welcome to the baby academy

The Baby Academy offers you support advice and guidance from the comfort of your own home

BABY BLISS WORKSHOP
Our three-hour workshop includes 20 mins baby massage, refreshments and Q&A. A perfect gift for new parents either as a solo workshop or small groups.

BABY SLEEP HOME CONSULTATION
Our two hour consultation includes a detailed discussion of your pregnancy and delivery history, working together we can tweak your current routine or help to implement a new one.

Latest Reviews

The Baby Academy

5.0

Isobel Pelly-Porage

2018-04-23T16:07:48+0000

Vickie came to us for 6 weeks to help me settle in with my newborn baby. She was excellent and provided lots of advice and approaches to any issues that arose. Vickie also provided support allowing me the confidence to carry on once she left. She was an absolute joy to have in the house, and I missed her when she left not only because of her help with my daughter but also because she was great company.

Samantha Trebilcock

2018-03-15T04:18:30+0000

Vickie has been a wonderful source of support and guidance. As a new parent the start of my parenthood journey was difficult and I often felt like I was alone and drowning in contradicting advise from parenting books. I found it hard to find clarity and doubted myself. Vickie was a help on many fronts from setting up and adapting routines to just being there via email and phone to listen and give advice. She has helped me find my confidence which has helped me find enjoyment in parenting. Thank you Vickie for the amazing work you are doing.

Maya Lester

2017-11-22T19:53:37+0000

Vickie is a godsend. I can’t imagine any babies could have a better start in life, or any parents such a restful and lovely experience in the intense early weeks of parenthood than those under her care. I was lucky enough to have her for 3 months and my twin girls were sleeping through the night (6.30pm – 6.30am) by 10 weeks. Without any crying. Her routines and good sense work brilliantly, and result in happy calm contented babies, and (just as important!) well rested parents who are actually enjoying the experience and not tearing their exhausted hair out. She is also lovely to have around - I miss our TV suppers chatting away, and she makes a truly excellent cauliflower cheese too, and gets on with everyone. She is incredibly loving with the babies in her care, nothing is too much trouble, and her decades of experience mean she knows when to take precautions for the health of babies (eg when to make trips to the doctor / A&E) and what is normal and not normal. Just book her if you can for twins or singletons, it’s a no-brainer.

Gemma Ryan

2017-10-09T14:48:50+0000

Wonderful Vickie! Vickie is a kind, caring, supportive and utter natural with babies. Wanting to ensure that we started out 'on the right path', we had numerous telephone consultations with Vickie after the birth of my daughter. Becoming a new parent is daunting enough but once you throw in a reflux baby for good measure after a testing birth, having that support and knowledge was priceless. It is not just this that makes Vickie so wonderful, it is that she actually listens to you and your needs and works with you to ensure that you are happy and confident with the plan that you make. She takes her time to understand what you are and are not comfortable with and then helps you take the right steps in order to achieve a calm household. She goes above and beyond. Thank you Vickie

Kate Edes

2017-06-18T04:35:25+0000

I couldn't recommend Vickie enough. She manages to get you into a routine without you realising that she's even done it or how for that matter. The fact that my daughter and I slept for a solid 3 hours just an hour after Vickie's arrival to our home is a testament for the environment that she creates. Throughout her stay she was incredibly discreet, helpful and informative; answering all the questions we had throughout the day and night. I can't imagine having a better start at home with our little one, and that's all thanks to Vickie!

Katie Ramsden

2017-04-25T21:05:47+0000

10* in my book! Caring, knowledgeable, thoughtful, understanding are just a few words that spring to mind. I spoke to Vickie on the phone just a few times before she arrived at our house, at which point i felt as though she was already part of the family. My 5 month old baby adored her and as such I was instantly at ease. She adopts a gentle approach and gets immediate results. Vickie travelled to Brussels for us and she hit the ground running. After only a short stay we have not only seen a dramatic improvement at night but She also gave me the 'tools' and confidence to help my little one with his daytime naps and weaning. This lady is pure gold.

Rosie Laurent

2017-03-31T12:32:02+0000

Highly recommend Vickie! Following 5 months of no more than a couple hours broken sleep A night, reading books, trying out some of the techniques, plus thinking I should wait until 6 months, I decided to call Vickie - I had read about Vickie in a Facebook forum and how she had made a huge difference to one family- I wasn't sure, but thought we've got nothing to loose. It was such a super phone call to hear the confident words, 'yes I can help get your baby to sleep'. Really? One month on with a firmer routine in place, we have just experienced our 3rd night of sleeping through the night in a row. Yes really!! *high five* Thanks to Vickie, she is worth every penny spent. It's not just the initial consultation, it's the follow ups, checking in, guidance and support she offers, which was just invaluable to me. This wasn't an overnight fix, there was lots of hard work involved to put our baby on the right track...but it's paid off and it feels fantastic. Vickie not only has a great manner and skill set but gives you the confidence needed to make the necessary changes. Our family is a much much happier one because of Vickie, her work and our commitment together to make a change.

Pamela Walker

2017-01-23T20:40:17+0000

Lisa Bettinson

2016-11-14T20:47:06+0000

Thanks to Vicki my husband and I quickly understood the importance of routine for us and our baby girl, making our early days with our baby enjoyable and calm! Thanks to Vicki within the early days our baby was sleeping well giving us our evenings to relax which was really important to have that time together as a couple. Vicki was full of great tips and advice making parenting so much less stressful and anxious as I had expected! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Vicki she really has the magic touch, with her help and support the challenges of parenthood wasn't as daunting and scary as we thought!

Emma De Rosnay

2016-11-13T17:27:47+0000

Vicky is fantastic at teaching new mothers to set up a great routine for their newborns. She is extremely experienced, approachable, reliable and adores babies. I am sure thanks to Vicky my daughter has always enjoyed a healthy routine and has always been good at sleeping. I am now about to have my second child and Vicky was the first person I called!

Sarah Appleton

2016-11-01T22:26:25+0000

Vickie helped give us and our twins, George and Harriet, the best start to our family life we could have hoped for. From the day we got home from the hospital, tired, sore and emotional from having had to leave one of the babies in NICU, Vickie was there to support and cheer us on. As well as being hands on help while I healed from the birth, Vickie was the best teacher. She listened to what kind of parents we thought we wanted to be and then coached us through what we needed to do so that our confidence developed and, while we were nervous when the time came for her to go, she set us up so well in just four weeks for our new family life. Hattie and George are now 18 months old, they have adhered beautifully to a routine from the very first day Vickie was with us; they both sleep 7pm-7am every night (barring illness!) and have done since they were 14 (G) and 20 weeks (H). We've never had to pull an all-nighter and we haven't had to sleep train them. I put that down to Vickie's guidance and reassurance in those early weeks giving us the confidence to give them lots of love mixed with a little independence from the get go. Also her advice to get them used to sleeping with noise and daylight and in the buggy from day 1 has meant that even at 18 months they will nap quite happily in their buggy which had given me a freedom that as a mum of twins was often the difference between me getting to see friends and staying at home going bonkers! Totally wouldn't have independently chosen to do that from day one so thank god she made us do it! Almost as important as all that is that she is LOVELY. I am not the most sociable person and was worried about sharing my house and my life 24/7 with a stranger, particularly at such a personal time. Vickie was so easy to be around and made it... well as fun as those first few sleep-deprived and terrifying weeks can possibly be! I cannot recommend this wonderful, caring, knowledgeable lady enough to give you and your family the best start to your life together.

Freya Cullington

2016-10-27T12:02:45+0000

If you are looking to give your baby/babies the best start in life and also want to learn the tools so you can enjoy them to the maximum then Vickie is the person you must contact! I was very fortunate in that Granny wanted to help us out with our newborn twin girls as she couldn't be with us in person. I had heard about Vickie from a friend who couldn't rate her more highly so I put Granny in touch with Vickie and it was all agreed. Vickie arrived about 30 minutes after I'd arrived back from hospital with two screaming babies and me in floods of tears thinking how on earth am I going to cope. Within minutes Vickie had stopped the girls crying, organised the change table and the whole set up of the house, introduced a routine and I felt my shoulders immediately lower and I remember thinking, 'yes, its going to be ok'. Vickie has a really lovely relaxed, confident manner about her. She's extremely organised and keeps a very tidy house! (our house has never looked so tidy!) She fitted in so easily with us - living with us Monday to Friday and we were on our own at the weekends to practice what we had learned during the week. Vickie has over 20 years experience in looking after babies whether individuals or multiples. She has alot of knowledge on breastfeeding, formula only and mixed feeding, introducing routines which means they sleep when they are supposed to - plus well basically every area of babies! She has been with us for 3 months (we were very lucky) and during that time she has given us the confidence and the tools we need to be able to cope. We are going to miss her hugely but she needs to perform her magic on other couples in need! She is worth every penny and I cannot be more grateful for her support.

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About me...

My career with children has spanned over 20 years, during that time I have enjoyed many happy years looking after families as a nanny. My first maternity position was in December 1997, It felt like a natural progression moving from nanny to maternity nurse. I really enjoyed the new challenges and responsibilities that it came with, looking after babies is very insightful, to watch them grow and develop in to individual little characters is fascinating, I have always felt a special bond with the babies that I have looked after, within a year or two I soon progressed to twins and triplets.......never a dull moment!

The majority of my work has been in London or the Home Counties, I have also been very fortunate to travel to some amazing cities......New York being my favourite!

I am a very dedicated person, especially when it comes to the babies in my care, having said that it is also important to find the right balance between work and personal life. Both are equally important. I moved from London to Cornwall in 2002, I grew up living by the sea in Brighton and loved it! My life in Cornwall is such contrast from my work in London, I feel very lucky to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds!

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