Nikki is a Board-Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Doula. She provides counselling, family coaching, support and solutions to infant feeding challenges – from pregnancy, baby’s first year, and beyond.
Working as a Cheshire Lactation Consultant, I believe families should have access to that one-to-one support, whether that is a family member, a friend, or a professional. I would love for all families to have the support, time, and encouragement to choose the right birth and infant feeding journey for them and make informed choices in the early weeks and months of parenthood.
Being a mum of three older children, who are now in their late teens and late 20’s, I understand the need for good support networks as we raise our children. During the pregnancies and early months raising my own children, I started researching exactly what pregnancy means to me and the physiology of birth – and that knowledge has been a super tool I often share to add in to any family’s parenting kit when they meet me at clinic in Wilmslow and Stockton Heath, in their home or online in video calls.
Lactation Consultants often share a common journey with the families they assist. Many of us have faced challenges like dealing with gassy, windy babies, struggling with growth, encountering difficulties with breastfeeding and bottle feeding, navigating issues with introducing solid foods, and coping with sleep problems. Looking back, I wish I had known then what I have learned through the years. It’s a reminder that we all do our best with the knowledge we have in each moment, understanding the struggles and uncertainties that others may be going through.
I have spent much of my time since becoming a parent researching, accessing training and working in paid and voluntary roles to provide a better experience for people experiencing pregnancy, birth and infant challenges. I am always eager to learn more about what exactly it is that made our bodies so amazing and felt called to become a doula and Lactation Consultant so I could support new families on their own journey.
Offering services in Cheshire, Manchester, Lancashire & Merseyside as a Lactation Consultant, I support families with a whole range of challenges from the early days of latching a baby to the breast, to complex challenges like faltering growth, tongue tie or reflux. Bottle feeding support, combination plans and general feeding or sleep issues until toddlerhood is available. You can also prepare for your feeding journey during pregnancy with antenatal classes both online or in person on a one to one basis.
“If you want to know anything about infant feeding or need support with feeding we cannot recommend Nikki enough. She is a super star who is the highly knowledgable, reassuring and calm voice every new parent needs. Nikki saved our breastfeeding journey on day 4 of our son’s life. After being told by midwives that ‘the latch looks great’ but painful feeding, unsettled baby and constant latching made us reach out for help and we are so lucky that Nikki was the one we found to help us..”
Abi Mills-White
“Nikki diagnosed a tongue tie as well as significant body tension and referred us to the best place to get the tongue tie revised to ensure we did it once and did it right, and also an osteopath to make sure we were able to tackle his tension for a holistic treatment approach. Nikki has been on hand during recovery to make sure we’re following the aftercare correctly and to tweak our feeding plan and latch etc, including a last minute emergency appointment when we felt we were going backwards. We left that appointment feeling so much better and with a few tweaks feeding improvement immediately.
Emily Mendeika