Testimonials
“Jo was really helpful when our baby was 5 months old. We can’t recommend her highly enough.”
Bryan Adams, singer-songwriter
“An incredible woman @JoTantum it’s no wonder she is the UK’s No.1 Sleep Expert!!!”
Chantelle Houghton (via Twitter)
“As an expectant mom, I read extensively on sleep training. My favorite book by far is Baby Secrets. It’s practical, and gives detailed schedules to help understand the ins and outs of a routine, and how it shifts as the baby grows. I can’t wait to try what I have learned! And the good news is that as questions arise, she is only a phone call away!”
Jewel singer-songwriter (photo copyright Jennifer Stoddart 2008)
“When we called Jo Tantum to come and help with our five month old baby we were feeling completely desperate. Not only did she wake at least 4 times a night, she refused to sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time during the day leaving us and her totally miserable. We had no routine at all. Sleep for every family is a precious commodity but with me up at 4.30 am every morning to go to work life was beginning to feel a little hard to say the least.
Until a friend gave us a copy of Jo’s book, “Baby Secrets” (Penguin), before that we felt our only choices were the horrors of controlled crying or just relenting to having her in our bed all night (where she still didn’t sleep!).
Jo’s techniques however fall somewhere in the middle. She is firm but kind with it and after only one day our baby girl slept 7 til 7 the very first night which was astounding. We couldn’t believe it.
Not only that but after a couple of weeks of using the techniques and new routine Jo gave us she now sleeps a good couple of hours at lunch time too! We were lucky enough to have Jo’s help in person but if we knew of her book earlier on we would easily been able to follow the techniques from her book which is just so easy to read and gives such clear instructions on her methods. “Baby Secrets” really should be no 1 on the baby book list for any parent.
There are so many books on the market all offering conflicting advice to sleep deprived mums and dads this is the only one to make a difference in our baby’s routine. Its tried and tested, humane and considered advice that actually works immediately and is easy to understand and follow. A must read for any parent. The best of its kind and a soon to be classic I’m sure.”
The Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio
“A newborn, our baby girl developed whooping cough and was critically ill in hospital. Upon discharge when she was a month old, we were told ‘don’t let her cry’ (a near impossible task!) and to ‘keep her upright’ to prevent her coughing. We did this to keep her well, but it then formed a pattern of feeding, rocking and holding her to sleep that we continued with far longer than we imagined.
Whilst we feel that our time co-sleeping as a family created special memories for us and helped us form close bonds with our daughter, we reached a point where the costs begun to outweigh the benefits, as she was not capable of settling into the long stretches of restorative sleep she needed for healthy development. After 6 months we were all sleep deprived and stress levels were rising. She was taking hours to settle at bedtime, waking and feeding up to 8 times a night, waking early in the morning and was tired and grumpy during the day.
As a clinical child psychologist, I have a heightened awareness of the impact of distress on a baby and the potential for a secure attachment to be compromised, and therefore any method of helping our baby to sleep that involved crying was completely out of the question.
I first met Jo at the baby show when she was talking about her spaced soothing method to gently teach a baby to settle to sleep. We initially used Jo’s email package to transition our baby into a cot in her own bedroom, and then a little further down the line, Jo stayed with us to help us to help her sleep through the night. She demonstrated her techniques to us and then coached us when we were getting started. It was all very calm and we felt relieved and filled with confidence that we were completely able to help our baby sleep. Jo’s methods allow a parent to soothe their baby, whilst very gradually withdrawing the level of soothing needed to help the baby settle themselves to sleep.
As a professional, I completely support Jo’s methods for gently helping a baby towards independent sleep, without the baby becoming distressed. Spaced soothing helps a baby to feel secure, comfortable and confident about sleeping independently, which allows them to learn to love their sleep! Such an incredible life skill!
Jo promised that we would see benefits within a week if we stayed on track, and just a week later, we had our first sleep through the night! Within 10 days of Jo’s visit our baby was settling herself for naps and at bedtime, and can sleep up to 12 hours at night! We only wish that we had discovered Jo sooner! Thank you Jo!”
Dr Abby Lovatt, BSc (hons) MSc ClinPsyD
When Jo came to stay with us my eight month old baby was waking every hour and needed rocking or feeding back to sleep. He was co sleeping with us by 1am most nights as I was so exhausted. He also didn’t sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time throughout the day! My two year old was also waking continuously screaming and crying until he was able to get into “mummy and daddy’s bed!” I was exhausted, emotional, frustrated and miserable! So far away from the mum I once was and loved being! As soon as I met Jo I felt positive and uplifted, the first time I had felt like this in months! She was so understanding and supportive and didn’t cast judgment on the survival techniques I had been using….4 in a bed just to get some sleep!
Jo spent 48 hours with my husband and I teaching us to encourage our babies to love their sleeping environment and enjoy sleep! Jo’s techniques are absolutely amazing and within a few weeks my eight month old baby was sleeping from 7 to 7 (waking just once or twice for his dummy) and napping amazingly! My two year old was also sleeping in his own bed!
Jo is beyond kind, supportive and her knowledge on babies and sleep is outstanding! I can’t recommend or thank her enough! She changed my life! I am now a well rested mummy who is loving every minute with her babies!
Jessica – Mum to two gorgeous boys
“Jo initially came to visit me when my son Kaspar was about 5 months old (in September 2010)
Kaspar was waking several times during the night – I was sleep deprived and at my wits end. Jo stayed for approximately 3 nights.
At three months Kaspar had an operation to remove some deposits in his intestinal cavity which had then led to dehydration and a subsequent accident when he had been dropped on his head by the ambulance driver and suffered a fractured skull…
Jo was extremely receptive to my concerns and anxieties related to Kaspar and on her first visit encouraged me to remove all stimuli from his bedroom and to adopt a calming bedtime routine. She also helped me with his milk requirements – both breast and bottle. When he woke crying Jo encouraged me to sooth Kaspar by gently patting him, to keep the room dark and then to leave him to go back to sleep unassisted with minimum rocking. Kaspars sleep habits improved and by the time Jo left he was pretty much sleeping through the night.
Jo gave me the confidence to keep the routine going and was always at the end of the phone to allay any concerns. Jo then visited again when Kaspar was about 8 months old – to support me with this sleep whilst I was moving house. Since the initial visit Jo has consistently been available to offer support and advice. Jo is very much sensitive to the individual requirements of both parent and baby and whilst providing valuable structure is amenable to treating each case as a separate entity. Jo has an extremely rare and obvious ability to calm babies (and toddlers) and to pass on her knowledge and tools. Jo is a pleasure to have in the home – is very sensitive to situations and and is an easy (non dominieering) person to have in the house. Jo gives the parent a sense of calm and confidence.
I have already recommended Jo to several of my contemporaries and would be very happy to recommend her further.”
Emily Marlow, South Wales
“The best money that my husband and I have ever spent was on Jo Tantum’s rescue package. Our six month old little boy was waking up every hour or hour and a half at night. The only way I could get him to sleep was by breastfeeding him and my husband and I were both exhausted. I knew I couldn’t get go back to work feeling like that and I couldn’t bear the idea of controlled crying so, after much research, I booked Jo to come and stay with us for four nights to see what she could do. The results were astonishing. By the time Jo left us, our son was sleeping through the night from 7pm to 7am and he’s still doing it three weeks later. We feel like different people. His daytime naps are also longer and Jo left us with a flexible and easy to follow routine which has made life much easier. And all of this with very little crying involved; Jo doesn’t believe in letting babies become distressed and her technique involved comforting our little boy as well as training him. Thank you, Jo, for your fantastic help and for making such a difference to our lives.”
Marie from London, 2011
“Dear Jo, I am a new mom, originally from Colombia, but living in New Zealand. My little baby, Gabriel, will be four months next week and he is a fantastic little baby. Some people say that is his temperament, but I know that he is so lovely also because of your AWESOME advice!! I had a pretty hard birth experience, ending with an emergency C-section. I think it totally undermined my confidence and made me completely doubt my capacity as a mom. I suffered a mild case of Postnatal depression, aggravated by the fact that my mom, who is my main source of support, had to go back to Colombia when Gabriel was one month. I was lucky because I was able to find a great PND support group, but I also think that finding your book, and starting a bedtime routine when Gabriel was 5 weeks really helped me a lot to get my confidence back.
Gabriel is now very happy settled into his routine, I feel more free to go places and do fun stuff with him and I also know when and how to get him to sleep and feed and I can read him and his needs so much better. My husband, who is German and a scientist, was a bit of a sceptic at first, but now he is also very keen on the routine and helps a lot with the evening routine. After Gabriel is in bed, we have time to have our dinner and have some time to ourselves to do other things and it is great, especially for me, since I am trying to publish some papers from my PhD dissertation, so I get some time for myself!!! Gabriel is such a happy baby and using spaced soothing I can get him to sleep anywhere, in our friends beds but also on the floor during my postnatal yoga class!!!! My friends are amazed about this! I knew about the soothing point in the middle of his forehead from my mom, so I was using that already, but it really works wonders!!!! I feel so much happier and confident and I really think I am now a better mom for little Gabriel. We are now going on an overseas trip around the world to visit family, and yes, I am a bit nervous, but I think that if I follow the advice you give for travelling we will be fine and it will be a great adventure.”
Thank you SOOOOOO much for your wonderful book! All the best.
“Jo helped my husband and I enormously with our newborn twins Harriet and Evie. She has great twin experience and confidently set about establishing our girls into a workable and adaptable routine. She also made us feel very capable and gave us invaluable advice on how to care for our twins and made the task seem far less daunting. Our babies were 7 weeks old when Jo left us and I am happy to say that they were both sleeping through the night from the age of 12 weeks and are now both extremely easy, happy and settled babies. We are very grateful for all Jo’s help.”
Vanessa
“Jo Tantum came to us, through a recommendation, to help us after the birth of our second daughter, Amy. Although we were not first time parents and we knew what to expect, it was essential for us to put Amy on a schedule. With our eldest, we had so many sleepless nights and never knew when she would wake, whether she was hungry etc. With Amy, we have stuck to Jo’s routine since she was born. She is now 14 months. At 6:30pm she goes up for a bath and by 7:15pm she is asleep and sleeps straight through to 6:30 – 7 am.
This allows me to have dinner with my husband and my eldest daughter at a civilised time. It is also very unusual for Amy to wake in the middle of the night. In most cases she will put herself back to sleep, if not, she is up for a reason either teething or growth spurts. Although in theory the routine sounds harsh, I can assure anyone that babies love routines and it really does make your life easier and more manageable, just stick it out. Thanks Jo!!”
Sandra
“When I found out I was pregnant with my second set of twins, I hired Jo who came highly recommended. It was very difficult for me to get my first set of twins on a schedule, it took me months and their napping or bedtime routines were never set in stone. It made mine and my husband’s life very hectic.
Jo showed me how to put the girls on a routine, how to eliminate day/night confusion, and how to get them to sleep through the night. She taught me how to organize and showed me numerous time saving tips. She made such a difference in our lives. The girls were in bed by 7pm and I had time to spend with my older twins and my husband. Two years later and Sophia and Cara still nap two hours a day and sleep 11 hours a night!! Jo was a pleasure to be around, my older twins loved her. Jo made a huge impact on our family.”
Kate
“Thank you so much for the last 6 nights. You have changed our lives, and the babies are so happy thanks to you. I could manage another set of twins – no problem! Many hugs and kisses.”
Sandra and Dimitris
“We will never be able to thank you enough for everything you have done, I have no doubt that the girls are much happier now and me and Marc get time to be a couple again… You’ve given me back the most important things in life, laughter, joy and the best bit…..sleep.
Thanks a million and good luck with your book & future TV appearances…we’ll be watching.”
Lots of Love Marc, Amanda & Sophie and Chloe XXX – GMTV Family
“She is very experienced in looking after new-born babies and brought a host of calm and useful tips and advice to two parents who had forgotten what small babies could be like.
We have no hesitation in recommending Jo as a highly competent maternity nurse with. in our opinion, a wealth of relevant experience. She is also an exceptionally genuine person. It was a pleasure to have her stay with us and we would re-employ her without hesitation.”
Charles and Emma Thompson
“Before I had my first baby, I had never held a baby for longer than five minutes or ever changed a nappy! So there was a lot to be learnt and Jo was certainly a font of knowledge (not only on looking after a baby but also what I, the mother, could do to help post-birth recovery), as well as possessing a very down-to-earth and un-patronising manner.
When Jo came into our lives, she not only worked her magic powers on putting baby into a routine from day one, she also showed my husband and I the ropes and helped establish a routine that we could maintain once she’d moved on. We are huge fans of having a routine as it also meant that we, as a couple, had some time together in the evening. What Jo does obviously works as our first baby, Lydia, slept through the night (from 7pm-7am) from 12 weeks, and our second, Amaya, slept through after 9 weeks!”
Even Jo considers that a record!
Annabel XX
“We arrived home with our 7 week premature twin daughters. As first time parents and with zero prior baby experience, we were both anxious in view of all the happy circumstances.
Jo proved not only unbelievably capable, but also helpful and supportive, unobtrusive yet very friendly, helping us to help ourselves. She got the babies into a routine, necessary if we were to achieve any sleep overnight, and which we managed to extend upon her departure. Although nervous we were able to continue her principles and effort. Her evident love for children endeared her to our babies who responded to her warm character.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about her competence and her enthusiasm is that we would feel confident about leaving our children exclusively in her care if we were ever away. I certainly never envisaged being able to say that about anyone outside my family. I doubt there are many nurses around like her.
Jo’s help was indispensable and all the confident mothering I now display I owe to her. If my praise of Jo is in abundance, I remain unapologetic. I would highly recommend her to anyone.”
Mindy
“My husband and I can not recommend Jo Tantum highly enough. She came into our lives when our twin boys, Jonathan and Jacob, were eleven-and-a-half weeks and had no fixed routine. The only break I had was nipping off to the loo! Within ten days Jo changed our lives. She taught as all about routine, spaced soothing, play time, feeding, black-out blinds, and most importantly how to get our babies sleeping through the night. When Jo left our boys were sleeping from 11:00pm to 8:00am and then a few weeks later they were sleeping from 8:00pm to 8:00am. Now at 18 months they are sleeping 8:30pm to 8:30am!
We think of Jo everyday in all that we do and still keep to her routine. She truly is a caring genius and I treasure all that she taught us. We are so grateful to her for her brilliant care and counsel and feel very blessed to have her in our lives.”
Tara
“I stumbled across Jo’s book quite by chance when Archie was 2 months and wished that I had found it when he was 2 days old instead! In the book, Jo speaks an awful lot of sense and her routines and common sense approach have really helped us all. I was returning to work full time after 3 months and so it was vital that I get Archie, my first, into a routine, which he subsequently adopted very easily and quickly and is, as a result, now a very happy little person, content with his lot. Unlike many other books, Jo’s approach isn’t harsh or cruel and as a result, you can see results very quickly. Because of the number of personal questions that pop into your head when reading the book, it was great to be able to email / phone Jo to have your specific issues answered and know that you weren’t doing everything wrong and going mad! I am not aware of many other baby books that you can do this and get a response quickly! If there was one book / person I would thoroughly recommend for any questions on babies, it would be Jo.”
Carolyn Gordon
“Jo helped me to understand exactly how to get my baby through the night. No-where else, could I find an approach which was so easy to follow as well as kind to the baby. I was struggling with knowing exactly what to do at certain times throughout the night, and Jo was able to explain to me exactly how to dilute the feeds and what approach to take depending on what time the baby woke. This made me feel so much more confident and in control of the situation – and it worked – within a week or so of talking to Jo, my little boy was sleeping through until 7am. Jo was very patient and understanding and I am so glad that I asked for her advice.”
Angie
“Travelling following your suggestions for adapting the routine to changing time zones, really works. We have been travelling from New Zealand to South Africa, gone on Safari, then on to Germany, and our baby Gabriel has been fantastic adjusting to the time zones and the places! What a pleasure! Everyone is so surprised to see such a happy baby!!!!!”
Susana