Nurture + Bloom - East Anglia

19/03/2020

Hi everyone,

Following on from my post the other day, I am continuously looking at ways to help and support families during this uncertain time.

This week was supposed to be the launch of Nurture + Bloom East Anglia and Swimkidz Norfolk and begin the journey of supporting families from birth preparations to their babies first swim.
Due to Covid-19 and this being postponed, I am in a position to reach out and help others via online services.

Nurture + Bloom is built on the foundations of love, trust, support and friendship. We are qualified and experienced in supporting new parents and providing classes such as Baby massage, Baby Yoga, Colic relief, Weaning support and Birth Trauma recovery.

As a mother and practitioner, I care greatly about the well-being of other mothers, who may be struggling through this period.

I am looking into running the classes I previously ran in person, to be accessible online. So mums and dads can access baby massage and baby yoga classes through skype* in the comfort of their own home. If you feel this service would benefit you at this time, please do get in touch.

I am also a birth trauma practitioner, and during this period of isolation, I will be offering reduced rates for all people who would like to complete a personal birth trauma session online. As an additional offer, the first 3 individuals who request a session, will receive this FREE of charge. Please private message me for more information.

At this time, it is vital that we protect and look out for each other. If you or anyone you know could use my support, please do reach out.

If you just need a friendly chat, a cry, a moan or some advice from another mother, I’m just at the end of the phone.

Take care and stay safe.
Manda ❤️

17/03/2020

It comes with a heavy heart, as today was the day to launch Nurture + Bloom East Anglia, and begin supporting and providing classes for parents, babies and children in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Due to the new government advice there should be no unnecessary/ essential social gatherings at this time. Those with underlining medical conditions and pregnant women are at a higher risk. Your health and well-being is paramount to me, and feel postponing running Nurture + Bloom classes is the right decision to make.

However, I am working behind the scenes to be able to offer help and support through online services at this time.

During this time we need to stick together and show support where we can ❤️

Take care, and stay positive.

Manda x

03/12/2019

We are all different... Parent your own way ❤️

gLOVE this 😍

29/11/2019

How baby massage and baby yoga helps develop your babies muscles 💪👶🏼❤️

💪🏻MUSCLES💪🏾⠀
Did you know that the typical development pattern of the skeletal muscular system is from a head to toe direction, and on a proximal (core) to distal (limb) basis? This is why a baby typically develops head control and rolling before they can even begin to start sitting, crawling or walking, and why a baby needs to master the ability to bear weight on their arms before they can begin working the finer motor movements of their hands. ⁠⠀
Muscles need to receive oxygen and nutrients for optimal health and function and they require movement as well as time working against a load (gravity/own body weight) in order to tone and strengthen. Baby yoga poses strengthen muscles and coordination of these by providing opportunities to work against gravity in a variety of postures. Baby Yoga helps to realign the spine, relax over-contracted muscles, and allows the body to return to optimum posture and position which eases muscle pain and tension. ⁠⠀
Another form of muscle supported by baby massage and baby yoga is the smooth muscles of the digestive system, which are still toning in many young babies. ⁠⠀
When you massage your baby, or take part in yoga, you are feeding their muscles with all the ingredients needed to grow, repair, recharge and strengthen, from top to toe, heart to heart. Love creates love. ⁠⠀
Artwork credit with permission: ⠀

29/11/2019

Want to know how baby massage and baby yoga can support your babies nervous system? 👶🏼❤️👇

✨NERVOUS SYSTEM✨⠀
Babies nervous systems although complex, are still immature at birth, with messages from the brain to various parts of the body taking time to develop and mature through a process called myelination. Myelination is the process of coating the axon of each neuron with a fatty coating called myelin. This enables messages to be transmitted more effectively, and at greater speed, along nerve cells supporting overall body-brain communication. Touch through baby massage and baby yoga supports myelination by encouraging the circulation of blood in the body that contains the fats and nutrients needed for this process, as well as calming the nervous system by helping to ignite the relaxation response in the body and therefore placing baby in a better overall state for the body to thrive. ⠀
The nervous system requires a wealth of sensations through touch, movement, and human interaction in order to develop pathways in the brain which can all be achieved via baby massage and baby yoga and the sensory rich love bubble they entail. In the words of Dr Daniel Siegal – ‘human connections create neuron connections, and neurons that fire together, wire together’. If your baby’s experiences are loving, kind, compassionate, responsive, playful, appropriately stimulating, then this will become their view of the world and how they interact within it. Love creates love. ⠀
Pic credit: little_lsquiz
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20/11/2019

Our amazing occupational therapist sharing more information on babies respiratory system 👶🏼🥰

🌈RESPIRATORY SYSTEM🌈⠀
Babies lungs are one of the last organs to develop in utero and remain deflated in the womb until birth. The change in air pressure from the womb world to outside allows them to take that first miraculous breath. From that moment, your baby’s lungs along with the heart uses its own respiratory system compared to the previous mother/placenta/baby circuit that they were used to in the womb. Baby massage and baby yoga supports your baby’s respiratory system by supporting the circulation of oxygen to the cells of every organ and tissues, and supporting the removal of carbon dioxide. Chest massage can help improve the condition, strength and function of the lungs, increasing the flow of blood in this area. Chest massage is a wonderful way of opening up the chest area for full lung expansion, helping to clear mucus and encourage deeper breathing. Baby yoga encourages babies from a very early age to become conscious of breath, filling their lungs fully and mindfully. We are never too young to enjoy a deep, relaxing breath, this is what triggers the relaxation system in our brains and helps us to feel calm and centred, free of threat, and with feel good hormones flooding our bodies, we can feel safe and loved. Love creates love. ⠀
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Pic credit:

19/11/2019

Do you know this about babies hearts? ❤️

❤️ HEARTS ❤️ Did you know that a baby’s heart starts beating at around 22 days gestation? They also only have three chambers of the heart, with their first breath at birth triggering a valve closure that creates the fourth chamber and closes their circulatory system to form their own seperate to their mother’s....Just amazing! Your baby’s heart is responsible for delivering oxygen and nutrient rich blood to every cell of the body, enabling the cells to repair, grow and develop. When we massage babies either through strokes, or via the poses or movements in baby yoga, we help to boost blood flow in their body to support their cardiovascular system, boosting circulation, removing waste products from the body and transporting fresh oxygen and nutrients to all body tissues.⠀
Both baby massage and baby yoga also have a heart-warming effect on you and your little one. When we connect with touch, eye contact, exchange of smell and loving voice in our love bubble created by baby massage or baby yoga, we experience a burst of love hormone called oxytocin. This amazing hormone helps us and our baby to relax and bond. It connects us heart to heart. 💫love creates love💫 ⠀
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17/11/2019

Love creates love ❤️

15/11/2019

Did you know baby massage and baby yoga helps support babies brain development? 👶🏼

🧠BRAINS🧠 Babies brains are around 20% developed when they are born and have up to twice the synapses it will have in adulthood. The billions of neurons and synapses that are ready and waiting will form pathways that will build the architecture of babies brains for all future relationship building, communication, learning, understanding, and movement patterns. By age 3 your baby’s brain is 80% of its adult volume. The critical window for these pathways to form are the first 1001 days (conception to 3 years) but they do continue to develop into early adulthood.
A plethora of evidence supports the fact that early infancy and childhood experiences impact a developing brain for a lifetime and when they’re shown loving, caring interactions and provided with age appropriate stimulation, they will more than survive, they will more likely thrive. When we teach baby massage and baby yoga, we are empowering parents to nurture the growth of their baby’s brains to enhance their baby’s mental health, social skills, language development, understanding of the world, sensory processing, and physical development. We are using baby massage and baby yoga as tools to build our babies brains with love. Love creates love.

14/11/2019

Love this ❤️

These bodies gave life, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. A shoutout to all the women sharing images of their postpartum bodies.

13/11/2019

Great explanation of the importance of messy play!

Messy play and sensory play is just not a new "buzzword" in early childhood education. Read about the importance of messy play in child development.