with an exclusively breastfed baby and not have enough.

Parenting is hard, there is definitely too much information out there and we have become a comparison culture so heavily focussed on getting it perfect all-the-time! Remember to breathe, ask for help, and remind yourself that babies will never go through this level/speed of growth and development again. The First 1000 days sees so much progression and with that comes connection and brain foundations for the future ahead - so hug those babies, hold them a little more, and let go of the notion that all babies must sleep through the night by 6 months, be able to crawl by 9 months etc. 

Reach out - I'm just an email away [email protected]