the baby guru

Testimonials

Felicity - Beaconsfield

She is fab - instant calm descends as she walks through the door.
Oh Sam! Never under estimate the confidence you gave us. Even when SJ has a bad night we tackle it with resolve...all my friends with similar ages pop in with milk ...we pop in . You are the best money we ever spent !

Jenny E - SW10

I hired Heather as a night nurse when my son Hugo was born and I needed help during the night. Heather has years of experience working with babies and is extremely professional, and it always felt very safe to leave Hugo with her. She is very knowledgeable about breastfeeding and gave me invaluable advice when I had any questions or concerns, always made sure Hugo had 'latched on' properly and helped me to keep him awake if he was too sleepy to feed. I stopped breastfeeding during the night when Hugo was 3 months old and replaced the night feed with a bottle that Heather gave him so I could sleep through the night.

Heather always cared for Hugo in the best possible way and made sure he was comfortable and felt safe. She never let him lay crying and provided him with love and cuddles should he wake up in the night. Hugo is my first baby and it felt very reassuring to employ someone as professional and knowledgeable as Heather, but she was also careful with following my instructions as to how I liked things to be done and did myself, something I appreciated a lot.

Heather was very punctual and always had time to sit down and go through what had happened the days and nights when she had not been with us, and if I had any questions she would give help and advice. She is also a very nice person and I used to look forward a great deal for her to come and spend the night with us!

Heather also helped with gently pushing Hugo's night feeds forward so he would eventually sleep through the night which he did at 4,5 months.

I warmly recommend Heather as a night nurse or maternity nurse!


Louisa S. - N1

When our daughter turned four months, her sleep at night seemed to go to pieces. She was waking every hour for feeding or cuddles. After three weeks, and in despair as we were both so exhausted, we contacted Sam and arranged for her to come and stay two nights with us. In the few days before she came she gave us a few tips to speed the process up. That night our daughter slept for eight hours. When Sam actually arrived, she was warm and helpful, and extremely reassuring. Even just being able to talk to her about the problems we'd been having felt like a huge relief and we both went to bed lighter of heart.

The first night with Sam in charge our daughter slept 10 hours, and the second night, 10.5. Before she left Sam gave us a routine and also advised us on feeding and weaning. Since then we have had between 11 and 12 hours sleep from our daughter every night. Even going on holiday didn't upset the pattern, as Sam had helped us establish a firm, but flexible routine.

I would recommend Sam to anyone who has any kind of problem with their infant or newborn.

 
Lucy - Amersham  

Sam joined us as a night nanny to help with our fraternal twin boys, Felix and Piers from when they were 6 weeks old until they started sleeping through the night at about 12 weeks.

Sam was just fantastic. She fitted in perfectly right from the very first night.  In short, she was an absolute godsend.

I was still breastfeeding the boys at that stage and was increasingly tired with the constant feeds.  I am positive I would not have been able to continue breastfeeding had I not found her. Sam enabled me to ‘switch off’ completely on the nights she was there and get some proper sleep.  

As well as providing the obvious practical solutions she was a great support to us as new parents of twins, always there to answer questions or concerns, even on her days away from us (and still now months later).
She worked together with us to get the boys into a good routine and to achieve our goal of getting them to sleep through the night as soon as possible!

Sam has a completely non-intrusive manner, and she was certainly an easy person to share our home with.

Sam was loving, gentle and caring toward our tiny twin boys.  I have utter confidence in her and trust her implicitly.

We were sorry to see Sam go and although she has prepared us very well for getting along without her, having her here was a great comfort that I wish could have continued a little longer.

I am delighted to say that my boys are thriving. They are good little sleepers and are very happy babies, I am sure this is down to the good start they had which Sam helped us to achieve.

I wholeheartedly recommend Sam.


Tina and Andrew – Harpenden  

Sam acted as a night nurse for our son for five nights a week,
Sam’s help was invaluable over the weeks; establishing a  sleeping routine and offering advice to us as new parents. By having Sam we were both able to get a good night’s sleep.

We found Sam to be very professional, caring and trustworthy. We would have no hesitation in hiring Sam again or recommending her services.


Sophie – Muswell Hill

Sam started with us when Edward and George were 7 weeks old, and by the time she left 5 weeks later, they were both sleeping through the night.
When Sam first joined us, we didn’t have an established nighttime routine, and Edward and George cried a lot in the evening. They also still needed feeding at 11pm and 3am.
As soon as Sam arrived, she helped us get the babies into a nap and bedtime routine. After a couple of days, both babies were asleep by 7.30pm and we finally got our evenings back. Sam then worked on stopping the nighttime feeds, starting with the 3am one.  She explained every step of the process to us, reassuring us that she would not let them cry much, and we trusted her to look after the babies at night while we caught up on some much needed sleep. By the end of the fifth week, both babies slept until 6.30am every morning.
Sam clearly loves looking after babies and they quickly responded to her. She has a wealth of experience, and was always happy to answer our many questions.
I would not hesitate to recommend Sam and would definitely employ her again if I have more children.


Rachael- Mill Hill

She has an extremely professional but caring manner and we found her entirely competent in her ability to tend to our 7 week olds needs throughout the night. Sam advised us not  only on establishing a sleep routine, but also shared her knowledge of reflux, teething, breast feeding, weaning, and care before and after vaccinations. Our little girl was diagnosed with oesophageal reflux disease at 7 weeks old. Sam was extremely well versed in the symptoms and treatment of reflux disease and my husband and i found her support invaluable. I would highly recommend Sam for her unobtrusive style, efficient, reliable service, and thorough well rounded knowledge of baby sleep and general care.


Natalie & Shameer- Harpenden

Sam came to us in early March 2011, when Samira was 14 months old and I was 10 weeks pregnant with our second child. I had not had a full nights sleep in those 14 months, and my husband was sleeping on the sofa bed in the lounge during the week in a desperate attempt to get a few hours more sleep because his job is so demanding. We were completely exhausted, and I had lost all confidence in my abilities as a mother and was in tears most days from pure tiredness. Samira had been a demanding baby from day 1, and had been diagnosed with reflux at 8 weeks old and a lactose intolerance at around 9 months old. She had originally been on medication to control the reflux , but we had weaned her off it only to have to put her on stronger medication at around 12-13 months old when the symptoms returned. She was also on a lactose free diet.

Samira had rarely slept through the night in 14 months, and we had got into quite a few bad habits in the desperate attempt to get some sleep - ranging from having her in our bed to giving her numerous bottles of milk in the night to get her back to sleep for a few hours. When Sam arrived Samira was in her own cot, but woke throughout the night and was having 2-3 bottles of milk to get her back to sleep. I knew this was wrong but my husband and I were at loggerheads as he wanted a "quick fix" in the night, and I was too tired and lacked the confidence to try controlled crying on my own. Needless to say, Samira's huge intake of milk during the night was also having a knock on effect on her appetite during the day.

The minute Sam arrived on our doorstep I felt like a good friend had arrived to come and stay for a few days. Samira instantly took a shine to her, as Sam has such a natural ability with children. That very first evening Sam reassured me that Samira didn't need all those bottles of milk at night, and that they were probably making the reflux symptoms worse. My husband and I felt completely at ease to let Sam take control that first night, and were sent to bed with earplugs for a good nights sleep. I still felt slightly anxious about letting Samira cry but had total trust and confidence in Sam's ability and wealth of experience.

That very first night Samira woke around 2am, and I could faintly hear her cry on and off (through the earplugs) for about 15 minutes. Then silence. The next thing I remember is Sam and Samira coming to wake me up at 7am for her morning milk!! I couldn't believe it. Samira had responded really well to Sam's sleep training and reassurance techniques and had only woke the once, and had not had any milk during the night. But I knew it probably wouldn't be so easy the second night when I had to do the sleep training techniques with Sam's assistance. During the day Sam helped me tackle the day time naps with Samira in her cot. I had got into the habit of putting her in her pushchair and rocking her to sleep during the day, rather than letting her cry in the cot. Sam also observed mealtimes and Samira's eating habits. As the day progressed I felt my confidence returning as Sam reassured me that I wasn't an awful mother, and gave me lots of help and advice on dealing with the eating and sleeping issues. Sam's experience with the reflux medication and how to administer it correctly was also invaluable - as this is something the doctors and consultants do not really take the time to explain when they give you the prescription. Sam's in-depth knowledge about reflux, the medications and what foods are easier for reflux babies/children to digest without causing them any further discomfort really helped me, as I had not been given any advice on this from the doctors or numerous health visitors I had spoken to.

By the end of Sam's stay Samira was sleeping through the night and I had so much more confidence in myself and my ability as a mother. We absolutely loved having Sam come to stay as she completely changed our lives in those few days, and it was like having a good friend come to stay in your house as she put you at ease immediately. She has also been a great help and support over the phone/text after her stay, when I have worried about Samira's eating, or any sleep related issue. Sam is the first person we will be calling in for help should we have any problems with baby no.2!!