Originally from Denmark, long-time London resident Helene is the founder of Outdoor Owls, Richmond’s outdoor nursery. She also recently welcomed her first baby – a gorgeous little girl called Else.
We caught up with Helene to talk business & motherhood during a pandemic & to find out more about outdoor education for little ones.
Thank you, I’m over the moon! She is the best little human ever! But I must admit that the first couple of weeks with her were mixed. She arrived just before the Corona crisis escalated so I was partly in a blissful baby bubble and partly stressed about the state of the world.
I also had to navigate a stressful time of temporarily closing the nursery and making sure that my team and our families would be okay through lockdown.
Tell us about Outdoor Owls – where did the idea come from?
My inspiration takes me back to my Danish upbringing, where there is a long-standing tradition of outdoor education and ‘Forest School’, so I guess I brought that idea with me to London.
We believe that not only is it healthy for children to be outdoors but it’s also a much better learning environment for them. With this in mind, we created a holistic, child-centred learning and development programme.
Children are very capable, so Outdoor Owls actively encourages ‘safe risk-taking’ to help build independence. For example, climbing trees (to a safe height) and using tools (under guidance of an educator). Our focus is much broader than simply getting each child school ready – we also want to help them get ready for life!
What does a typical day look like for a child at Outdoor Owls?
We offer full time care from 7:45am – 6pm, 51 weeks a year. It was important for us to create an exciting full daycare option where parents can feel good about leaving their child while they work.
We start the day indoors with breakfast, then get dressed in our waterproofs and into our 6-seater buggies. After a lovely nature stroll, we arrive at our green space where we set up our tipi and basecamp for the day. Then we play, explore and learn for a couple of hours before lunch. In the afternoon, the smallest children can nap in our tipi (complete with camp beds and sleeping bags!) while we continue to play before packing up to return indoors for 4pm. The last couple of hours we spend indoors reading, playing and dancing, and enjoying a lovely warm dinner – appetite is usually high after an active day out in fresh air!
Most days are spent in our green space, but we also organise regular outings to places like Ham House, the local library, a school, a flower nursery… One of our favourite visits is to an elderly home – it’s so lovely to see that the visits are of mutual joy to the children and the elders.
Where to start! The major benefits are health, educational and environmental.
Outdoors, children naturally move around more, building stamina, muscle strength, balance, and coordination. They also develop a stronger immune system with improved gut bacteria, while plenty of fresh air gives viruses less opportunity to spread. Not to mention the mental health benefits, from improved resilience, attention, and self-confidence to reduced anxiety.
As for education, i think of it as a ‘wall-less’ classroom where you can teach maths to a 2 year old by counting sticks and measuring up puddles, and literacy by talking about the things you see in an ever-changing environment. It’s a much more stimulating setting with hands-on opportunities for learning and endless room for curiosity, imagination and creativity!
Finally, the time our children spend outside helps them build a positive attitude towards nature, biodiversity and our planet. Hopefully, they grow up to be custodians of it!
Not sure if it will be a ‘balance’ as such, it will probably more be the case of letting it all merge. I am really ambitious about running the nursery and in the last year my working hours have been pretty full on. Going forward I will surely have less time, but the good thing is that I can be really flexible. And since my business is a nursery, the surroundings are child friendly, so I can bring my daughter with me.
I’ve been living in my 3 in 1 Seraphine maternity jackets. I have the hoodie and the parka. During pregnancy they were the only ones that could zip over my belly and they’re also great after birth. The extra pouch on the front means I can snuggle the baby inside which is the best feeling!
I also recommend Seraphine maternity leggings – I’ve been using mine for the last 2 months of my pregnancy and they are even better after birth when you just want to be comfortable. I am conscious of not buying clothes too often so I like pieces like this of good quality that can be used again and again.
Any advice for other mums thinking of starting their own business?
As for anyone starting a business, you need to prepare and plan carefully. Adding motherhood to the equation means less flexibility, so you need to be realistic about the timing of each step.
Finally, I cannot stress enough the importance of a good team. My co-founder and I put a LOT of energy into hiring an outstanding team. I am reaping the benefits now – even through this extremely difficult time when we had to temporarily close and I had just given birth. I could trust the team to manage things in my absence with minimal guidance.
With blue skies on the horizon & summer just around the corner, now’s the time to talk summer dresses. Specifically, this season’s signature maternity midi dress.
These are the fabulously floaty wrap dresses we’re tipping for greatness this season – which one is your fave?
And last, but certainly not least, we have the ultimate little black dress for summer. A lightweight, feminine take on the sophisticated style classic.
And the great thing is, these dresses will flatter your figure whether you’re pregnant or not – as rather glamorously demonstrated here by new mama @jesta_hillmann & little Juliann with her gorgeous before & after shots.
In-person parties might be out right now, but you & your beautiful bump still deserve to be celebrated! While we’re all maintaining our social distance, why not think about throwing a virtual baby shower?
We’ve covered all the basics in our how-to guide.
Watch the Video
Choose your Platform & Invite your Guests
First you need to decide the best platform to host your virtual baby shower. There are plenty of options out there – Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts… the usual suspects.
We think Zoom is great – it’s user-friendly with minimal set-up (great for older relatives), and the free version allows you to invite up to 100 guests for up to 40 minutes.
Of course, you can always start a new call when the timer runs out, and the natural pause provides a great opportunity for a bathroom break!
Another helpful way to use that 40-minute limit is to divide up your guests, almost like a seating plan. Video calls can become chaotic with too many people involved, so by breaking up the party into smaller, more manageable groups – 1 for friends & 1 for family, for example – you’ll enjoy more quality time with everyone.
One great way to cultivate that special occasion feeling is to choose a special outfit! Ditch the leggings & loungewear for the day & put on your best maternity party dress. You’ll be the centre of attention after all, so you’ll want to look & feel your best.
One big advantage of a virtual baby shower is that it involves much less prep work for the hosts. In terms of decorations, you only need to think about 1 area of your home – the bit the camera will be pointing at! This is great because you can make a really big impact with minimal resources.
Catering is also much easier – everyone provides their own! Though we think it’s a nice idea to set a theme for the snacks to make things feel a little more cohesive – how about ‘Bring Your Own Afternoon Tea’ or ‘Take out of your choice’.
When it comes to games & entertainment, trivia, quizzes & scavenger hunts work well online – why not ask all your guests to send over a baby picture of themselves in advance & play a virtual round of guess the baby!
Of course, one of the focal points of the party is usually opening up the gifts & cooing over the impossibly tiny baby clothes. There are two ways around this, and which you choose largely depends on how organised you & your guests can be.
Option 1: You ask your guests to send gifts in advance so you can open them up on camera
Option 2: Your guests reveal their gifts on camera & send them on to you after the party
For gifting inspiration, check out our gorgeous collection of baby shower gifts online now.
Of course, you may not feel up to hosting a full video call party right now, and that is completely ok! There are plenty of other ways to mark the occasion.
A small celebration at home with just your immediate family will be every bit as special. If your other half is handy with a camera, you could arrange a pregnancy photoshoot at home. And if any of your friends & family live locally, why not organise a drive by & socially distant gift drop off!
Another idea is to ask your would-be guests to send a short message of advice or encouragement for you & a wish for baby’s future. This could either be online or by post, which you could gather into a keep-sake scrap book. Or you could even ask them to record it as a video & ask a clever friend to edit them together.
Mama of two & Seraphine model Rosie Wicks, who you may recognise from PE with Joe this week, is the wife of Joe Wicks, The Body Coach and mama to their two gorgeous children, almost 2 year old Indie and 4 & ½ month old son Marley.
Rosie was a big fan of Seraphine maternity clothes through both of her pregnancies & afterwards for nursing. We caught up with her when Marley was just 6 weeks old, and she shared a few of her favourite post maternity styles.
“I have lived in Seraphine clothes throughout both of my pregnancies and my nursing. It’s nice to have really comfortable clothes that are still fashionable and stylish, and I love that the majority of Seraphine clothes you can wear all throughout pregnancy and through nursing and beyond.” – Rosie Wicks
We LOVE Rosie & Baby Marley in our matching Mama & Mini t-shirts! They’re made in organic cotton, so kind on sensitive skin, and the mama version features easy popper nursing access.
Rosie wore hers with our classic maternity dungarees, which are perfect for pregnancy & after – an everyday essential for new mamas.
Marley was born 3 weeks premature, so the Skin to Skin to top was one of Rosie’s favourites in the very early days. It secures baby against your chest, in the safe skin to skin position, keeping you both covered up & cosy & leaving your hands free.
It’s perfect for kangaroo care, especially on the busy NICU ward.
Rosie is very active mama – as she proved this week on PE with Joe! When she felt ready to start introducing gentle stretches & workouts back into her routine after welcoming her baby, our Sportswear top & Power mesh leggings were the perfect choice.
The top has a clever double layer, allowing for easy nursing access, while the leggings can be worn throughout pregnancy and afterwards.
The soon-to-be first time mum had originally intended to give birth at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, but decided to change her plans over concerns that her birth partner, fiancé Ben Richardson, might not be allowed to be by her side during labour.
Sarah Jane told Hello! “I don’t want to be walking into hospital on my own to have this baby, so I am considering a home birth.”
“I had never considered it before but, because of everything that’s going on, it makes me feel more relaxed to think about having the baby at home, rather than Ben not being able to come into the ward until the very final moment. I think my plan A now is a home birth. I have had an uncomplicated pregnancy and I am very healthy, so there’s no reason for me not to have it.”
Sarah Jane has been working from home since the start of lockdown back in March, and we have loved spotting her rocking Seraphine maternity dresses during her virtual interviews – especially for her special report on Coronavirus advice for pregnancy – see the full interview here.
In these uncertain times it’s important to stop & appreciate the victories, however big or small. So in that spirit, we have a rather exciting announcement to make…
We are delighted to have won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2020, one of the highest accolades awarded to businesses in the UK!
A Message from Seraphine Founder, Cécile Reinaud
The winners of the Queen’s Awards are selected by Her Majesty The Queen herself, based on recommendations from the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee, as well as a panel of industry experts, so it’s a great honour to be chosen again.
We last won this award back in 2015, making this our second consecutive win – a rare achievement and an incredible mark of recognition for our continued outstanding international growth.
At Seraphine, we are proud to be a British brand with an international outlook. We believe that every woman deserves to feel fantastic throughout her pregnancy, which is why we continue to expand our horizons and work to make it as easy as possible to shop Seraphine maternity clothes, wherever you are in the world.
Our customers are at the heart of everything we do here, so this award is dedicated to you – the amazing mums & mums-to-be, both at home & abroad, who continue to support & inspire us.
As she nears the end of her nine months, fashion icon & mama-to-be Millie Mackintosh has opened up about the realities of her third trimester pregnancy symptoms.
The former Made in Chelsea star, who is expecting her first baby – a little girl! – with former co-star Hugo Taylor in the coming weeks, confessed to experiencing a leaky bladder, Carpel Tunnel Syndrome & out of control sugar cravings amongst other things.
Millie posted this intimate picture, wearing a pair of our bamboo maternity leggings, alongside this very honest caption:
“As I come close to the end of my pregnancy, (it feels like I’ve been pregnant forever) I wanted to be honest about my experience in recent weeks. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of beauty surrounding growing a human, it feels like a miracle. A miracle that comes with a side portion of crazy old symptoms, soaring hormone levels and physical and emotional challenges.
The baby is currently on my bladder making me feel like I need to pee all the time, and don’t get me started on the 4-5 visits to the loo throughout the night! A memorable moment would be an evening a few weeks ago when I thought my waters had broken, but much to Hugo’s relief It was just my weakened leaky bladder! Oh the joys!!!
My least favourite third trimester symptom has been Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, which causes tingling, pain and swelling in my hands and wrists, which delightfully worsens at night. Who needs sleep hey? At least my hands and feet are in sync, water retention has re-enforced my love for a good slider… nothing else fits on my feet! “
“Relaxing on the sofa means Hugo can’t go far (luckily he’s on lockdown with me) as he needs to manually hoist me up like a human forklift, which he does every night with the sound effects. I’ve got out of control cravings for sugary cereal and can’t get enough crushed ice with fizzy water and fruit juice, which doesn’t bode well with the baby currently using my bladder as a trampoline.”
Millie has been keeping as comfortable as possible through this tricky trimester & Seraphine maternity leggings have been a particular favourite of hers for relaxing at home.
“Time at home has been such a blessing in all this, I schedule in afternoon naps, gentle exercise, meditation, cooking and reading, and every time that I’m greeted with an uncomfortable symptom, I’m also met with a wave of excitement to meet our baby girl.”
Of course, things weren’t always so hard. Millie enjoyed her second trimester & even managed to move house before lock-down! She handled her move as well as the inevitable DIY days afterwards, with the help of our maternity dungarees – an at home essential for any mum-to-be.
Here at Seraphine we’d like to wish Millie all the best as she prepares to welcome her new daughter.
Looking for ways to keep comfy during pregnancy?
Check out our home essentials collection for all our easiest at home maternity pieces, perfect for the third trimester!
We absolutely love seeing bump to baby shots like this – new
mama Melanie welcomed her little boy in mid-March & has continued to rock
this little bodycon dress before & after!
As the mother of a brand-new baby, actress & singer
Christina Milian’s journey through the coronavirus pandemic has been 100%
relatable.
Like the rest of us, over the course of just two weeks, she’s
gone from worry & last-minute changes in travel plans to making the most of
life at home with family.
And our 3 in 1 babywearing hoodie has seen her through the whole saga.
Christina’s son Isiah was born in January, and she was
visiting family & friends in Paris at the start of the coronavirus outbreak
in Europe.
Christina had to make some last-minute changes to get home
to LA before the US travel ban came into operation.
Our 3 in 1 Babywearing Hoodie was the perfect cover up for her travel day. The kangaroo pouch at the front allowed her to zip up the style over her son in his baby carrier, keeping both mum and baby cosy & covered in the airport and throughout the flight.
Since then, she’s settled into life at home & is now
enjoying the down time with her partner, baby son and 10-year-old daughter
Violet.
She posted the above picture to Instagram, wearing Isiah in
our 3 in 1 hoodie, along with the caption:
“On the bright side of it
all… Goofing around, making tiktok’s, cooking, FaceTiming friends, Netflix and
chilling, eating, exercising & then eating again.. it’s not that bad at
all. Let’s make the best out of this, cause who knows what tomorrow may bring.
Sending love and light 😘”
This week Sky
News Presenter & mama-to-be Sarah-Jane Mee interviewed GP Dr Zoe Williams
to clarify the current advice for pregnant women surrounding Covid-19, also
known as Coronavirus.
Sarah-Jane, who is currently 26 weeks pregnant with her first baby, is self-isolating at home, so she conducted the interview online, along with a follow up Instagram post the next day, looking stylish both times in Seraphine maternity dresses.
You can watch the interview on YouTube, but we have also transcribed it below.
Do Pregnant Women Have to Self-Isolate for 12 Weeks?
Sarah-Jane: I spoke to Dr Zoe Williams about this and she said that the current guidance is that it’s only pregnant women with heart conditions who should be self-isolating for 12 weeks.
If you’re having a healthy, normal pregnancy, you should be practicing strict social distancing rules as a precaution. That will involve working from home if you can. If you can’t, you need to operate that strict 2 meter social distance rule and put into practice all the other government guidelines – things like washing your hands regularly.
Why are pregnant women more at risk?
Dr Zoe: So far, from the evidence that we have, pregnant women are no more likely to get the infection and they’re no more likely to have the serious consequences of Covid-19. However, we know that pregnancy, especially in the third trimester, can affect your immune system and many women can be more vulnerable to getting unwell with viruses.
So, although this doesn’t seem to be the case so far with coronavirus, because we know so little about it, it’s really a case of taking additional precautions.
But the reassuring this is that so far with coronavirus we’re not seeing that pregnant women are more likely to run into the serious consequences.
Is there a greater risk depending on what stage of pregnancy you’re at?
Dr Zoe: During the third trimester, the interference that pregnancy can have on your immune system is more likely.
But there’s an added note – although pregnant women and young healthy people are very unlikely to get the serious consequences of Covid-19, a small number do, and if a woman is pregnant in the third trimester and she does require ventilation, it can be very difficult and very complicated. So, there are just a couple of reasons why women in the third trimester need to be a little more cautious.
Are newborns particularly vulnerable?
Dr Zoe: So far, the evidence tells us that newborns are not a vulnerable group – they are not more likely to get difficulties with Covid-19. Which is really good news, because obviously with newborns we wrap them up in cotton wool and we protect them from everything, and of course we should still do that, but they are not vulnerable. So, let’s annihilate that anxiety that many new mothers will have.
But it is important to say that everybody wants to come and visit when you have a newborn and at the moment, for a number of reasons, to protect the newborn but also to protect the people visiting and everybody else, unfortunately, no visitors allowed.
Here at Seraphine, we were all proud to take part in Thursday’s applause for the amazing front-line workers at the NHS. We are so grateful for your strength, courage & resilience in these challenging times. We were aslo pleased to spot Sarah-Jane joining in at home in her Seraphine dress!
Disclaimer: The above advice is aimed at healthy women with normal pregnancies. No two pregnancies are the same, so as always, please follow the advice given to you by your own doctors & health care providers.
Where, when & how a woman chooses to feed her baby ought not to be a taboo topic. Yet many new mums still feel nervous about the idea of breastfeeding in public.
This week we were inspired to see new mamas Amy Willerton & Ashley Graham proudly breastfeeding their babes while out & about.
Model & TV presenter Amy Willerton, who welcomed her first baby, Demelza, back in January, posted this gorgeous picture wearing one of our maternity & nursing tunics, along with a heartfelt caption about her recent struggles with breastfeeding.
She wrote: “Yesterday was my first PUBLIC feed with Dem. Seems mad as she’s 6 weeks old but basically I haven’t been brave enough yet...”
She credited US model & body positivity champion Ashley Graham for giving her the confidence to breastfeed in public. Ashley recently posted this similar snap of herself feeding her new son Isaac in a café in Brooklyn.
“Thank you @ashleygraham for drinking coffee with your baby the other day so I could feel more comfortable drinking tea with mine.”
Amy also goes into how she managed to reverse her milk drying up by switching from combination back to exclusive breastfeeding for a while. Find out more by reading Amy’s full caption on Instagram.
Amy recently opened up about her breastfeeding journey on IGTV. Watch the full video above to find out what’s been working for her & Demelza.
Seraphine Mums Talk Breastfeeding in Public
Here at Seraphine we’re big believers in #fedisbest and doing whatever works for you & your little one. We have many mums on our team, so we asked them to share a bit about their own breastfeeding journies.
This is what they had to say about breastfeeding in public:
We design our nursing clothes to be comfortable, practical & stylish, so you can have the confidence to breastfeed whenever & wherever your baby is hungry.
And of course, breastfeeding in public doesn’t always have to mean baring a boob. We offer all kinds of nursing access, from discreet zips, poppers & buttons to easy lift-up layers.
And for those who don’t feel completely comfortable nursing in public, one of our stylish nursing shawls is the perfect choice!
Whether it’s formula, pre-pumped, breastfeeding in public or a combination of all of the above, how you feed your baby is YOUR decision.
