Meet the Team
Dear Parent
We are so pleased that you have found ‘Birth, Baby and You’, and now that you have, we will have the opportunity to support you. Becoming a parent is one of the most wonderful adventures that you will ever undertake. But it can also be confusing and sometimes challenging.
We will help you sift through the myths and conflicting advice and support you to find a path that is right for you and your new family.
We do this by giving evidence-based support and information, with compassion and understanding, and as many practical tips about becoming a new parent as possible.
Over the years we have supported thousands of families like yours on their parenting journey, helping them feel heard and supported when it comes to making the feeding choices that are right for them.
We look forward to working with you too.
With love,
The Birth, Baby & You Team
x
Dee Bell
Specialist Tongue-tie Practitioner
Dee lives near Brighton with the fabulous 8-year-old Florence. She is a registered midwife, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, and a Specialist Tongue-Tie Practitioner.
She trained to become a Midwife over 20 years ago and worked within the NHS for over 16 years before becoming independent. She founded Birth, Baby and You in order to offer a more bespoke service to her clients and them the expert support and time they need.
She has many years of experience as a teacher and facilitator and has bought her knowledge and skills together to produce teaching materials for parents and all practitioners who wish to work with birthing families providing high-quality Infant feeding support and the care of their newborn.
Charly Cooke
Transformational Breastfeeding Support Coach
Charly is a mother to 4 children and, alongside 10 years breastfeeding experience with her own babies, has worked as an NHS Peer Supporter since 2015. She is the founder member of The Hanover Breastfeeding Drop-in (the longest-running breastfeeding Drop-in group in Brighton) and has worked with Dee over many years.
Comfortably carrying babies in a sling is a particular skill Charly mastered with her own babies and after volunteering at Brighton Sling Babies (a not for profit community-owned sling library) for many years, went on to train to become a Sling consultant and opened her own sling consultancy in 2018 www.allwrappedup.in
Charly is passionate about attachment parenting principles and is skilled at supporting, advising and empowering parents on their breastfeeding journey. She is here to help and guide you with knowledge and wisdom to enable you to deepen your bond and communication with your baby.
Mel Robinson
Transformational Breastfeeding Support Coach
Mel complements our team with her warmth, skill, and unwavering enthusiasm to support all new parents during their transition into life with a growing family. She is passionate about informed decision-making, person-centered care, and all things birth and beyond.
She is a mum of two girls, both of whom she breastfed. She is a Baby Friendly accredited Breastfeeding Counsellor but has no agenda on how any family decides to feed their baby. Her mission is to ensure that parents feel supported in the decisions they make – and that they have all the information that they need to do that.
Mel has also trained as a full-spectrum Doula and holds a diploma in Holistic Sleep Coaching for Infants.
It is her own lived experience that brought her to this work and she hopes that she can support you in your transition to parenthood.
Sarah Edwards
Administrator
Sarah is at the core of our team and holds everything together. She will be your first point of contact expertly handling any query you might have with her caring and compassionate manner.
She is also a mum of two, now teens, but remembers very well the long days and the wakeful nights with a newborn. Do not hesitate to speak to Sarah with any appointment inquiry. If you have a feeding query she can not answer for you, she will contact someone else in the team and get back to you as soon as possible.
Sarah always goes above and beyond to support our clients and we could not do our work without her.
She joined ‘Birth, Baby and You’ a year ago ‘to help out with a bit of admin’, but now we are never going to let her go!
We believe
- Every woman has the right to factual, unbiased information and support to make informed choices about how she feeds her baby.
- Breastfeeding is about more than just food.
- With better support more mothers can breastfeed and meet their lactation goals.
- Breastfeeding is the optimal food for a baby, as it’s uniquely made up of the exact nutrients needed for each individual baby for at least the first six months.
- The most important things to a child are care, warmth, and love.
Professional background
- Registered with the CQC (Care Quality Commission).
- Qualified Midwife registered with the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) since 2003.
- Full member of the Association of Tongue-Tie Practitioners, holding full indemnity insurance with Hiscox Insurers Ltd.
- Qualified Specialist Tongue-Tie Practitioner, with over 11 years’ experience.
- NHS Infant Feeding Specialist Midwife and Tongue-Tie Practitioner for a leading hospital in the South East (2008-2016).
- Highly experienced International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2011, requalifying every 5 years to ensure up-to-date and relevant practice skills.
- Qualified and experience Paediatric First Aid instructor
"Dee’s advice helped me so much…"
We were recommended Dee by 2 different people and I'm so glad that we booked an appointment with her. She responded quickly to me and came to our house and listened carefully to the problems I'd been having - I was in a lot of pain and feeding had been difficult for me. Her advice helped me so much and I am now so much more comfortable feeding my baby. I can't recommend Dee highly enough!
