With our 7 month old waking every couple of hours, sleep in our household was very elusive. Since meeting with Fiona he now sleeps through the night, and when he does wake, he settles himself back off to sleep without any trouble. The new routine has also greatly improved his daytime sleeps and I have often found him to be happily playing in his cot after he wakes rather than immediately crying for my attention.

In addition, the advice we received about our 4 year olds bedtime routine and discipline techniques went a long way to ensuring a much more peaceful household.

Fiona was able to listen to our concerns without judgment or criticism. She was extremely supportive and not only gave us some excellent suggestions and strategies; she gave us reassurance in our parenting abilities.

We were very satisfied with Fiona and the results she inspired and would wholeheartedly recommend her for any parenting concern large or small. If in need I would no doubt call upon her again. Thank you.

I met Fiona at a workshop she ran (highly recommended) in my daughter’s school and was instantly drawn to her sense of calm, I just knew she walked her talk.

As a single mum with a very confident 5 year old, I was feeling very out of my depth on a day to day basis just in developing the right relationship with my daughter. Fiona came and spent some personal ‘in home’ time with us and was fantastic in identifying behaviours that kept us both from moving forward.

I needed practical tools so I wasn’t slipping back into old habits and my daughter needed to take her focus from being the boss of me and to me being more in control as a parent. This is what we got with Fiona- empowering tools to use every day and now we have a much healthier mother/daughter relationship and I feel like I am doing my job in raising a responsible adult rather than a brat! Thanks Fiona.

Baby ‘n’ Beyond has been a great support to me as a single dad and my two children. At our meeting, Fi offered many practical suggestions upon which I have implemented some into my daily routine. My 4 year old son was quite closed emotionally and was unable to express his feelings. One of Fi’s suggestions was how to use a journal to bring his emotions out and it has worked wonderfully. He is more settled at Pre-School and able to open up more to me and his teachers. I have definitely noticed a difference in him.

Fi was able to give me strategies for my behaviour as well when around my children. This has worked extremely well and allows me to give them the best care I can in the situation I am in.

Thank you Fi for your time, help and suggestions. It has been invaluable.

Thanks so much for helping us, I really feel a big difference in the house, and the kids are amazingly calmer because I am! Dinner time is relaxed and I now feel in control of my own behaviours. Thank you.
 

Thanks again for your help, Fi. Our 9 month old cried once during the first 2 nights, then has slept for 12 hours pretty much every night since (the few times he has woken he has self-settled without too much fuss). He is also sleeping better during the day and we both feel like we have a much clearer understanding of what he needs. Your routine was not anything too different from what I had read about elsewhere, but you made it real for our situation and you gave us the confidence that it was the right thing to do for our son. We knew we needed to make changes and your understanding and caring approach enabled us to do so without constantly second-guessing ourselves.

To anyone out there who is having trouble with their child's sleep or any other baby/toddler issue, then I would not hesitate in recommending that they ask Fi to come into their home and I am sure she will be able to help.

My husband & I were struggling with bedtime routines, behaviour and appropriate discipline techniques for our two young children.

With our third child on the way, our family needed to make some changes but we didn’t know where to start. We had read all the appropriate parenting books and online advice, but we needed specific solutions.

Fiona observed our family, non-judgmentally, and then offered sound advice and encouragement.

We are ecstatic with the results. By implementing some small, but significant changes, our household is much calmer, the kid’s bedtime routine has shortened to half-an-hour, and their behaviour has improved dramatically. We are very grateful to Fiona and would definitely call her in the future for advice.

Fi visited our home and spent time with us observing our routine.  She provided some practical suggestions for improvements which we were able to put into practice. Her manner was incredibly supportive and left us feeling very positive about the way we parent our son. The follow up phone calls were also invaluable.

Our main concern was our daughters’ separation anxiety and her level of emotional distress. We felt that what we were currently doing was not working. We had a lot of changes happening in our life with a new baby coming, moving house and a new job for her Daddy so she was really feeling it. Baby ‘n’ Beyond gave us effective strategies and practical explanations which helped us help Hannah in all her environments such as pre-school. We’ve learnt to set boundaries that are effectively working for us. This was all new for us but we found that dealing with the situation brought resolution and in the end giving us the confidence in our parenting. Greatly appreciated.

My call to Baby ‘n Beyond came as I found myself way off track from my normal parenting style. My previously angelic 6 year old was experimenting with some newfound school-aged muscle, coupled with various challenges thrown at me by my other two children and a slightly out of balance work/life mix. I felt like the kids weren’t even listening, let alone responding to me.

Fi’s approach was fantastic. She listened, we analysed what had changed and why that might be, then she suggested strategies to help me regain control and get the relationship back on track. I came away from our meeting clear about how I should approach the challenge, and how I could deal with each situation as it arose. Sure enough, we’re back on track. Fi’s advice was excellent, her experience with children of all ages is priceless. I will no doubt be calling her again ......when the next challenge arises.

Meal times used to be a stressful, disorganised and generally unpleasant experience in our house. Our son required much cajoling and distraction to eat any food and he clearly did not enjoy meal times. It has been one month since Baby ‘n’ Beyond first saw us and the strategies that Fi gave us have shown us that we no longer have to distract him just so he will eat his food. He now happily hops onto his chair at meal times and feeds himself – he is getting very proficient with a spoon and a fork.

In helping us address his mealtime issues Baby ‘n Beyond helped us set boundaries and communicate better with him. This has had a hugely positive knock on effect in all other aspects of his life. He is far less frustrated as we have learnt to respond to him more appropriately and he knows that we have understood him.

Our son has always been a very happy little fellow, but lately he has given us a great deal of grief when it came to eating and sleeping. Even after several Early Parenting Courses, consultations with paediatricians & doctors, we were still not heading in the right direction. At 14 months he was still having a late night bottle and would wake on average 4 times a night. He was also very inconsistent with day time naps, not to mention every meal time was quite the drama!  

I finally decided to take a different course of action and approached Fiona at Baby ‘n’ Beyond out of desperation for a decent nights sleep! Living so far away, I was a little sceptical as to whether Fiona would be able to help our situation due to the distance, but after a few in-depth phone conversations, Fiona gave me back the confidence to take control of the problems at hand and get our little man back on track.

With the assistance of some great encouragement and guidance, as well as some written suggestions, our son slept through for the first time in his life after just two days of changes. We managed to drop the late night bottle, which is helping with meal times, and have gotten into a really great routine which works well for all of us!!

Thank you so much Fiona for all your help and support, thanks to you I am now getting a good sleep every night and finally feel human again!

I would like to recommend Fiona Ross for any business looking to develop their staff personally and as a team. Fiona gave a presentation on self development giving us all an understanding of our individual personalities and how they impact our daily lives personally and in the market place.

Fiona’s presentation was very empowering, helping everyone to see how we need to understand ourselves and those we work with, so we can maximize each others potential, whilst having a few laughs with each other.

We were all encouraged to participate in various activities throughout the day, these were fun and everyone was put at ease straight away with Fiona’ very approachable manner. This created a door for extended conversations between the staff over break times that they would never have had with each other without this presentation, consequently, they have received a much better understanding of each other.

We received very valuable feedback from our staff, saying how it helped them grow in knowing themselves and each other so much better. They are now able to respond and not react with the people in their lives personally and at work.

As Child Care Workers they also feel it has helped them with understanding some of the children more, which is an added bonus.  

Fi Ross talked to our parents at Christ Church St Ives Preschool about Family Values. The talk was very thought provoking and was helpful to both staff and parents.  One of the staff members went home and discussed with her daughter and husband about their own family values and what was important to them as a family. 

The feedback from parents was good as they enjoyed the talk and it has made them think what their own family values are and what they consider important may not be what their children see as important. 

Fi has practical yet simple ideas and suggestions. One of the idea’s parents found helpful was a special time put aside for just mummy and daddy.  Our life is so busy, with ourselves and our children, that we have no time out for us. Thank you, Fi.

Comments from parents who attended an evening seminar:

“A very relevant and very real presentation – delivered with passion and calmness.”

“Understanding how we can change our situation is exceptional. As a parent we need to stop and thank about what is going through our child’s head and what they are feeling. Looking at it like a ‘scene’ and how to change it was very helpful.”

“Loved the real life examples and scenarios.”

“Excellent presentation, again.”

“Very helpful – many ideas to try at home – thanks!”

“Got some great tips and glad I came.”

“The group discussion brought the topics to life.”

“It was good to hear about real examples and to feel normal that we are not the only ones going through issues with our children.”

Fiona met with a young mum in our program and spoke with her about the challenges of sibling rivalry and ways to respond to her two children. I was able to sit in during this seminar and found it to be very educational.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the young mum to talk one-on-one to an expert, and Fiona was able to provide some useful and insightful responses to the challenges the young mum was facing. Fiona’s approach was clear, easy to understand and her use of practical examples appeared to be very helpful for the young mum.

Personally I found it extremely useful, and took away many new ideas in how to best assist young parents in our program who may be facing, or may face, similar challenges in the future. I look forward to Fiona assisting our young parents again soon.

Having Fiona from Baby ‘n’ Beyond host her “Positive Discipline workshop at Warrawee School was extremely beneficial. The topic drew a lot of attention. Parents had some great questions to ask, which Fiona answered appropriately, and she gave us tools to help us in our day-to-day parenting.

Fiona makes parenting seem natural and helped us feel capable of achieving all that she exampled. She used humour, stories and realistic outcomes to keep us interested and wanting more. A number of parents followed this Workshop up by inviting Fiona to specifically help them in their homes.

I have asked Fiona to provide more Workshops in the future at Warrawee as I see them as a valuable service to parents in our school.

Greg Lodge
Warrawee Public School Principal

When I went to Fi, I truly wondered how she was going to make any sense of the confusion I was feeling at the time. I was experiencing an acute lack of direction and purpose in my life. By the end of our session, which involved using the ‘Play of Life’ (www.playoflife.com), I felt I had gained something fresh and positive.

My experience was that Fi was very creative, flexible and natural in her approach. She listened intently and was sensitive to how fragile I was feeling at the time. I am grateful for the insights we gained from that session: it did not solve everything but even weeks later, I recognise that this was a positive experience to build on.