61: How the first 1000 days and your PCOS impact your baby’s health throughout their life with Alexis Fletcher-Reid

The PCOS Nutritionist Podcast

Your health is largely determined by your mother's health when you were in the womb, and similarly, you will determine the health of your child - not entirely - but to a great deal, by your health when you are pregnant. This is what's called the first 1000 days.

The first 1000 days of a baby's life starts from conception. Over the last few years, there's been a huge amount of research about how important that is in determining their health status throughout the rest of their life.

Now, if you’ve been listening for a while, you’ll know that this is really important in PCOS. One of the main reasons is because we know that babies that are exposed to much higher levels of insulin do tend to have some health issues later on in life. Given that 80% of women with PCOS have high insulin, it’s a freaaaakin’ massive component.

This is why I'm talking to a wonderful woman called Alexis Fletcher this week on the pod. She’s a qualified nutritionist and a midwife - and she’s absolutely brilliant! Funnily enough, I met Alexis by working with her as a client in the PCOS Protocol. She came to me with PCOS and her main concern was she wasn't ovulating as well as of course other symptoms. She wanted to get her ovulation in check even though she wasn't trying to conceive at that stage so that she would be in a good position to do so in the next few years and she wanted to stop the cycle of insulin resistance that had plagued her family.

She knew that if she could get her insulin down, it’d help reduce the possibility of her children becoming insulin resistant at a very early age. This is what was super inspiring about Alexis. Not only did she want to stop this cycle for her own health and for her babies but also it's led her into a career helping other women do the same thing!

She’s such a powerhouse of knowledge for all things pregnancy and postpartum - helping them with feeding, milk production issues (and how to know), sleep and all things that new moms need to know. That's why she started Blossom Baby Consulting, which is a fabulous business, helping many women with their young babies. In this episode, we talk all about the first 1000 days, PCOS pregnancy, postpartum questions, everything Alexis wants soon to be and new mothers to know - as well as her own journey with PCOS and pregnancy.

Managing your PCOS doesn’t stop through pregnancy and postpartum. You want to make sure you’re working on that root cause to not only improve your health but also for the health of your children.

Alexis and I talk all about this today and I talk all about this in my book “Getting Pregnant with PCOS”. It’s a must listen for all of you thinking of or actively trying to conceive - as well of those who want kids in the future.

This episode is for you if:

• You’re trying to conceive or planning to do so in the future
• You are currently pregnant
• You’re postpartum
• You have insulin resistance or think you might be insulin resistant
• You want to know what you should be aware of during pregnancy and post-partum with PCOS

Some things we cover in this episode:

• The first 1000 days - what you need to know
• Alexis’s PCOS story
• Breastfeeding, sleep and postpartum questions
• Getting pregnant with PCOS

Resources and References:

• Blossom Baby Consulting
• Alexis' Instagram
• My Book: Getting Pregnant with PCOS

Links to our programs:<&