My Career So Far…
Although I began working at the age of 12 on a small fruit and vegetable stall, I don’t really consider the subsequent years I spent in hospitality and retail as part of my ‘career.’ However, these roles were always people-facing and equipped me with valuable skills.
Following a series of events, I found myself applying to be an au pair in Geneva. To my surprise, the family chose me to support them with their three children. I loved working with the children and had a lot of fun in Switzerland. This experience led me to seek nanny jobs upon my return to the UK.
I was not quite prepared for the differences between being an au pair and a career nanny in London! After two years of moving between families, I realized it was not them, but me. I didn’t enjoy the intensity of career nannying or the London traffic!
I began the process of deregistering with agencies so they would no longer call when new jobs came in. It was during one of those calls that everything changed.
An agency had a job with a newborn baby near where I was living and didn’t have any local candidates to send. Although I had no training or experience with newborns, the mum still wanted to meet me as I was close to their home and this was her third baby.
We had coffee together, and she asked me how I might know if her baby were unwell. I truthfully said I didn’t know but, as I had grown up on a farm and still had horses, I thought there might be similar signs. She said, ‘I have horses! That’s how I’ve always known!’ A couple of months later, she brought her 3-day-old son home, and I fell madly in love with babies!
From there, I trained as a baby care specialist (non-medical maternity nurse) and spent the next ten years working with families and their new babies. I was fortunate to work all over the world, including the Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, America, Europe, and more. I worked with twins and triplets, premature babies, and babies with additional needs, learning everything I could, especially about infant feeding.
It was clear to me very early on that feeding was the key to nearly all problems with babies!
After meeting my now husband and moving home to Cornwall, I became a mother to my incredible son in 2017. You’d think that a decade of experience would prepare you, but I have to say, it was still a bit of a shock to the system, even if it was easier to navigate with the knowledge I had.
After I had my son, I trained to be a doula. It was insightful and improved my postnatal practice, but I knew that birth was not my calling. Instead, I returned to my passion for infant feeding and trained as a peer supporter, and then as a breastfeeding counselor with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers.
When my son was two years old, I took a job at my local hospital (Treliske) as a transitional care maternity support worker. My job was to support babies and their families as they transitioned from the NICU to our general care ward. I also helped to keep the ward clean and calm and supported the families staying with us. This experience taught me so much and gave me a deeper understanding of maternity care within the NHS, as well as an unwavering respect for NHS staff.
Alongside this work, I was studying hard! I wanted to achieve the gold standard in infant feeding/lactation qualifications. In addition to gaining 1,000 hours of clinical practice, I needed 14 health sciences and 90 hours of lactation-specific education to be eligible. In September 2020, I finally completed my requirements and sat the four-hour exam to become an IBCLC.
I am pleased to say that I passed and have been working as an IBCLC and baby care specialist in the heart of Cornwall ever since!