Upcoming Seminars

		Taming Your Toddler
Saturday 13th July 2-3:30pm		How to manage those tricky toddler years - behaviour, discipline, sleep, food fights and toilet learning!
		MG Pilates 128a Erskineville Road, Erskineville, 2043 (map)

		Baby Massage
Saturday 22nd June 2013 at 2 - 3 pm		An easy how to class for parents
		MG Pilates 128a Erskineville Road, Erskineville, 2043 (map)

About Nurture Parenting Solutions?

Nurture Parenting Solutions, was established in March 2011 by myself, Karen Faulkner. It is a Sydney based parenting support service and is located in the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs.

I am a Child and Family Health Nurse and Registered Midwife with over 23 years of experience.

I trained in England as a Nurse and Midwife and attended university in Manchester to study as a Health Visitor. I also hold a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Bolton Institute, UK.

I have a strong interest in supporting families and strengthening the family unit. I have worked in social support and outreach programmes in the UK and Melbourne and in the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Most recently I was employed on the Parent Support Team at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.

I have a particular interest in Baby Massage and have taught this for the past 13 years. The benefits for babies and their parents are amazing. It builds on the infant-parent relationship and has many health benefits.

I am also a proven ‘baby whisperer’, teaching parents how to settle their babies/children and establish healthy and positive day and night routines. Sleep and rest are crucial to the healthy development of each and every baby and child.

I believe very strongly in working in partnership with families and helping them find their own solutions to the modern challenges of parenting.

I am an expert in the 0 - 5 years old age group and no parenting issue is too difficult. I have experienced many parenting problems and I believe that children and their parents deserve the support of a child and family expert in times of difficulty.

Please read my testimonials from many satisfied families and contact me for any help and support you need.

What can Nurture Parenting Solutions Help parents with?

Baby Massage classes – group sessions and one on one in the home.
Sleep and settling help and support for your baby and toddler. No sleep issue is too difficult.
Feeding issues – breast, formula and solids. Fussy feeding in toddlers
Toddler behaviour problems. I am Triple P trained
Multiple births, care of twins and triplets including routines, settling and feeding issues
Premature babies and babies with special needs
Play therapy to help with specific developmental issues

Costs and travel to visits

This is a fee-paying service and costs are kept to a minimum.

I can do a home visit to addresses within 25km of Sydney CBD.

Please contact me to discuss your individual requirements.

Links to articles by Karen

10 Best Babycare Tips in Practical Parenting Magazine

Testimonials from clients

There is no doubt about it, Karen is fantastic with babies.

My little Thomas was quite a handful to put to sleep with a blood curdling scream that made the process all the more stressful.

Karen not only gave great advice and strategies but I could trust that she wasn't applying a one size fits all strategy to my wilful little Thomas.

She listened to my own concerns/anxieties about what I was happy to do as well as observing how Thomas was behaving to come up with a strategy that everyone was pleased to implement.

What REALLY sets Karen about from others though is her willingness to follow up after her consultations.

While Thomas has made enormous improvements in his sleep patterns (and is screaming a lot less!!) I have found that I have needed to do a bit of tweeking along the way as a result of illness, falling back into bad habits etc.

I emailed, texted and called Karen for over 6 months following her initial consultation. It has been so reassuring knowing that I have such a valuable resource when I need her.

Anna & Thomas from Sydney
So what does a Baby Whisperer whisper to your baby? Only Saxon will know in our case.

We went from a catnapping little monkey to a blissful and happy baby who now not only has his day sleeps in some kind of pattern but also self settles every time!!!

Karen is wonderful, she is calm, passionate, has a wealth of knowledge and she just knows stuff. Karen immediately but us at ease. It doesn’t have to be this hard if you have the right tools and know how to use them.

Our days are now a lot more predictable and calm. So if you are reading this because you think you need Karen – you probably do! She is amazing. Thank you for your support and guidance.

Chris, Larissa & Saxon
We didn't anticipate how attached James would become to sleeping in our bed after we brought him in when he had a fever and virus at 16 months. He had always slept in his own cot, in his own room until he got sick. He obviously liked it a lot more in with mummy and daddy. He would wake up early and scream until we brought him in. I couldn't settle him. The crying was intense. It was just awful. The early waking kept on getting earlier and earlier until it was at about midnight that he would wake and literally scream for us. It was terrible. Just so we could get some sleep we kept bringing him in even though neither of us wanted him in our bed.

We went on an overseas holiday when James was 20 months old and by the time we got back it was like James was allergic to his cot. I couldn't get him in there for day sleeps and one of us would have to go to our bed with him to get him to sleep at night. The method that tresillian gave us only made the problem worse. We would leave James crying and come and go from the room for an hour and then stay with him until he slept. He was hysterical.

When I called Karen, I was a desperate, tired and very emotional woman. She came to our house, assessed James and gave me a set of guidelines to follow with a new bedtime routine. She also provided a new daytime routine, which was quite similar to what we already had in place. I knew I had my work cut out for me. But as I was just pregnant with my second child, I knew I had to fix this problem now. James has responded brilliantly to his new routine. I'm not saying that what we had to do was easy...it wasn't, but after 6 weeks of sticking to the program I have a different kid on my hands. He sleeps in his own cot from 1pm until about 3pm for his day sleep and then from 7.30 until 6 am most nights. Getting him to sleep is still a bit of work but he is doing it! I couldn't be more proud.

Karen gave me the advice and confidence I needed to take control of our co-sleeping nightmare. She has a wealth of knowledge about babies and toddlers. She has a natural ability to pick their personalities and know what they need.

James is a happier little boy... well slept and developing beautifully. He has a wonderfully kind and generous nature and our relationship has just blossomed. I can't thank Karen enough. She has helped bring harmony back into our house.

M & J, Earlwood, NSW
We first contacted Karen when our baby girl was reaching 12 weeks of age and facing serious difficulty in settling and sleeping. As a first time mum I had reached a point of exhaustion and insecurity that I knew was not sustainable.

We were looking for professional assistance in teaching my husband and I as parents a compassionate yet proven method for our precious baby to learn to settle and sleep appropriate for her age. This is exactly the service we received. Karen was professional, knowledgeable and most importantly caring and compassionate to our baby as well as my husband and myself. To have Karen at our house explaining step by step her techniques and responding in "real time" to our baby as well as answering our questions and concerns as we worked through the process was priceless.

An experience that could never be replicated by a book or website. Over the next two weeks all of our lives improved immeasurably. Our baby was settling in only a couple of minutes and sleeping longer and more consistently during day naps and during the night. Consequently baby as well as mummy and daddy are better rested, happier and at peace. We believe even the family dog is happier and thankful!

Furthermore Karen was available over the next coming weeks to answer any further questions or impart her wisdom as needed. She really demonstrated the "care factor" throughout the whole process and beyond. Karen is genuinely motivated in building relationships and improving the lives of babies and parents. I would highly recommend Karen's services to anyone who is looking for a professional that will provide knowledgeable "hands on" assistance in your own environment and offer the necessary follow up support.

A & J, Mascot
We had always physically put our 20m old daughter to sleep by either feeding, rocking or walking as we just had no idea of any other method that didn't use harsh 'sleep training' tactics. Eventually, and reluctantly, we looked into getting help and found Karen's website. From the first contact (and the through ongoing ones too), Karen has listened, supported and helped us help guide our daughter to be able to fall asleep on her own and peacefully. In person, she is a pleasure to meet and knew exactly how to warm to our very shy daughter which made the whole experience much less stressful than we thought it would be. Karen will be our first port of call for any future help with either our daughter or our soon to arrive baby. Thank you so much!

Veronica, Anthony and Audrey
Within seconds of meeting Karen, we immediately warmed to her caring, calm and professional manner. We were struggling with our 11 month old who wouldn't self-settle or sleep through the night. Karen's gentle and expert techniques changed our lives and will stick with us for our next baby. We only wish we had called her earlier. Thanks a million Karen!

Liz, Nick and Maisie Fordham.
We called Karen after 6 weeks of interrupted sleep from our 7 month-old boy. We were all exhausted - we had tried everything and nothing was working. Karen is a miracle-worker and had our baby sleeping again through the night in a matter of days, as well as self-settling! Equally importantly, Karen is incredibly kind, patient and supportive. She has restored our confidence in looking after a baby and we can’t recommend her highly enough.

Alina & Mike, Sydney
When Karen walked into our lives several months ago she brought in a breeze of calm and peace to our life. We’re so happy that Adam was trained so early as a baby and we never imagined that a baby could be so easy. We also gained valuable insight on Chloe’s development and Josh’s behaviour. We have really appreciated Karen’s kind and professional help – we now have a routine for the first time and a better discipline strategy and best of all – it all works. For us, Karen is the ‘super nanny!”

Tony & Jess, Clovelly.
Karen made such a difference to our lives. We had chaos and now we have calm. She kept me and Brad sane. Edie is like a new baby ever since Karen came to help us. Since then we enjoy each day with Edie more and more. So, thank you for all your great advice and support. It has meant so much to our family.

Ann and Brad, Newtown.
Karen came to help us with our out of control Toddler, Ethan. He was acting up and nothing we tried seemed to work. Things got so bad that we were living in one room as it was easier to contain him and prevent him being so destructive. Karen helped us understand Ethan and his developmental needs. In reality he was a bored and under-stimulated little boy. He was acting out to get our attention. Karen helped us role-play some scenarios that occurred on a regular basis. Even during her visit we noticed a huge change in Ethan. It was like the little lion had been tamed. It was truly amazing. Within one week we had a different child living with us. He was a pleasure to be around and once given a free rein and allowed more floor space to roam he wasn’t so frustrated or bored. Karen really helped us see things from Ethan’s point of view. I have even been teaching my mothers group some of the things Karen taught us. I feel that we are finally really enjoying being parents and we understand our child so much better. Thank you.

Kate & Phil, Paddington
Kitty and I have thoroughly enjoyed our visits from Karen. She has helped us get through our first year together. She has taught us so much about feeding on solids through to play and development. I really don’t know what we’d have done without her. Kitty is so happy now and I understand her so much more. I don’t feel so scared when I am left alone all day with her. She answered all my questions and I had a lot of them and she never made me feel stupid. I’m going back to work soon and she helped prepare me for that. Every mother needs someone like Karen in their lives. I cried when she didn’t need to come and visit us anymore but I realised that she had done such a good job of giving me confidence in my own mothering abilities that we didn’t need her and other families will benefit as we have.

Sarah & Kitty, Vaucluse