A maternity nurse is a trained professional that is employed to help support a new mother/father and their newborn(s). A maternity nurse is there to help guide you through the first few days/weeks/months of having a new baby and also give you confidence in your role as a mother/parent.

I am OCN level 4 qualified as a maternity nurse. I have had approx. 10 years of experience working with newborns and have additional training in specialist areas such as breastfeeding, bottle feeding, colic, reflux, and infant sleep.

Most families book me for either the days or nights (or both) after being discharged from hospital. Some families like to have the first few weeks at home as a family, esp if another parent has leave from work, so prefer me to offer support a little later on. I am entirely flexible and happy to chat about what might work best for you and your family.

Maternity nurses can work sole charge yes, but my main aim is always to support attachment and bonding between you and your new baby, so I try and encourage a healthy balance of time with and without your baby.

Most maternity nurses work a 24hr schedule for 5 or 6 days at a time over a booking of up to 6 months. Due to how I work however, it is rare that I am able to take longer 24hr bookings as I rarely have the availability. Most of my families hire me to work either days or nights only and the 24hr bookings that I am able to accept tend to be 2 weeks maximum. If you are looking for a longer booking, please do get in touch as I may be able to find a colleague that has availability.

Yes! I have worked with a number of twins as not only a maternity nurse but also a nanny and an infant sleep consultant. I have yet to work with triplets but it is on my bucket list and I would love the opportunity!

A sleep consultant's main aim is to help your baby learn to fall asleep without assistance. A sleep consultant will work with you/your partner to teach you how best to support your child. Sleep consultancy is, as the name suggests, a consultative approach to sleep; meaning that there is an understanding and acknowledgement of each families individual needs and challenges. 

My approach is a very consultative and I only use gentle sleep techniques. Before I work with a family, I ensure that they are happy with the use of gentle approaches and aware that often there will be some hard work on their part. My aim is always to be a support to a family and not someone that they rely on (because, realistically, I can't move in!). I encourage each family to complete a 7-day Sleep/Feed Log before I offer help, either in person or remotely. We will then discuss any changes and work together to implement them. I offer 3 weeks of continued support in order to ensure that you are fully supported with any changes. I will never ask you to change anything or implement anything that you are not completely happy with. 

If you need to ask this question then your answer is most probably no (you lucky thing!). People usually ask me for help when they have a long-standing sleep issue or are looking to get their little one into a better sleeping routine. 

I work from newborn to older children. 

There are definitely ages that are more challenging to work with, but usually there are things that can be improved upon regardless. When working with newborns, the main aim would be getting a great sleep routine in place and improving sleep hygeine (aka the external factors that affect sleep). 

Nope! If you're local to Salisbury or the surrounding areas then working in person, either via a home visit or overnight stay, would be my preferred method. If you're based further away then that's no problem at all. I have many clients that I work with via email/call/text/skype etc. and I'm able to support them in the same manner (it just means less baby cuddles for me!). 

Get in contact, either via email/call/text and we will dicuss how best to help your child. Once I am confident that I will be able to help I will send you over an invoice which needs to be paid, in full, to secure your booking. I don't take bookings on my website as I like to ensure that I can definitely help a family first before taking payment. 

No problem! Click here and drop me an email or click here and book a free 15 minute call so that we can chat in more detail. 

A professional nanny is someone that works in a private house caring for children. They will have a wealth of experience and qualifications and provide the best care possible for the children they work with. Nannying is very different to employing an unqualified babysitting as nannies must have a DBS check, Paediatric First Aid qualification, Insurance, and (ideally, but not legally required) be OFTSED registered.

There are actually two ways you can hire a nanny. The first way is to employ them, the second is for the nanny to be self-employed. The majority of nannies are employed by the family they work for, as they work for one family and that family sets their hours, tasks etc, and pays them a salary. When employing a nanny, the employer needs to be aware of the additional costs associated with this. I recommend looking at websites such as www.nannytax.co.uk and www.nannymatters.co.uk for more info on this. I, however, work as a self-employed nanny as I work for multiple families each week and take on ad-hoc and short-term contracts. This means that the rate that I charge hourly covers my tax and NI, of which I am responsible for.

It might be quicker to write what a nanny doesn’t do, as nannying can be so varied. Personally, I have been asked to do some very weird and wonderful things and I am usually more than happy to help as much as I can. Obviously, as a nanny, my main job is to care for the children and carryout any child-related tasks associated with caring for the children (cooking, washing, tidying etc.), but I’m more than happy to chat if there’s a specific task that you may need help with.

Surprisingly no! The nanny industry is actually relatively unregulated and almost anyone can call themselves a nanny with little or no training or qualifications. The reason that I am OFSTED registered is to show families that I work to a certain standard. OFSTED carry out random inspections and ensure that the nannies registered with them are aware of safeguarding practices and are working safely.

I focus very heavily on gentle and attachment centred parenting techniques in my nannying practice. I set boundaries but ensure that they are enforced with understanding and respect in a collaborative manner. I work hard to help my children understand their emotions and guide them through challenges that they face, whilst focusing strongly on building and maintaining a positive attachment.