About Us

Kia ora, I’m Michelle

I’m an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), mum of two, and the person behind Flow & Flourish.

I created Flow & Flourish because feeding a baby can be incredibly important to you and still be really, really hard.

I know that personally.

Feeding my first baby looked nothing like I had imagined. We struggled with latching, damaged nipples, pumping, dropping milk supply and increasing amounts of formula. I desperately wanted breastfeeding to work, and there were plenty of moments where I felt like everything was working against us.

Nipple shields ended up being a huge part of our story and, despite all those early challenges, we continued breastfeeding until she weaned herself at 22 months.

That experience has stayed with me. It’s one of the reasons I care so much about giving parents good information, practical options and support that actually reflects what they want from feeding.

Support without an agenda

Flow & Flourish isn’t about convincing you there’s one “right” way to feed your baby.

You might want to exclusively breastfeed. You might be expressing for a baby in NICU, trying to introduce a bottle before returning to work, combination feeding, exclusively pumping, using donor milk or formula, trying to increase your supply, or simply wondering whether the pump you bought is actually any good.

My job isn’t to decide what success should look like for you.

It’s to understand what you want, help you work out what’s getting in the way, and give you evidence-based, realistic options to move forward.

Sometimes that means making a feeding plan. Sometimes it means changing a flange size, finding a pump that suits your body and situation, working on a latch or figuring out why pumping hurts. And sometimes it means looking at everything you’re already doing and finding a way to make feeding take up a little less of your life.

More than a lactation clinic

One of the things that frustrated me about the feeding world was how often parents were expected to buy things before they knew whether they would actually work for them.

Breast pumps are a perfect example. They can cost hundreds of dollars, yet choosing one often comes down to reviews, recommendations from friends or whatever happens to be popular online.

I wanted to do things differently.

The Flow Lounge in Palmerston North gives parents somewhere to see and try pumps, compare options, get properly fitted for flanges and access practical feeding support without having to figure it all out alone.

Alongside consultations, Flow & Flourish has a growing pump library, pump hire, flange fitting, feeding education and a carefully chosen range of pumps, bottles, nipple shields, replacement parts and other feeding products.

I don’t want to stock something simply because I can sell it. I want the things on my shelves to have a reason for being there.

The experience behind Flow & Flourish

Before becoming an IBCLC, I trained and worked as a Medical Imaging Technologist. I’ve spent many years working within the health system and now also work in breastfeeding and lactation care within the hospital setting.

That clinical background has shaped the way I work. I like understanding why something is happening rather than simply giving you a list of things to try.

But evidence is only useful when it works in the context of an actual family.

You have a baby to feed, probably very little sleep, your own body recovering or adapting, other people to consider, and a life that still exists outside feeding. Your plan needs to work there too.

That’s what Flow & Flourish is about.

Good information. Practical support. Access to the right tools. And someone in your corner who understands just how much feeding your baby can matter.