No products in the cart.
Coaching
Build a thriving relationship with your baby from birth.
Courses
Learn how to understand what your baby needs and when.
Classes
Learn how to respond rather than react to your baby.
Build a thriving relationship with your baby from birth.
Learn how to understand what your baby needs and when.
Learn how to respond rather than react to your baby.
In 1996, for all intents and purposes still a kid myself, before sleep training or night nannies were a mainstream service, I became a maternity nanny in London. The role meant that for a temporary period (anything from 2 weeks to 6 months), I became the secondary caregiver to infants I worked with. I supported the parents in everything from nappy changes and feeding, to the most important and sought after post natal requirement — sleep. There was only one problem. I didn’t know how to teach parents how to settle their infant, much less do it by myself. The agency I was with gave us some mothercraft training. But there wasn’t any one solid approach or plan they all agreed on. The general consensus was — just do whatever works. There weren’t any formal courses on ‘sleep training’ babies at that time. So I had to rely on books by doctors, advice from midwives, other experienced maternity nannies; and over time my own observation and intuition were to play crucial roles.
I have always had a nurturing, highly sensitive yet determined disposition. I remember the feelings I went through trying to figure out baby sleep like it was yesterday. Those feelings were gruelling. I recall colleagues telling me to just tough it out, ‘you’re not expected to solve their sleep issues – just get the shift over with’. These dismissals only strengthened my resolve. Because the thing is, for reasons I cannot explain, I did feel an expectation to solve their sleep issues – like I was summoned from within. For a time I tried all the tricks my clients come to me with today and more — and none of them felt sustainable — and some of them were just down right ridiculous. They worked for a moment, and that was all I felt like I needed to survive some nights — like a bandaid on a cut that won’t stop bleeding. Sometimes the sleep deprivation would hit me so hard; I would have to drop shift after shift until I felt ‘normal’ again. But over time I remained vigilant. Something inside was guiding me to know how to help these babies sleep. So I made it my mission to figure them out.