Services
Please note that NW8-mums is not affiliated with any company and cannot be held responsible for any unsatisfactory experience or undesirable outcome.
In order of A-Z as best as I can.
Acupuncture
I have the most amazing acupuncturist, Ping Li, who I saw before, during and after the pregnancy with my son. She only does home visits. She is my go-to person for anything health related. I have been a patient of hers since May 2013. Please email hello@nw8-mums.com for her details.
One of our mums, Ingrid Huang, is also an acupuncturist. She sees patients in her house or at Violet Hill Studios.
Buggy & Car Seat Cleaning
I cleaned our car seat and buggy in the washing machine and bathtub. However, if you are unable to do so, these companies offer various cleaning services.
Chemist
Everyone who works in Courtenay Chemist on St John’s Wood High Street is lovely and offers such helpful advice. I always go there for medicines and/or advice.
Other local chemists include:
Boots – situated on St John’s Wood High Street
St John’s Wood Pharmacy – also situated on St John’s Wood High Street
Dentist (Private)
All of the below dental surgeries see adults and children.
Paediatric Dentist
Happy Kids Dental – Locations in Marylebone and Chelsea
Nutritional Therapist
Dr Harriet Holme of Healthy Eating Dr is a local nutritionist whose work is evidence based. She is very knowledgeable and being a mum of two young children, she also understands the challenges that parents go through. She can help with all aspects of nutrition including weaning help for babies.
Optician
My entire family goes to Safarian & Simon on St John’s Wood High Street. They are very good, nice and honest and also do great eye exams for children.
Schuller Optician’s is another optician located on the High Street.
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 Belgravia clinic and also does home visits locally. She has treated me, my mum and several others in the group.
Personal Training
I have worked with Alvaro Castano for a while now and he is fantastic. He trains me hard, but in such a positive way. Alvaro also works with pregnant women as well as those who have given birth. Many of the parents in the group will also know him through his football academy The A Academy.
Tamsyn Hamilton is not just a good friend and member of NW8-mums, but also a great personal trainer.
Vivian Da Fonseca who a highly qualified personal trainer with a wealth of experience across prenatal and postnatal functional training, weight-loss, performance training and rehabilitation. As one of Brazil’s best known fitness instructors, her work has taken her to Canada, the USA and the UK. She is the recipient of Tatler magazine’s prize for “Best Bottom Class”.
One of our mums, Emma Sharav of Personal Training by Emma is another great PT and she has her studio here in St John’s Wood. Meticulous, friendly and working you hard, I have also had some sessions with her that I enjoyed.
Pilates
I have worked with the amazing Pilates teacher Gemma Shaw since January 2015 and she has a fully equipped Pilates studio at her house.
Restorative Movement, previously known as Pilates with Paulette, has a great reputation amongst local mums for helping them recover after pregnancy, and Paulette is also a Franklin Method® Pelvic Power Instructor. This is a movement technique that helps people of all ages, abilities and genders develop mind-body techniques to not only improve movement but also change the way they feel in their body, forever. The pelvis is the bridge between our torso and legs. When correctly aligned, our pelvic floor muscles function optimally and movement improves. The six-week course will also help improve posture, balance, co-ordination and flexibility.
Pregnancy Massage
Petra of Solace Mobile Massage is amazing. She does all kinds of massages including ante-natal and postnatal massage. She is also getting quite well known for her C-section scar massage which I am told by many of the mums has helped not just with discomfort, but also with the scarring looking much better. You can enjoy Petra’s massages – she does regular massages too – in the comfort of your own home. I see her on a regular basis and she never disappoints.
Reflexology
Abi England is a local mother and reflexologist. 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. I can vouch for Abi’s treatments being just amazing. Abi does home-visits in St John’s Wood/Maida Vale.
Shiatsu Massage
I have had shiatsu many times and love it. Many years ago, I even did a Shiatsu training course.
Doris Block sees patients (ante-natal, post-natal and regular sessions) at Violet Hill Studios in St John’s Wood. She is a very special lady with a magic touch.
Taxis & Mini Cabs
Which company is the most reliable taxi service for travelling as a family? Which company provides car seats when you book with them? These are almost like million-dollar questions. So far, Family Transfers seems to be the most reliable.
As for the rest, it is a tricky one. So far, most parents I have spoken to have had good, less good and bad experiences with almost every single car company that I hear of. I am going to list some companies, because they can offer car seats if you like. A good tip is to re-confirm before you need them. They are in alphabetical order and not in order of quality of service. This page will continue to be updated.
Yoga
The Kailash Centre in St John’s Wood offers a range of classes.
Netta Imber – Netta is one of our NW8-mums
Paula Lopez de Mollein – Paula is one of our NW8-mums
Carla Pozner – One of our mum-preneurs and both a yoga instructor and osteopath