Please note that NW8-mums provides information only and cannot held responsible for unsatisfactory experiences or undesirable outcomes.
A Note from Karin
Congratulations on your baby! If you are reading this, perhaps you have had a great labour and early experience. You may not have. Or, you may have had a great pregnancy, good labour and then find yourself struggling. You may have spent time in NICU or have had a traumatic labour.
Nothing prepares you for having a baby and children don’t come with manuals. In my experience, and anectodatally from running the group for so many years, once you are back from hospital and life starts becoming normal, many parents struggle. I could write a book about my own struggles with severe postnatal depression and anxiety just to name two things, but as I have a dedicated page for that, all I would like to say is that should you find that you are struggling in any way, please don’t suffer in silence. Please reach out. There is lots of support out there if you know where to look. Please don’t hesitate to email me should you need support. I can help point you in the right direction.
General tips
Your GP surgery, health visitor and/or baby clinic usually has lots of information about things to do, classes etc so it is usually worth checking with them as new classes often start every few months.
NHS – General postnatal information
Westminster Council Family Support
St Mary’s Hospital Postnatal Care
Portman Early Childhood Centre – They have two centres: one in Church Street and the other one in Maida Vale.
Karin’s daughter with whom NW8-mums started back in 2009.
Private Postnatal Care
St John & St Elizabeth Hospital runs various clinics including an obstetrics one including antenatal and postnatal care.
There is also the popular London Paediatric Unit which is situated within St John & St Elizabeth Hospital.Their Paediatric Advanced Clinical Practitioner Kate Lewis has worked there for many years, and I have taken both my children to see her on several occasions. They offer anything from check-ups and immunisations to much more.
St John & St Elizabeth Hospital – If you need help, reassurance or similar, there is also The London Paediatric Unit situated within The Hospital of St John’s & St Elizabeth’s. They have a phone line Mondays-Fridays where you can speak to one of their paediatric nurses. If nobody answers, just leave a message and they will call you back. Here you can have immunisations done privately too. Please find the Consultant Directory for the hospital by clicking HERE.
There are many doctors working at the paediatric unit who are very popular in the group and you can find a link to them HERE or scroll down a bit further.
Another local private hospital in the area which is part of HCA Healthcare UK is The Wellington Hospital. The HCA offers a number of paediatric services, and they also have several doctors working there who are popular in the community.
Some, but not an exhaustive list of, popular private doctors, paediatricians and GPs in the area are:
Dr Lee Noimark – Please note this is Dr Lee Noimark and not Dr Dean Noimark.
Starlight Paediatrics, founded by Dr Ahmed Massoud, is located inside The Portland Hospital.
There is also the Japanese clinic, The Nippon Club Medical Clinic, situated at St John & St Elizabeth’s Hospital.
The Portland Hospital – Situated on Great Portland Street, here you can go for most things, but this is very popular with families. They also have an Urgent Care department for children from 0-17 years of age.
The Princess Grace Hospital – This is situated in Marylebone.
General Post-Natal Classes
NCT – They put on a variety of classes including general postnatal information, breastfeeding and weaning to name but a few.
General Breastfeeding Information
- National Breastfeeding Helpline
- NCT Breastfeeding Support
- Association of Breastfeeding Mothers (ABM) Helpline
- The Breastfeeding Network
- La Leche League UK
- The Twins Trust – Help and advice for parents of twins, triplets and more
- Bliss – National charity dedicated to supporting families and special care babies
Lactation Consultants
One of my top tips when looking for a lactation consultant is to make sure that whoever you hire is completely on board with supporting you in whatever way you want to be supported.
- Ruth Tamir is a local NCT Practitioner & IBCLC Lactation Consultant who also helps parents with their babies’ sleep and she has been in the area for many years. She offers home visits as well as online support.
- Sarah Das, midwife, reflexologist and lactation consultant, has helped many of the mums in the group.
Baby Massage Classes
IAIM Baby Massage Classes – find a local one by inserting your postcode into their search engine
Tandy Gray runs baby massage group classes.
Paediatric First Aid
Please click HERE to take you to a page dedicated to this.
Cranial Osteopathy
Many friends and members of the group have used cranial osteopathy to help with various conditions such as colic, reflux to name but a few. Some say they have seen a great improvement in their babies and others less or not at all. The osteopaths mentioned below have all helped several mums in the group.
Carla Pozner – Carla is one of our mums
Postnatal Physio
Maternity Nurse
Karin has found that word of mouth is often the best when it comes to finding a maternity nurse. She usually suggests that those pregnant in the group join the Nanny WhatsApp group for personal recommendations and contact details. If you would like to join the group, please click HERE.
However, there are of course plenty of agencies that can help you too. The list below can get you started, but is by no means exhaustive. Please note that NW8-mums has no affiliation with any agency or person and cannot be held responsible should you not be satisfied.
Simone Wilson, one of our mums, is the founder of nanny agency Homebodies.
Sleep Consultant
Our tip for working with a sleep consultant is to find out what their method is like. Make sure you ask lots of questions and hire with the person you feel suits you and your family best, and not who everyone says you should work with if that person doesn’t feel like the right one for you.
Linda Russell (photo above) aka The Sleep Lady, runs regular sleep clinics and has not just a wealth of knowledge, but also years of experience. She has helped many NW8-mums’ families.
Dr Anji is a paediatric intensive care doctor in London, a qualified sleep consultant and a mum of two young children. She was motivated to delve into the world of sleep science after her first child suffered from significant sleep issues secondary to severe reflux and cow’s milk protein allergy. Sleep training changed her life for the better and combining evidence based paediatric medicine with the science of sleep has been revolutionary for her second child (required no formal sleep training interventions to sleep through the night by 6 months) and her clients. All consultations and plans are individualised to the child and family and she uses a range of sleep techniques tailored to you from parental presence, quick result sleep training to responsive, gentle tweaks to a personalised routine. Please get in touch for a free 15 minute consultation!
Website: www.drsleepytots.com
Eliana Beeson is the founder of Little Angel Sleep Consulting and she has also helped local parents.
Emilie Caro of Emilie Caro Sleep has helped many NW8-mums over the years. Emilie is now based in New York City, but is still available through virtual consultations. Below are some tips from Emilie after one our sleep sessions together at a local venue.
Sling Library
Information on Classes from A-Z as best I can
Acupuncture
Karin has the most amazing acupuncturist whom she saw before, during and after the pregnancy with her son. Dr Ping Li only does home visits. She is Karin’s go-to person and she have been a patient of hers since 2013. Ping can be contacted on 020 8269 2862 or on her mobile 07783 385 727. Ping also helped Karin’s body recover after labour.
One of our mums, Ingrid Huang, is an acupuncturist also popular in the group. She sees patients in her house or at Violet Hill Studios.
Baby Yoga
Nutritional Therapist & Health Coaches
Dr Harriet Holme of Healthy Eating Dr is a paediatric oncologist and nutritionist. She can help with all aspects of nutrition including weaning help for babies.
Simi Mirpuri is one of our mums and helps parents with nutrition.
Nada Soubra is another one of our mums and is a health coach.
Osteopathy
Carla Pozner of CP Holistic who is one of our mums is an osteopath. She can also help postnatally as well as with paediatric cranial osteopathy. She has helped many mums and babies in the group.
Pepper Stewart sees patients at her St John’s Wood/Maida Vale and Knightsbridge clinics. She has treated Karin many times over the years, her mum and several others (adults and babies) in the group.
Postnatal Yoga
Westnine Yoga – Dani runs postnatal yoga classes.
Postnatal Massage
Petra Kumar of Solace Mobile Massage is amazing. She does ante-natal, postnatal massage and other types of massages. She is also quite well known for her C-section scar massage which many of the mums in the group say has helped not just with discomfort, but also with the scarring looking much better. You can enjoy Petra’s massages in the comfort of your own home. Karin has seen her regularly for many years and always feels great afterwards.
Reflexology
Abi England is a local mother and reflexologist. Abi only does home-visits in St John’s Wood/Maida Vale. She specialises in pregnancy and labour induction reflexology, but also sees clients for all manner of things from stress, insomnia, back pain, IBS, arthritis and more. Many parents in the goupr can vouch for Abi’s treatments being just amazing.
Shiatsu Massage
Karin has had shiatsu many times and finds it amazing. She even did a Shiatsu training course years ago. Shiatsu is fantastic in relieving tension, stress, promoting well-being, helps aid sleep and relaxation. It is similar to acupuncture – without the needles – so perfect for anyone who doesn’t like needles.
Doris Block has been a fully qualified Shiatsu Practitioner for over 16 years and has worked with people of all ages, gender and backgrounds, starting from pregnant women, babies to older people. Karin has also had sessions with Doris and she is a special lady with magic hands.
Exercise – Indoor & Outdoor
For PT to Pilates teacher recommendations and much more, please click HERE to take you to the relevant page.
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