Baby Senses aims to increase awareness on a range of prenatal and postnatal matters, by providing personalized, non-medical support to supplement professional medical care. Our goal is to build confidence in parents to foster healthy and happy families.

More About Baby Senses

Our

Services

We offer a wide range of non-medical support to pregnant women and new parents, including prenatal awareness sessions, as well as private postnatal support sessions to help with the non-medical side of sleep and feeding related issues. We believe in creating a comfortable social environment around fact-based education, and providing the “softer” insight and emotional support which medical facilities often overlook.

Prenatal

Classes

Our prenatal awareness is structured as a four-part course for pregnant couples, focusing on pregnancy and birth topics, with basic information relating to newborn feeding and sleep. We believe that pregnant couples can benefit tremendously from this preparation, including knowing what to expect during birth (and afterwards) and asking the right questions to guide their birth experience in way that makes them feel rewarded and empowered. (Services provided in our office, in a group setting or one-on-one.)

Part One - Birth and Assisted Birth: The first session includes topics relating to natural birth. We help you understand the progression of natural labor and explain some of the terminology you may hear from medical professionals before, during or after your birth. (Attendance for this session is optional if you are booked for a C-section.)

Part Two - Pain Management and C-Section: We discuss situations where your doctor may need to be more active in the birth of your baby, as well as Caesarian sections. We also discuss available pain relief options, including TENS, gas and air, narcotics, and, of course, epidurals.

Part Three – Babies I: We cover what parents can expect at birth, typical hospital procedures and routines, and some of the more common problems encountered. We also discuss APGAR, an important newborn health assessment scoring system, and various treatments which your doctor may recommend shortly after birth.

Part Four – Babies II: We cover some of the more practical aspects of caring for your newborn, including bathing, diaper changing, and swaddling. We also discuss sleep routines, which are a very important part of your new life as a parent! Lastly, we discuss feeding, including practical tips about both breastfeeding and bottle feeding.

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Feeding

Advice

We recognize the physical and emotional benefits of breastfeeding, but we also respect a mother’s choice to bottlefeed, be it for medical reasons or personal preference, and seek to support you accordingly. We focus on the “softer” and more practical aspects of establishing a feeding routine to ensure a healthy and well-fed newborn, as well as lay the foundation for a proper sleep routine.( Services provided one-on-one, in our office)

Sleep

Support

We believe it is critical that a plan or roadmap to the right sleep routine is designed shortly after your baby is born, before difficult-to-reverse habits are formed. We also realize that these sleep routines are not always easily implemented for newborns, and sometimes our toddlers need a little help, too. (Services provided one-on-one, in our office or via Skype)

Newborns: We know things can be overwhelming after the birth of your child, especially when parents are sleep-deprived. We can help you establish a sleep routine for your newborn, before difficult-to-reverse habits are formed, to ensure that you, too, are getting adequate sleep.

Toddlers: We realize that things can be overwhelming after the birth of your child, and it is quite common to succumb to circumstantial or reactive behaviors which may not be conducive to an ideal sleep routine. While these sleep habits can be difficult to reverse, we have years of experience and loads of practical advice to support and guide you.

Who

We Are

Baby Senses was founded by Cecile de Scally, a South African trained midwife with 25 years of experience in prenatal and postnatal support and education, including over 15 years in the UAE. Baby Senses and its staff are dedicated to increasing awareness on a wide range of prenatal and postnatal matters, by offering truly unbiased, fact-based, non-medical support and advice to parents.

Cecile de Scally – Co-Founder, Midwife, Educator
South African trained midwife, who qualified in 1990 and came to Dubai in 1997. Throughout her career as a midwife, Cecile has been focused on teaching and supporting woman through their pregnancy, labor, and in the months and years after birth with sleep routines and feeding advice. This is not a job to Cecile – it is her passion.

Ila Kharbush – Co-Founder
During her first pregnancy, Ila experienced first-hand the benefit of Cecile’s uniquely unbiased and experience-based prenatal and postnatal support offerings, after which she partnered with Cecile to help launch Baby Senses. While Ila isn’t actively involved in the day-to-day operations, she continues to be an ambassador for Cecile’s approach to prenatal and postnatal support.

Jennifer Cayanan – Administrative Assistant
Jennifer helps with client bookings and inquiries, and fills a number of office management roles for Baby Senses. A mother of three, she has worked in a number of medical and administrative roles in the UAE, Singapore, and the Philippines, and holds a BSc in Nursing from the University of the Assumption.

Outfits

Now Hiring – Midwife, Educator
Baby Senses is expanding its team. We are speaking with trained midwifes based in the UAE who are looking for a change of pace by stepping into a uniquely non-medical and exciting midwife and educator role at Baby Senses. If you think you might be a good fit, please send your CV to careers@babysenses.me.

Our

References

What keeps us going is the prospect of helping mothers (and fathers) be better prepared, more confident, and, as a result, form happier and healthier families. Below are just a few things our clients have had to say...

“Thanks to Cecile, our journey as a family from pre-birth to the first few months of our girls’ lives felt so worry-less. ... For the new mum I was, Cecile was the perfect support and care. She gave me so much confidence with my babies. I felt reassured … she was highly professional yet welcoming and friendly.” - Annie

“Cecile was a wonderful source of support in helping me after the premature birth of my first baby last year … it was a huge a relief to be able to have some practical advice and solutions to guide us ... Cecile has such a wealth of experience and information … I always felt reassured, encouraged and a little more confident after each visit.” - Corina

“As first-time parents to be, we found the antenatal classes invaluable, particularly my husband who wasn't bothered with reading any of the parenting books I presented to him when I was pregnant... [Postnatal] visits were a lifesaver, particularly when I was severely sleep deprived... Cecile the 'baby whisperer'…” - Sally

“Every single question, worry and concern was answered and Cec put us at ease and built our confidence as first time parents. Her support was particularly invaluable when persevering with breastfeeding our hungry boy!” - Lucy

“I can't thank you enough for helping me get through all the sleepless nights with both of my daughters.” - Hind

“As first time parents, Cecile was paramount in our first few weeks providing us with information and solutions when it really mattered. I would strongly recommend anyone looking for friendly advice and support to reach out to Baby Senses.” - Tanya

“We are so chuffed with the support and assistance we received … both during the very informative antenatal classes and following the birth of our baby girl.” - Carol

“Cecile shared her endless knowledge and guided us every step of the way… [She] had a solution for everything… breastfeeding, milk supply, baby refusing to eat, reflux. Thanks to Cecile I am becoming a more confident and educated parent every day raising two happy little girls :) … Our time with Cecile is definitely the best investment we made since we had our babies.” - Katerina