I am the owner of Caroline’s Angels Baby Sleep Specialists.

I was a Midwife when I had my first baby in 1997. He was a very difficult sleeper and over the first few years of his life, we sought outside help to support my husband and I with him. We were sleep deprived, exhausted and frustrated. While we were grateful for any support we could get, we found the strategies that were offered to us, just made our son worse and we continued in this very difficult cycle until he was around 2.

I found that my friends and friends of friends were coming to me to assist them with their wakeful babies. Being adamant that I would not be offering controlled crying or abrupt extinction methods as a model to assist babies, my mission along with my business partner, Caroline Radford was to find a suitable alternative that supported parents, babies and their mental health more than old and often ineffective techniques.

I started my own sole trader business in 2003 and worked independently until I teamed up with Caroline Radford who is a Midwife and Child Health Nurse to start our company, Caroline’s Angels in 2006. We have built our company up and now have two employees that assist us. Caroline and I wrote our first sleep book ” 5 Steps To Sleep – For Babies and Toddlers’ and have had numerous media opportunities to discuss our work.

Having not found a suitable infant sleep model to work within, we did developed our own and trademarked it in 2016. Dynamic Sleep Connection™ is the name of our infant sleep model and also the name of our second company. Health professionals are very interested in the way that we work. We achieve great success of supporting families improve their child’s sleep without harsh methods. We are working on improving breastfeeding for families that are struggling with both feeding and sleep. So we have an online course comprising o f 14 modules for health professionals to understand the way in which we work, so they too can replicate this and offer such alternatives for the families they support. Our second company is growing and looks to be very successful in the coming years.

My story is not one to boast about, but to give confidence to women that if you can’t find a suitable solution to a problem, don’t be afraid to come up with one yourself. It will be hard and be prepared to face obstacles. That this will not usually be an overnight success, but something that you nurture and learn from your mistakes for further improvement. People will challenge you but not as much as you will challenge yourself. At times you will doubt what you are trying to achieve. You will want to give up. It is easier to give up than see it through most days. Always remember what your goal is. Believe in yourself. If someone says no to you, don’t give up, find a better or alternative way to achieve what you set out to do. Make time for your own kids and family, but have something for yourself to show them you are awesome.

I am leaving my footprint on this earth. I am just a suburban mum with a need to make things better for other mums. My work is not yet done but I am happy that it is at least in full progress and that inspires me every day to keep going.

From Caroline McMahon

carolinem@carolinesangels.com.au