My next deep dive will be going live in the next few weeks. If anyone has a specific topic you would like me to cover please let me know in the comments below or shoot me a message

Happy Saturday everyone! I was reordering some cleaning products and I thought I’d jump on here and let you know about my favourite low tox cleaning products. Toxins from our environment can come from many seeming harmless places including your cleaning products. Chemical in these products can disrupt hormone balance, and impair egg and sperm quality meaning we want to reduce our exposure to them especially when TTC (learn more about this in lifestyle support for fertility under the classroom tab). Luckily there are some great low tox brands available! I use koala eco - this is my favourite, I absolutely love their stain remover. I don’t always keep on top of ordering it so I often will use something I pick up from the supermarket. My go to then is eco store - they have laundry powder/liquid, surface spray, toilet cleaner, dishwashing tablets/powder, everything you need for cleaning. If eco store isn’t available my next choice is usually Bosisto’s products. If you are happy to purchase online another great brand in kin kin. I’d love to know if anyone else have any low tox cleaning brands that they love?

There is already so much information on here about female fertility I thought it was only fair to get into some male fertility! Semen analysis is one of the most important investigations used to assess male fertility. However, interpreting the results can be confusing, which is why I wanted to go a bit deeper on the subject. Let me know what you think. Next time I deep dive into male fertility what would you like me to go over?

If you didn’t already know me hi, I’m Lauren, a clinical Naturopath and owner of Blossom & Sprout Naturoapthy. Blossom & Sprout Naturopathy was created to support women and couples to fall pregnant both naturally and through assisted reproductive treatments like IVF. My journey into this space actually started long before I ever thought about having a baby. In my early 20s, I struggled with hormone imbalances and lost my period for several years. Even after doing some testing and told everything was fine I was given very little support by my doctor on what to do and how it affected me. My periods were non-existent/very light for a number of years until my late 20s when they become extremely painful. I was also experiencing a number of other hormonal issues (hello crazy mood swings). Again I was given very little support with this so I just kept living my life, taking time off work often when I had my period to deal with the pain. Then in my early 30s I decided I was ready to start trying for a baby and like many people, I thought it would happen straight away but it didn’t. At this stage I was in the process of studying my Naturopathy degree and I remember sitting down with one of my supervisors and her telling me: If you want to fall pregnant, you need to address what’s actually going on in your body. It sounds simple but it was the moment everything clicked. I was studying how to treat the body, yet I hadn’t applied it to myself. So I started making changes. I supported my body with targeted herbs and supplements, improved my nutrition, and made intentional lifestyle shifts. Slowly, things started to change. My symptoms eased, my cycle became healthier, and I could feel my body coming back into balance. And then I fell pregnant with my first child. I had a healthy pregnancy and a smooth postpartum recovery, which I truly believe was a reflection of the work I had done in my preconception phase. That experience completely shaped the way I practice today. As I began working with more women, I saw a pattern, especially with those going through IVF. So many were being told it was their only option, yet there were clear, addressable imbalances that had never been explored.