"As a first time mother, I didn’t have much experience with babies and I didn’t have any family help to guide me.  I started to look at what my options where for getting help with a newborn, and the best care I could find was a postpartum Doula or Sleep Doula.  That is when I met Andrea Strang.

From the beginning, Andrea was very supportive and gave me many options.  Everything from the best way to bath my new born to supporting my choice to breastfeed.   All my questions where answered and I always felt comfortable asking Andrea.  She not only helped care for the baby, she even took care of me and my needs.

Andrea also assisted in the birth of my second child and provided night Doula support for us then as well.  When complications arose after his birth, she was right there at the hospital whenever I needed her.

I am now pregnant with our third child and lucky for us, Andrea has agreed to be apart of the birth and do postpartum support work for us once again.  Having her by my side during and after the birth gives me peace of mind and helps me relax and focus on what needs to be done.

Andrea’s shared knowledge of birth, babies and childcare has helped me feel confident and secure in my own ability to take care of my children. I am very fortunate to have met such a wonderful caring person. "
Nancy Lawrynowicz
Executive Director
Lawrynowicz and Associates

"Andrea Strang could have her own TV show or be a doula for celebrities.  We hired her to help me in the hospital when I had a cesarean with my second child and we liked her so much we had her come to our house and help us at night for a few weeks after that.  I have extremely high standards for who helps out in our house and she blew me away.  My husband and I were both impressed by how helpful and thoughtful she was.  She was observant enough to find ways to be helpful that we didn’t even think of ourselves.  Even though this was our second child, Andrea taught us new skills.  She was conscientious and careful, especially with cleanliness and germs, which is so important with a newborn.  She was also very attentive to the baby—I am one of those mothers that watches the baby’s every breath just to make sure.  Well Andrea is the only person other than my husband who I felt comfortable leaving the baby with.  She went above and beyond, for example, in the hospital in the middle of the night; I needed some over the counter medicine for my comfort (not an emergency).  The hospital couldn’t provide it.  Andrea found an open pharmacy and walked to it at 2am .  She was back in a blink too.  After watching the baby all night while the rest of our family slept, we awoke to a plate of fresh fruit prepared for us.  These are just little examples of how she made those first few weeks easier so that we could enjoy our new addition.  Andrea is a smart, adaptive, warm, conscientious and careful person who would probably do well in whatever career she chose.  Luckily for us, she chose to be a doula!"
Mary Jo Ducharme, PhD
Assistant Professor  
York University

“When you are a new parent, sleep is a treasured gift.  But when you are new parents who run their own businesses and must also work full time while trying to raise a newborn, sleep is a necessity!  For this reason, we were grateful to find Andrea.  At first we wondered if we would be able to truly sleep at night knowing that a “stranger” was taking care of our son.  But Andrea put our minds at ease from the moment we first met her.  She was kind, compassionate, extremely skilled with infants, and she also brought us helpful articles and websites on everything from breastfeeding, children’s sleep habits, and starting solid foods to where to buy cheap children’s clothes.  In short, Andrea did much more than give us the “gift of sleep”, she and the her team also helped us to become more confident, knowledgeable parents, and at 5 and a half months, she actually helped us teach our son how to sleep through the night (at our request).  We will always be grateful for our time with Andrea and her colleagues, and we would highly recommend them to any family, whether you are a working parent or not.  The wealth of information and emotional support parents can gain from a night doula is unbelievably helpful”.  Drs. Miyo Yamashita and Michael Guerriere
 “Miyo and Michael, ages 36 and 43, parents of John”.  

"Words cannot express the gratitude my husband and I feel towards Andrea.  We hired Andrea when I was 3 months pregnant with twins.  We knew we needed help to take care of our twins.  What we didn't know, was that Andrea would take care of our newborn twins, our 4 year old son, my husband and most importantly me! 

Although I hired her to be a postpartum doula, she was an important resource during my pregnancy.  She provided guidance on how to prepare my 4 year old son for the arrival of 2 babies.  But most importantly, her telephone availability prevented premature labour.
 
As a postpartum doula, Andrea was just incredible. She arrived at our home before we did with the twins. Although we prepared and planned for the babies, when we came home that day, we felt absolutely overwhelmed. What an incredible relief it was to have Andrea around.  She worked 12-16 hours per day the first week with us.
 
Wow, it's hard to list everything Andrea did. Simplistically, her main priority was to care for the twins at night, so that I could A) sleep and B) recover from my C-section.  The newborn care included bringing them to me in the evening for feeding, assisting me breastfeed given my very sore tummy area, burping them, changing them, settling them to sleep, or soothing them if they were crying. When the babies were asleep, she would do the laundry, tidy the dinner dishes, run the dishwasher, do a general tidy up of the family room or the nursery.  She did tasks around the house (baby permitting).  What also sets Andrea apart, was her ability to do whatever needed to be done in the house without instructing her.

We hired Andrea for 3 months to get us through the most difficult adjustment part.  When we saw her car headlights coming up the driveway, my husband and I would cheer that Andrea had arrived.  I would give her a quick debrief of the day, and rush off to sleep, to be gently awakened in the night for breastfeeding, and then off to sleep again. 

I could not imagine those first few months without Andrea.  Her guidance, reliability, friendship and
care went beyond my expectations. I absolutely trusted her with my newborn babies. 
 
Thank you Andrea.  We were very lucky that you were available.  My only regret, was that I didn't hire you when I was a first-time mum with my son."

T. Tai

"My husband and I knew we were in for a ride with the imminent birth of twin boys. We explored the idea of help for those first few crucial weeks before my mother arrived from Australia.

Andrea started with us the first night we arrived home from hospital. I remember waking up that first night startled, disoriented and tearful, courtesy of raging hormones and little sleep; and as I peered into the nursery, there was Andrea caring for my boys like they were her own and I knew that we had made the right decision to bring in her expertise and care for those first few weeks.

Tag-teaming me during the 3 hourly feeding process, between 10pm and 6am, she also helped soothe my babies so that I could get at least a little rest between feeds. But it was more than just helping me care and feed my babies. It's a scary time when you are a first time Mum bringing newborns home from hospital and Andrea was a calming, positive and knowledgeable person to have on your team in the middle of the night!

The other wonderful aspect of her post-partum doula care was her focus on me as well as my babies.  And that, as it turned out, was incredible support especially with me being a first time Mum and recovering from a c-section. I don't think I would have kept on with breast-feeding had it not been for her encouragement and advice. She was never forceful in suggesting new ideas, just gently encouraging which is important when you are bewildered with all that comes with being a new mother. She also did those little chores like sterilizing bottles for the morning round of feeding, throwing a load of baby laundry in, folding it up and putting it away. All of those little things that you don't realize pre-babies, that you won't always have time to do with newborn twins.

As the nights progressed she also became a great confidante, listening to me talk about the days events with the boys and being able to provide some sound advice from her years of experience.

I highly recommend her services especially if you are expecting more twins!"

Sharyn McMahon

SLEEP TESTIMONIALS  

"Words cannot adequately describe how life and sanity saving Andrea’s help was to our family. We had quite simply reached our wits end and were desperate for sleep and help with our daughter who by 6 months of age had taken to waking every hour and a half. After weeks and weeks of sleep deprivation, anxiety and stress Andrea came into our home and like an angel, over several visits, helped us teach our daughter how to sleep. It was nothing short of amazing to not hear a peep in the night anymore and to see our child rested, happy and hungry for nourishment every morning – she was finally the happy and beautiful baby we knew she could be. More than that, Andrea took the time to help me gain back my perspective and maternal confidence and gave me practical concrete tips and tons of very useful information on all sorts of issues. To this day my husband and I look back at our experience with Andrea as the greatest investment we could have ever made for ourselves and our daughter. We were quite simply a happier and healthier family because of her support. I strongly encourage any family going through a difficult time to seek the help you need – don’t prolong your stress and suffering.  There is light (oohh and did I mention peaceful, restful sleep) on the other side of the stress with help from Andrea."