Olivia Wollenberg - Livia's Kitchen

[caterday28]

Olivia Wollenberg (aka the founder of Livia's) has been mentioned a few times in relation to Ella Mills (aka the founder of Deliciously Ella) so I thought she deserved her own thread.

I don't have much to say personally. She's currently heavily pregnant and blooming.

IG handles: /oliviawollenberg and /livias

 

[Into_the_tunnel]

I am just joining here….. not much to say at the moment, other than she wound me up before she got pregnant with all her peloton posts and she seems to think she is only going to have about 2 weeks off after the baby is born.

Must have a lot of childcare lined up then…

 

[Yel]

Don't really have much to add other than her range is disappearing in shops, compared to another clean eating person who's range is taking up that space and much much more.

 

[caterday28]

Don't really have much to add other than her range is disappearing in shops, compared to another clean eating person who's range is taking up that space and much much more.

Deliciously Ella?

Yeah, I've also noticed this. I do prefer her products as well, I think some are genuinely innovative.

 

[Into_the_tunnel]

Don't really have much to add other than her range is disappearing in shops, compared to another clean eating person who's range is taking up that space and much much more.

To be honest, we only got the nugglets and squares up here, which are now on sale all the time. I have never seen the Dunx jar…

It was probably best the nugglets are being limited around me because they are sooo nice.

However, it is a shame if powers that be (maybe connected to family links) are pushing her items out of the shelves to make room for another brand. Maybe that is why she is panicking about going back to work so soon after giving birth.

 

[caterday28]

To be honest, we only got the nugglets and squares up here, which are now on sale all the time. I have never seen the Dunx jar…

It was probably best the nugglets are being limited around me because they are sooo nice.

However, it is a shame if powers that be (maybe connected to family links) are pushing her items out of the shelves to make room for another brand. Maybe that is why she is panicking about going back to work so soon after giving birth.

I used to LOVE the Biccy Boms! But they were discontinued.

 

[Meg78]

There were a lot of production issues with the Biccy Bombs, inconsistency in the texture and coating, I loved them too but I understand why they were removed, maybe now they have a new factory they could be revived?

re childcare: they’ve moved in with her parents, I assume they’ll take a large role, with her sister Livia was over a lot in the early days helping with bath time, they seem like a very close family

 

[caterday28]

She's had her baby! Around 2 weeks ago. Gorgeous, of course, though she does look shattered as you may expect!

 

[Clover123]

Aww the baby is cute! Anyone else surprised at the name? Jaxson Theodore. Would have thought she would call him by his middle name, she doesn't seem the type to go for jaxson!

 

[caterday28]

Aww the baby is cute! Anyone else surprised at the name? Jaxson Theodore. Would have thought she would call him by his middle name, she doesn't seem the type to go for jaxson!

Yes! My thoughts exactly. I am... not keen.

 

[lilamay]

That poor kid. No privacy whatsoever.

 

[Meg78]

Every single influencer does the same shocked pikachu face at struggling to breastfeed and then talks endlessly about it like they invented the wheel They say it’s not talked about enough yet ALL of them won’t shut up about it! There seems to be a dismissive culture of “oh well that won’t happen to ME” and then suddenly they’re in the same horrendous boat as the rest of us looking like rabbits in headlights. I like Olivia but I need her to get off this pedastal now as she doesn’t need to “raise awareness” the rest of us are bored and painfully aware already

 

[purple-rain]

what do you guys think the new product she's teasing is going to be? a couple of people have guessed a return of the biccy boms but apparently it's not that (boo). gutted the dunx cookies are going out of production though - managed to get stock up on some in tesco this week!

 

[IamIncog]

Emotive subject, but her son seemed to really struggle to gain weight, I think it was 3 weeks before he was back up to birth weight?
I breastfed, I also had a lot of struggles and came close to giving up several times, but ultimately we got to 18 months and it phased out pretty naturally.

If my son had struggled to put weight on for that long, I would have considered combi feeding, at least for a little bit to help his weight. *just edited to add that I DID combi feed for a while too, my son had 1 formula bottle a day because I couldn’t express very much at all so it gave me a break, so absolutely 100% speaking from experience that it can be done without affecting supply etc*
I just feel like she was totally against the idea, without actually saying it? I just feel like it’s dangerous in a way that she was so open about it, somebody may follow her lead and end up with a poorly baby. In the same instance, she didn’t want to speak about her caesarean because she didn’t want to frighten those who are pregnant and because all experiences are different. Is that not the same with breastfeeding? It seems so hypocritical to have that POV about one thing and then the other was almost dangerously over shared IMO.


Also last night, her partner had apparently taken a photo of her co-sleeping during a nap with Jaxon, they had the blanket over them both, he was below her head (his nose was about level with her lips) and she had the blanket pulled right up so it was over his mouth area a bit. So unsafe, don’t talk about co-sleeping publicly if you’re not going to showcase how to co-sleep safely. Baby should be above head-height and loose blankets and pillows should be off the bed.

I just cringe at the thought somebody will see this being done and take it as instruction of how it’s done safely and it’s not at all

 

[Meg78]

Emotive subject, but her son seemed to really struggle to gain weight, I think it was 3 weeks before he was back up to birth weight?
I breastfed, I also had a lot of struggles and came close to giving up several times, but ultimately we got to 18 months and it phased out pretty naturally.

If my son had struggled to put weight on for that long, I would have considered combi feeding, at least for a little bit to help his weight. *just edited to add that I DID combi feed for a while too, my son had 1 formula bottle a day because I couldn’t express very much at all so it gave me a break, so absolutely 100% speaking from experience that it can be done without affecting supply etc*
I just feel like she was totally against the idea, without actually saying it? I just feel like it’s dangerous in a way that she was so open about it, somebody may follow her lead and end up with a poorly baby. In the same instance, she didn’t want to speak about her caesarean because she didn’t want to frighten those who are pregnant and because all experiences are different. Is that not the same with breastfeeding? It seems so hypocritical to have that POV about one thing and then the other was almost dangerously over shared IMO.


Also last night, her partner had apparently taken a photo of her co-sleeping during a nap with Jaxon, they had the blanket over them both, he was below her head (his nose was about level with her lips) and she had the blanket pulled right up so it was over his mouth area a bit. So unsafe, don’t talk about co-sleeping publicly if you’re not going to showcase how to co-sleep safely. Baby should be above head-height and loose blankets and pillows should be off the bed.

I just cringe at the thought somebody will see this being done and take it as instruction of how it’s done safely and it’s not at all

I combi fed as like you I was too worried about weight loss, however it was counter productive, without the constant demand my supply actually dropped completely and I had to stop breastfeeding at just four months, I don’t think her decision to wait it out was the wrong one, although I’m very glad she chose to do it under the watchful eye of a professional.

I agree with you that her version of co sleeping isn’t safe in any way; the blanket shouldn’t be on him, her eye mask should be off, and she should be curled around him in a C shape. It makes me VERY anxious to see how dangerous her setup is, and that she’s both recommending it and warning that she doesn’t want to hear a difference of opinion, I really hope they move to a cot soon for his safety!

 

[IamIncog]

I combi fed as like you I was too worried about weight loss, however it was counter productive, without the constant demand my supply actually dropped completely and I had to stop breastfeeding at just four months, I don’t think her decision to wait it out was the wrong one, although I’m very glad she chose to do it under the watchful eye of a professional.

I agree with you that her version of co sleeping isn’t safe in any way; the blanket shouldn’t be on him, her eye mask should be off, and she should be curled around him in a C shape. It makes me VERY anxious to see how dangerous her setup is, and that she’s both recommending it and warning that she doesn’t want to hear a difference of opinion, I really hope they move to a cot soon for his safety!

I’m sorry you had to stop breastfeeding earlier than you hoped. For us, he had formula in hospital as his latch was wrong and it took I think 3 weeks before I met with a infant feeding team support worker, that the HV put us in touch with.
It was not what I wanted, but it is what needed to be done because I didn’t want him losing weight and I was in agony until we sorted out feeding position. I just feel like she shouldn’t have gone quite so in depth with it, not everybody has the money for all of the extra support because not all of it is free.
For me, I couldn’t express at all, and I needed just a bit of time to myself to shower, or do whatever for myself mentally and it gave my boyfriend a chance to feed his son. The only way I could ever get expressed milk is if I used a haaka collector and I’d have to do it across several feeds to get enough for 1 5oz bottle. Her posts about it just really rubbed me the wrong way, she made it seem like it was just the worst possible thing to resort to, a new mum might be seeing her stories and thinking she’s failed because Olivia has kept going on and on despite her baby losing weight and having sore nipples etc.

I don’t know it just got me, I can’t quite explain fully what it was.

The co-sleeping though definitely, I so desperately wanted to DM her for that nap picture, absolutely awful set up and I’ve no doubt people have messaged her about it. I wonder if she just blocked them or if she had anything to say?

 

[Dreier89]

I combi fed as like you I was too worried about weight loss, however it was counter productive, without the constant demand my supply actually dropped completely and I had to stop breastfeeding at just four months, I don’t think her decision to wait it out was the wrong one, although I’m very glad she chose to do it under the watchful eye of a professional.

I agree with you that her version of co sleeping isn’t safe in any way; the blanket shouldn’t be on him, her eye mask should be off, and she should be curled around him in a C shape. It makes me VERY anxious to see how dangerous her setup is, and that she’s both recommending it and warning that she doesn’t want to hear a difference of opinion, I really hope they move to a cot soon for his safety!

totally agree - as a mother of 2 and a doctor. I hope her followers are smart enough to understand that a fed baby is best. Especially at that age.,, Like Iadmire her determination and efforts but she is also in a position where she can get all the help in the world. I saw the same”””advice”” from a model/influencer as well - that she went with her “gut feeling” and solely breastfeed her baby even though it tooks several weeks for the baby to gain just a tiny bit of weight…. It is so wrong that people like these might influence some fragile new mothers

 

[Meg78]

Did you guys all see that Livia sold some of the company shares on an investing site a few months ago? The discussion pages on the website are very interesting, the investors have been largely kept in the dark about company activities/finances since the sale and everyone is getting very worried, looks like some users are selling their shares at a loss just to try and parachute out of there as they have no confidence. I know she can’t help the timing on her maternity leave but the concerns were raised long before she left, it’s really unprofessional to take that much money from thousands of investors and then not treat them as actual shareholders

 

[peanutbuttercupp11]

I had to unfollow today, could not take another single breastfeeding post it's like she's the first woman in the world to breastfeed it's non stop also I feel mean but her baby is weird looking and not cute

 

[IamIncog]

I had to unfollow today, could not take another single breastfeeding post it's like she's the first woman in the world to breastfeed it's non stop also I feel mean but her baby is weird looking and not cute

I don’t mean to be cruel, but I think it’s just because usually at his age babies are a little bit podgier, he needs to fill out, he still looks newborn. My son had never been a chunky baby, but his face filled out by that point and he had more cheeks and squish to his legs and arms, but he was very long (and is still very tall now at 2years old) so as I say he’s never been chunky like some babies.

When I first found Livias I thought it was amazing how young she is and how she’s got quite a successful company. I thought the products look really nice too, though I’ve not tried any so far. Since she’s become a mum though her Instagram account isjust too much. She’s going on like Mother Earth and I agree it’s quite hard to stomach at times. The post she’s just done today about baby kisses and everything and she keeps looking in the camera. It’s all really weird and it feels like a private moment that should be kept for them. I don’t understand all the comments saying how lovely it is and how they can’t stop watching. I felt uncomfortable seeing that moment personally. Poor little mite doesn’t seem to have much privacy at times, I cannot stand “influencers” or just those in general with loads of followers when they parade their children like that, such private issues too. When I was struggling with breastfeeding I gave my son formula at first, we got it down to 1 bottle in the end which was my free time to shower and do what I wanted (I could never express much) but seeing her posts at that time would have made me feel so crappy with myself.