Meet Sharlene Poole - New Zealand's leading newborn advisor whose unique baby whispering talents are in demand all over the world.
As a newborn advisor, Sharlene brings an air of calm confidence into the homes of new parents as she works closely with the whole family to ensure a smooth transition after the arrival of a new baby. Sharlene has an unique innate gift with babies. Combine this with over 10 years experience working in postnatal care and as a nanny and she is able to confidently take the stress and uncertainty out of those first few weeks with newborns - from feeding and sleeping routines, through to sibling adjustment and allowing parents to get that much-needed rest.
With a passion for the development of young children, Sharlene is a warm and vivacious woman whose career began as a nanny in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. For three years she also had the stimulating role of supervisor at the Early Childhood Centre in Auckland. Here she honed her skills working closely with young children, especially babies, and their parents, to ensure positive growth in a stress-free environment. In 1995 Sharlene graduated from the New Zealand College of Early Childhood Education three-year diploma course with a Merit in Theory and Honours in Practicum. She later joined Auckland's Bear Park Pre-School, which works by the Italian Reggio Emila approach to childcare, where she supervised the nursery, before moving on to run their pre-school and infant/toddler centre.
In 2000 Sharlene based herself in the UK where she quickly forged a unique market for herself as a maternity nurse. Her reputation grew quickly through word-of-mouth and soon Sharlene was being flown around the world to ex-pat. clients in countries such as Japan, India, South Africa, Australia and Dubai. And it is this experience which sets Sharlene apart. Through her travels she has been able to observe firsthand how various cultures embrace parenthood and incorporate the best techniques into her philosophy.
Sharlene Poole's rare and wonderful talent has seen her be the subject of a documentary on Television New Zealand's Sunday programme and she regularly contributed to magazines.
Now, through this DVD, Sharlene comes into your home to share her knowledge and expertise to guide you calmly and effectively through the first weeks with your new baby.
Enjoy!.
| |
Watch the TVNZ Sunday Documentary
The Baby Whisperer.
Click here to watch the documentary that launched Sharlene back into New Zealand whispering.
|
|
A Night with the Sharlene Poole
- NZ's Baby Whisperer
It was just after 12 midnight and I'd been trying to get Zoe to sleep for the last 3 hours. I looked at her and said "the sailing will be on TV soon, let's see about getting some help!" We sat at the computer and Googled Baby Whisperer - New Zealand.
I'd realized that after 4 weeks of getting up every hour to Zoe, I wasn't coping and I needed help. It was a hard call to make, however at that point; I was willing to invest anything for more than 3 hours uninterrupted sleep.
Through her website - www.littlemiracles.co.nz I contacted Sharlene. Amazingly enough she said that she had some time available in two weeks. All I had to do was write down what happened over the weekend she'd see if she could help and if our philosophies on children were on the same page.
When I wrote down what was going on, I was amazed at how I had survived this long. It was scary. I was very happy when she came back to me and agreed to help us out.
Sharlene arrived on a Sunday evening, just after 7pm to spend 24 hours with us. Theoretically, both girls should have been asleep by then. Clint was reading stories to Jemma and I was feeding Zoe to sleep. I did managed to duck out and open the door, point at the dinner I'd saved for her and said 'make yourself at home', which was she did as I headed back into resettle Zoe.
About 45 minutes later, I joined Sharlene and Clint to talk about what we wanted to get out of the next 24 hours. As we headed to bed, Sharlene suggested I give Zoe a dream feed. She would then be with me when Zoe woke during the night. She wouldn't settle Zoe; she would coach me through the night.
The next thing I knew it was 6am! What was it about Sharlene? She hadn't even met the girls and they both slept through the night.
Sharlene spent all of the next day with us. We covered all sorts of topics; I wished that I'd known about Sharlene when Jemma was born. It was incredible to have a 'coach' to answer questions about the girls, sleeping, burping, routines, behaviour, health, food, settling a baby in their bed. Someone that spent time with us, gotten to know us, seen our environment. Someone that quickly became a trusted advisor.
That night, Sharlene was showing me her technique for settling, suddenly the penny dropped. While Zoe knew intuitively what to do for a lot of things, like breastfeeding, she needed to learn how to go to sleep and I needed to change my mindset about this.
Because of the routine that we had put in place, I knew that Zoe needed to go to sleep. I knew that she was loved, in a safe place and that asleep was what she really needed to be.
One of the main things that I learnt was to be confident in knowing what was going on, which was all about routine, rhythm and repetition. Once I knew what was going on, I've become more relaxed, which rubbed off on the girls, I've gotten a lot more time to do things both for them, around the house and even for myself.
Learning to be the best parent I can be is one of the greatest challenges that I've ever faced. Having a coach to support me is one of the most intelligent things I've done.
Sally Herbert, Taupo
|
|
Read published articles