Baby Sleep Consultant, Newborn Care Specialist & Mothercraft Trained Night Nanny
Overnight Baby Sleep Coach, Newborn Care Specialist & Mothercraft Night Nanny. Byron Bay · Gold Coast · Canberra · Sydney · Regional NSW, ACT & QLD.
Hello. I am Raquel Tara, your baby sleep coach
How a Country Girl from Byron Bay went from Elite and Discreet London Sleep Nanny to Leading Baby Sleep Specialist in Australia.
My nearing 30 years of experience as a baby sleep coach began in London when I trained through an elite nanny agency to become a maternity night nurse and mothercraft nanny. At the time, a sleep consultant was called a sleep nanny. Google also wasn’t a thing. And parents would find us through various elite nanny agencies. As a sleep nanny I would manage the newborn’s care so their parents could rest properly overnight, and if the baby’s were no longer in the newborn stage, I’d be hired to teach them to sleep through the night.
We would be sent to all manner of high profile families throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. I did this for several years before returning to Australia where I continued working as a maternity night nurse and sleep nanny primarily providing baby sleep consulting services. Due to my back ground and reputation working in the UK, I became known as the ‘celebrity sleep nanny’. City life wore me down over time and I decided to move to Bali after launching my online baby sleep program. I’ve now come full circle, and returned to my homeland, the Northern Rivers, where I coach families in Byron Bay and beyond as far as Sydney, Canberra, regional NSW, ACT, and QLD.
I’m not only a baby sleep consultant, I’m also a passionate parent and infant advocate. My baby sleep support programs coach parents across Australia and include comprehensive 1:1 support. I limit client intake to ensure I can support each and every client with their individual needs and tailored requirements. There is a blue print for baby sleep, but from the blue print evolves the individual family needs, individual personalities, lifestyles and the realities of baby development and growth.
My approach isn’t to Cry It Out, and it doesn’t advocate for eliminating crying either. I don’t believe that distracting a baby from authentic expression is respectful. The goal of any baby sleep consultant should be to be respectfully responsive. But unfortunately I don’t think a lot of people understand what that means or involves. In every corner of the ‘sleep training’ market there is an acute focus on making the crying stop, or avoiding it altogether, without any space for understanding the message the child is communicating. We can be responsive without suppressing emotions.
Some clients have described my approach as gentle baby sleep coaching. However, I don’t feel my approach can be pigeon-holed there either. Experience has taught me that some of those ‘gentle’ methods are in inadvertently disrespectful to the baby’s sense of security. I’ve analysed many infant sleep approaches intimately. And while there are some common threads with what other gentle sleep consultants offer — my approach has many unique elements. And it has evolved with my decades of experience. And when I’m working 1:1 with clients, we evolve the approach as the experience unfolds. Just as no two babies are the same, no two individual parents are either. We need to look at every element of the baby’s experience. That’s holistic sleep coaching. The approach to settling a child to sleep is just one aspect of the entire profile of each family’s baby sleep coaching experience.
I’m a coach first and a consultant second. My ultimate goal is helping parents not only get the sleep they deserve – but also understand how they got there. And how to maintain healthy sleep hygiene in their lives for themselves & their child permanently.
The personal growth that parents are able to achieve through early parenting is a major interest area. As a professional I support parents in their transition into parenthood which is deepened my knowledge of infant mental health.
My experience has taught me that the inherent wisdom we all have to evolve as humans is what drives a loving adult into wanting to become a caregiver. With the first 3 years of an infants life imprinting crucial feedback that influences the trajectory of their lives; it’s incredibly beneficial to understand how to model ‘certain leadership’ for infants as early as possible.
Raquel Tara is an Overnight Baby Sleep Coach and Newborn Care Specialist. Raquel offers a FIFO service where she visits families in their homes and coaches babies to sleep through the night, while their parents get the rest they deserve. Raquel has helped elite athletes, doctors, celebrities, teachers and coaches both-in Australia and abroad for 20+ years. And she can help you too!
The Raquel Tara approach to sleep gives you the tools to help your baby unlock the innate wisdom of 'relaxing enough to let sleep come'. Raquel Tara's 1:1 coaching programs are tailored to each and every family and are designed to help you support your baby in a kind, and respectful way. Once they have this skill, they'll be able to get to sleep and stay asleep, which resolves the majority baby sleep issues.
