Wellbeing for expectant and new parents

If you’re in the prenatal stages or looking for supportive postnatal care, there are some fantastic options on offer.

For healing and wellbeing, Organic Family Chiropractic is completely holistic in its approach. Not content with fixing one thing and sending you on your way until the next time, their ethos is to address core issues limiting the way yours or your child’s body can heal and function. They offer services to aid pregnancy too, so you can be fully supported from the get go.

If you’re preparing to have a baby or want early parenthood support, Nourishing Motherhood can help. It offers infant feeding advice and breastfeeding support, as well as antenatal classes and hypnobirthing in a safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment to ensure that you have the most positive experience possible in those early weeks and months.

Getting set up

If you’re kitting out a nursery or just needing some new clothes for your little one that are planet-friendly (we all know how much waste having a child produces!), there are some fantastic retailers and services on hand to help you.

Cotswold Bambinos offers a wide range of baby items that are organic where possible and fairly-made. They stock household brands and locally sourced items.

Baby Ease gives you the ability to rent baby items, such as high chairs, cots, prams and even toys. Long-term rentals mean you can get what you need for as long as you need it before an item’s outgrown. You can also rent things on a shorter basis for trips away, reducing stress, reducing waste and maximising convenience.

Second Snuggle has a lovely range of preloved and sustainably new clothes for little ones; great for the planet and your pocket!

Timeless keepsakes

The nights are long but the days are short – cliché, we know, but so true. There are some beautiful and creative Cotswolds businesses that provide a number of ways to tell your unique family story.

Knowing how quick it all goes, slowing down and catching those precious moments is important and a lovely way to spend an afternoon or morning, too. Woodhouse Photography can help you do just that, be it capturing an empowering maternity shoot, newborn snuggles or time spent together as a family (thanks to Woodhouse Photography for the gorgeous cover image on this post).

Perfect gifts and treasures to love can be found at Craft & Curious for some paint-it-yourself fun. Speaking from experience, a baby handprint mug or plate makes a fabulous pressie, whilst older ones will love the chance to get creative and decorate something, too.

For personalised knitwear, Taylor Made Knits creates unique items that can also be matched with a sibling or adult. Once outgrown, they make the sweetest items to cherish and look back on so fondly.

Beautiful, personalised jewellery designed with care, attention and high-quality materials can be a wonderful way to mark whatever stage in parenthood you’re at. Lucy Ashton Jewellery offers personalised initial, birthstone and even breastmilk jewellery. What better way to celebrate your feeding journey?

Baby & early years support

The early years can be difficult. You’re in the trenches of parenthood, as it were. Living away from family is very common now (remember that village so many of us are lacking?), so we understand that services which support parents during this time are a lifeline for many. You don’t have to do this all alone!

Sleepless nights are, for most of us, an avoidable part of parenthood but it doesn’t have to be that way forever. Midnight Mamas Sleep Consultancy offers empowering infant sleep support to help you get the rest you deserve and, let’s face it, need!

If you need babysitting, nannying or mothers help, The Nanny Club is your friend. Highly qualified candidates are matched to your requirements so you get support perfectly tailored to you and your family.

Meetups and play sessions

Play sessions and places like soft play offer the chance for little ones to move, get creative and play, whilst enabling parents to get out, meet old friends, make new ones and potentially enjoy a hot drink before it goes cold!

Bumpyland Softplay offers play in a safe environment with separate areas for different age groups. For sensory play, Little Messy Me holds sessions across the area, as does Tots of Mess. You can enquire for birthdays too, making your life simpler when celebrating those milestones!