My Round Up 🌿
Oh my goodness – 2025 has been absolutely full to bursting. When I look back over the last twelve months, I can’t quite believe how much has unfolded. This is one of my favourite things to do at the end of the year: reflect on what’s happened, soak up the wins (and the lessons), and say a big, huge, sincere thank you to all of you reading, following along, and supporting me along the way. I’m also so thankful to the small handful of beautiful brands and people I get to work with too.
Well, the biggest thing for me this year was…
Launching my long-dreamed supplement range with Cytoplan!
This has been a dream of mine for many years, especially when I realised what a dire need there was for something that ticked the boxes for our littlest ones. One of the biggest moments of my entire career happened this year – the launch of my new supplement range with Cytoplan. This is something I’ve been dreaming about, researching, and quietly working towards for quite literally years. To see it finally launch – and to see it so insanely received…has been nothing short of incredible. The company I partnered with has been thrilled with the results, and hearing the feedback from so many families has made every late night, every careful decision, and every moment of doubt feel completely worth it.
If you haven’t seen them yet, check them out here – Charlotte’s Vitamin Drops.
Charlotte’s Brand Work
I am very selective about who I work with, always, I only work with a very small number of brands, those I genuinely admire and believe in. This year, those partnerships with brands like Little Dish and Zebedees deepened even further and I so value withing with companies who listen, adapt and always strive to be doing the best. I am also so grateful to continue working with companies who feel like friends, not just “clients.”
Little Dish –
In 2025 I continued my partnership with Little Dish, helping them launch NDP (have you seen their Superstars?) which has been a phenomenal success and also continuing their ongoing charity efforts with The Felix Project. Little Dish itself has had one of their best years as more and more families discover their fresh kids’ meals. I’m thrilled my Little Dish Lasagnette meal is now available in all the supermarkets – thank you to everyone who has tried it and let me know how much their kids loved it. Little Dish have also won lots of awards this year including a Grocer Gold award for their brilliant ‘Buy ONE, Give ONE’ partnership with The Felix Project and innovation awards for their new Superstars chicken nuggets, which contain 50% less salt and have cauliflower blended into them (have you seen them yet?)
We have BIG plans together for 20
26 so stay tuned to hear about those!Here is what LD said about working with me:
“Everyone at Little Dish enjoys working with Charlotte. She is so knowledgeable about children’s nutrition, and what parents want to feed their little ones, and cares so much about the recipes she creates with us. She always goes the extra mile to help make our meals as healthy and delicious as they can be and works seamlessly as part of the Little Dish team.” Dean Brown, Little Dish CEO.
Zebedees –
I’ve been working with Zebedees for years now, and it’s been incredible to see their impact grow. This year alone they’ve won some exciting awards (such as Health Hero Award at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards and Overall Business of the Year award!)
and reached more children than ever with their balanced hot lunches. Catering to over 362 nurseries and delivering more than 1.7 million lunches, their reach has grown by 25% compared to last year. Even more impressive, 97% of nurseries report being happy with their service. This really shows the care and consistency they bring to every meal they serve and the feedback they receive is so wonderful.
I’ve loved being part of this journey, especially at a time when nursery food guidelines have finally changed and there’s been so much conversation about what children are fed in early years settings. From speaking to many of you, and seeing the feedback Zebedees receive (their customer service really is second to none), it’s clear that those of you with little ones in a Zebedees-catered nursery are truly the lucky ones.
What Zebedees said about working with me:
“Working with Charlotte has been invaluable. We have worked with her for over five years, and she has become a truly valued member of our team. Her guidance on the new EYFS nutrition standards has helped us ensure our meals meet the latest requirements while still keeping them enjoyable for the children. She consistently challenges us to improve our menus and to go above and beyond in creating meals that children enjoy, parents appreciate and nurseries love. She’s supportive, responsive and makes the whole process seamless.”
Veg Power –
I also partnered with Veg Power on a variety of projects aimed at getting more children and families across the UK eating fruit, vegetables and beans…a mission close to my own work and career. The energy and creativity of the Veg Power team are infectious, and it’s been a joy supporting their campaigns, speaking at their conferences and collaborating with other experts to get beans and veggies more accepted in UK families.
John Lewis –
This year I partnered with John Lewis to help support and speak at their All Things Baby event. This is hosted in the JL flagship store and is a place where parents can go to learn about feeding, sleeping, or looking after their babies as well as find out about the range of products available to them. I was lucky enough to have Waterstones also host my book sales and signing at the event too which was such a success. I’m in talks to run more of these with the JL team next year too!
Podcast Power
Series 2 of my podcast How to Feed with Charlotte Stirling-Reed launched this year, and what an extraordinary season it’s been.
One unforgettable highlight was interviewing the Mayor of London, discussing the future of children’s health, access to nutritious food, and how we can better support families across the city of London and beyond.
The podcast also received an award nomination, which was such a surreal moment. I created it to foster honest, evidence-based conversations that parents can have in their spotify How to Feed Charlotte Stirling-Reed (and ear)…so this recognition has meant the world.
I’m so thrilled with this series and if you haven’t listened to it yet, now is the time to give it a go! I’ve also written a little round up of my learnings on it on social media too!
Supporting national change: Government work
My role in shaping national conversations around early years nutrition grew significantly in 2025.
This year, I contributed to:
- National early years nutrition guidelines
- Work on school food standards in the UK
- Speaking on breakfast club initiatives from the UK Government
- Broader governmental concepts designed to support families
And in early 2026, I’ll be able to share details about another project I’ve been working on quietly behind the scenes on this similar topic.
This kind of policy-level work is something I feel more motivated than ever to continue.
TV, Media & Panorama
Media-wise, 2025 was huge.
Some standout moments:
- My first appearance on This Morning
- A powerful feature and support given to BBC Panorama’s The Truth about Baby Food, which has already helped spark meaningful discussions and tangible changes about baby food quality and safety
- Interviews across the UK highlighting the importance of evidence-based guidance for parents
The Panorama project, in particular, felt like a real moment something I’m incredibly proud of.
A new addition on the bookshelf
I can’t believe I’m saying this but this year I also launched my fourth book – The Ultimate Weaning and Toddler Cookbook - which of course was another highlight of this year. This book adds so many new recipes, ideas, and bits of inspiration for babies, toddlers and whole families.
Even though my kitchen is still being renovated (chaos!), I can’t wait to get back to cooking everything from this book again. These recipes feel like safe, dependable favourites that families can truly rely on.
A new Substack community
This year, I also launched my new Substack, which has quickly become one of my favourite places to share deeper thoughts, guidance, and behind-the-scenes discussions about parenthood, feeding, family nutrition and everything in between.
My hope is to continue building this into a genuine community hub a warm, informative, supportive space where parents can learn, connect and feel reassured.
Substack paid community is a big priority for 2026, and I can’t wait to grow it even more and offer really supportive conversations for parents on there.
Strengthening the team behind the work
One of the most grounding things to happen this year has been strengthening my team building a secure, supportive group of people who make everything possible.
A huge, heartfelt thank you to:
- Katarina Martinez-Thomas – an absolute rock for my work…she could probably run SR Nutrition if she needed to 😉
- Cordelia Woodward – who’s just started working with me and whose support and dedication have been invaluable. She’s super creative and the sweetest person you’ll ever meet.
- Bev James Management, who continue to support me with so much of my brand work.
- Sokada – my brilliant website team, who bring my online world to life with creativity and care and are ALWAYS there in my crisis moments
Having such solid support around me has changed everything – giving me the freedom to create, dream bigger, and work more sustainably. But getting this right is also a huge priority for next year too…watch this space for team news!
Looking ahead to 2026
We’re stepping into a very exciting year.
Here’s a little glimpse of what’s coming:
- A major community project launching early in the year
- A new brand project/duct that could be a game-changer for the baby food world…
- A new project helping nurseries…watch this space
- Continued work on school food and nursery food guidance, generally
- More information and advice on my supplement range…plus potentially some news here…
- Exploring Substack content and community building on here, including my newsletter
- And – once the new kitchen is finally done – lots more recipe development and showing you around my kitchen and building on new branding from a very beautiful new location.
2026 already feels full of possibility. I’m so glad you’ll be here to join me for it!
A Final Thank You
To every single person who has listened, followed, messaged, cooked al
ong, bought the book, supported the supplement launch, or simply been part of this journey…thank you.To my team, my agents, my collaborators, and the brands I work with who I admire so deeply thank you for trusting me, supporting me, and believing in this mission of mine!
2025 has been huge.
2026 is going to be even bigger.
And I’m so grateful to be walking into it with all of you.
With lots of love,
Charlotte 💛
