After years of battling to find their own path to parenthood, a Warrnambool couple has created what they describe as a science-backed formula to help others prepare before they begin their pregnancy journey.
Michael and Maddi endured three rounds of ovulation induction and five rounds of IVF before welcoming their first child. The journey began in Melbourne and, after proving difficult, brought them to Warrnambool in 2020.
Maddi says that throughout the process she was repeatedly told she was highly stressed, too thin and exercising too much and yet was never tested for any underlying cause, nor offered any holistic support to go with the clinical treatment.
It was that gap that sent Michael searching. He says there is a striking lack of education around what couples can actually do to prepare for conception.
The result, launched in January, is a formula offering 11 active ingredients, developed over six months alongside scientists and pharmacists.
Michael says the idea was validated early. When he first pitched it, he says a Sydney Doctor of Nutrition and Herbal Medicine told him the ingredients had been recognised for supporting women’s reproductive health since the 1990s. He confirmed that, even after all this time, no one had thought to 1) put them together and 2) turn them into a powder.
The couple say the response since launch has shown them just how common, and how unspoken, fertility struggles really are, and through their personal journey and developing this product, they explained people who crossed paths along the way quietly opening up about journeys of their own.
For Michael and Maddi, that’s the point. After feeling under-prepared and under-supported through their own rounds of treatment, this was their answer to raising awareness of infertility and working towards supporting couples to take early, proactive steps towards parenthood.
