At LittleOak, we are more than a company - we’re a passionate team of parents who put families first. To be invited on your feeding journey is a privilege we so deeply cherish and it really is so rewarding to know that we’re making a meaningful difference for little ones across the globe.
From our family to yours, we’re introducing you to yet another fantastic team member who works behind the scenes every day to ensure your little one gets the nutrition they need to grow and thrive. As our Global Head of Operations, Mitch makes sure your favourite LittleOak goodies get all the way from our farm to your doorstep. But how did it all begin?
Mitch was a LittleOak dad before joining our little company, and just like you, he feeds his bubs LittleOak every day. Like so many parents out there, Mitch and his wife encountered some real challenges when using standard formula. Their six month old struggled with skin and digestive issues, which impacted her sleep and made her quite irritable.
"We found LittleOak and it had an instant impact, clearing up her skin, settling her digestion and she began sleeping through the night. To say it changed our lives is an understatement," said Mitch. Since, then Mitch's little ones each consumer 2 bottles of LittleOak daily!
While we’re absolutely delighted that Mitch found a product that suited his little one, we’re even more delighted that it led him to our little team.
When chatting to Mitch about LittleOak, his little ones and his message for all our mums and dads, he raised a concern that resonates with so many of us: the rise of ultra-processed foods. And as a dad to two wee ones, he’s got some thoughts to share with us all.
A word from Mitch
As the world has developed at an incredibly fast pace, so too has food processing, allowing products to have longer shelf lives. Many companies do an amazing job at making food products highly palatable (meaning tasty and you can’t stop!), but that ultimately means people are consuming more and more ultra-processed foods than ever before.
These highly processed foods are full of nasty refined seed oils, sugar, artificial flavours, colours and sweeteners (and the list goes on). As our kids grow up in this world, it’s more important than ever to teach them about nutrition and food choices. It’s almost impossible to tell a child to choose a natural, whole food item over a highly processed product based off taste.
“Do you want this gummy bear or a cucumber?” Yeah right...
So, here’s my tip: try and encourage children to think about how certain foods make them feel. For example, when my kids consume several chocolate easter eggs, then proceed to have a meltdown and feel sick, I try to get them to think about how that chocolate has made them feel when compared to how they feel after eating a banana. It's a challenging process, but in the long run, it will lay a foundation for the next generation to learn how to navigate food choices and gain essential knowledge about nutrition.