Meet Alex, Founder of Bump and Baby Club
Hi everyone! I’m Alex. I spent 10 years making documentaries in the TV industry before having my first two babies and starting up Bump & Baby Club when they were very small. A third baby came along a few years later and life has been very busy ever since!
Bump & Baby Club started because I was deeply inspired by the antenatal classes I took when I was pregnant with my first baby. Being within a group where everyone is on the same extraordinary journey as you, at the same time as you, is incredibly special. And having an expert to guide you along the way and answer your zillion questions is invaluable.
When you have a baby and your life has changed (it will change, get used to it people!), the area you live and the people around you suddenly become really important. My antenatal group was everything to me and that’s why I feel passionate about bringing together local parents-to-be.
I was bursting with ideas on how I could tailor the antenatal class experience towards modern expectant parents, so decided to take the plunge and start up on my own. One of the first things I did was surround myself with the very best antenatal instructors I could find, and that’s remained a priority as the company has grown. The team are the heart and soul of Bump & Baby Club and it’s a privilege to work with such smart, knowledgeable and caring people. I feel lucky and grateful.
I am not an antenatal expert myself and you can breathe a sigh of relief that teaching isn’t my role(!), but I can see things from our members’ point of view and I will never forget how it feels to be expecting my first baby. That feeling permeates through every decision I make at the company.
Our members have widely differing ideas of what they want for themselves and their babies: elective c-sections, home births, pain relief, no pain-relief and different styles of parenting are all in the mix. Some people have already made a decision not to breastfeed, while others are passionate about making breastfeeding work at all costs. Many have no set plans or preconceived ideas. Great antenatal instructors, like the ones I think we have, ensure their classes relevant and valuable to everyone in the group - delivering evidence-based information while being sensitive to all the different preferences, experiences and opinions in the room. They are fantastic communicators and tread a thin line between building people’s confidence and lessening their fears, while giving them a realistic and honest idea of the challenging aspects of labour, birth and parenting. I have enormous respect for the Bump and Baby Club instructors who do this so brilliantly, while ensuring their classes are really fun and sociable.
Antenatal classes can’t teach you everything there is to know about becoming a parent - your biggest lessons will happen once you’re on the job - but they can make an enormous positive difference to your journey and I’m dedicated to making your experience with us the best it can possibly be. I feel this now more than ever, as I’ve witnessed the pressures on the NHS intensify in recent years and how it’s affected our members. Bump and Baby Club started as a passion project back in 2013, but I now see it as my life’s work and there is so much more I want to do. I feel like I’ve only just begun.
Thank you to everyone who has joined us so far. Each one of our members means so much to us and we will never stop listening and learning from our incredible community.
Alex x
