The Nest

15/11/2025

I have a little availability left for private clients thinking about packages of care between now and Christmas 💕
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When you’re thinking about all the stuff the world tells you that you ‘need’ to buy before your baby arrives … consider what support you’ll have in place … who will that be, what can they offer, how will that support you?
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Tell your family and friends that contributions to a bespoke package of care, from someone experienced and evidenced based, will likely serve you far more than flowers, baby clothes or the suggestion that they ‘take the baby whilst you sleep elsewhere’ …
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Think about that list you’re ticking off … and consider adding qualified support to it 🙌🏻

02/11/2025

Tomorrow at Iggy’s 💙

13/10/2025

Reminder that there is no Iggy’s today!

Back as usual next week 💙☕️

23/09/2025

👇🏻

The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency confirm that taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children.

Read more in their latest update.

➡️ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-confirms-taking-paracetamol-during-pregnancy-remains-safe-and-there-is-no-evidence-it-causes-autism-in-children

20/07/2025

Tomorrow 10-12! ☕️ 💙

12/06/2025

The natural term for us humans to breastfeed is anywhere between 2 and 7+ years. Some babies stop earlier, some children carry on for longer. It’s thought that the eruption of the permanent set of teeth (losing your milk teeth) influences this timescale.

Many cultures around the world breastfeed until natural term, including many women in the Western world. This age range is only surprising in cultures that interrupt breastfeeding, often without realising it or knowing which norms are biological and which are cultural.

The concentration of fats and proteins increase as the baby grows into a toddler, along with increased levels of antibacterial and antiviral components such as lysozyme, which is an anti-inflammatory, and destroys bacteria.

Lysozyme increases in concentration from about 6 months old, when babies become more independently mobile and everything (toys, sand, twigs, the cats biscuits?) goes straight in the mouth, and keeps increasing after the first year.

The concentration of Lactoferrin also increases over time. Lactoferrin inhibits the growth of some cancerous cells. It also helps our babies to absorb their own iron stores, whilst binding to the iron in our baby’s body which prevents it from being available to harmful microorganisms that need iron to survive. Lactoferrin also kills the bacteria strep mutans, which causes tooth decay and cavities.

Our body’s immune system takes around 6 years to become fully mature, so the support of the protective factors in human milk until our immune system can fully function on its own seems play a part in the timescale of natural term weaning too.

Longer term breastfeeding is also associated with reduced risk of diseases for the mother, including breast cancer.

We acknowledge that many mothers find it difficult to establish breastfeeding in the first place, that breastfeeding is a multi-layered investment on the part of a mother and that natural term feeding might not feel like - or be - a possibility for many.

Or you might simply not want to. We're not here to tell anyone what to do.

We also acknowledge that lack of information about our biology contributes to the lack of support for mothers when they want to establish - or continue - breastfeeding, but cannot find the help they need from people who understand why it matters so much, or what is normal.

Let's continue to turn that around.

More information and references about how remarkable you are at https://human-milk.com/pages/science-of-breastmilk

11/06/2025

👇🏻

03/06/2025

So much of this 👇🏻 having your own experience isn’t enough ….

‘My own baby had a tongue-tie so I am passionate about becoming a tongue-tie practitioner.’

So what is involved? Firstly you need to be a registered healthcare professional (midwife, nurse, doctor or dentist) to train to do division. Secondly, given that division alone is rarely going to resolve the feeding difficulty and there can be many other factors that impact feeding negatively that need to be identified and addressed, anyone taking scissors to a baby’s mouth needs to either have advanced lactation and infant feeding assessment and support skills or be working with someone who does.

Every week I see families who have received inadequate care in relation to tongue-tie and the feeding difficulties they are experiencing. I see families who have been told their baby doesn’t have a tongue-tie when they do or doesn’t need division because they are ‘compensating’. I see families whose babies have had divisions but feeding has remained problematic because other issues have not been addressed. For example sub- optimal positioning and attachment, milk supply issues, or structural issues within the oral cavity, neck, jaw and cranium. I see babies who have had divisions which have actually made feeding worse which raises the issue of whether these divisions were appropriate. Were other developmental issues or physical abnormalities taken into consideration? Follow up support needs to be offered and often isn’t. I see mums left on triple feeding plans with no exit strategy.

So having your own experience and being passionate about division is not enough. You need to be passionate about supporting babies to feed better. You need to be passionate about getting the necessary education and experience you need and that will require a significant, and long term investment of time and money. You need to be prepared to stick with families when division doesn’t provide the instant, complete fix everyone hopes for because it rarely does. This job is tough and if you plan to work in private practice be warned, like any business, it requires a 7 days per week commitment.

02/06/2025

10-12
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☕️ 💙 🤱🏻
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Tea, cake, chat & help with breastfeeding should you need it
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Chantal will see you there today ☺️

10/05/2025

Monday at Iggy’s with Painty Pots 💜

09/05/2025

👇🏻

Lactose free milk is not a treatment for cows milk protein allergy and excluding cows milk from your diet will not irradicate lactose form your breastmilk.

Lactose is a carbohydrate and cows milk protein is of course a protein. They are different substances. Lactose intolerance in babies is rare. The most common cause is gastrointestinal infection (tummy bugs) which temporarily damages the gut lining and causes reduced production of lactase, the enzyme which digests lactose. The lactose intolerance in these cases is temporary and gradually resolves within a couple of months of infection. Premature babies may also have temporary lactase deficient which gets better as they get a bit older. A few babies may be born with a congenital lactase deficiency but this is extremely rare and makes these babies very unwell within a few days of birth. These babies have to stop breastfeeding and go on to lactose free formula as you cannot remove lactose from breastmilk via dietary changes.

The symptoms of lactose intolerance and cows milk protein allergy are often confused by healthcare professionals as well as parents so please seek specialist advice if you are worried your baby is reacting to something in the milk you are giving to them.