My name is Peta and I am from a coastal beach town called Newcastle in N.S.W Australia. I have a super small family – hubby and one child – but they are so supportive and loving. I count my blessings I have them.
I still call my four-year-old daughter “my baby”. I think I will labelling her with this title until I am grey and old as she will be my only baby.
My hubby and I are Special Education Teachers here in our home town of Newcastle, although I have been off work since our little girl was born. I have a health condition so when we decided we were going to have a child, we planned that I would work from home so I would be able to be present and not in bed ill for months on end!
We actually weren’t sure about starting a family because I had been consistently unwell since I was 20 years old after having an allergic reaction that almost took my life. Since being removed from stressful work environments and away from the school environment, my health has improved immensely. We try to live a toxic-free lifestyle and eat really well and it really has paid off. We are very much into the natural lifestyle and our friend circles are mainly natural approach parents, hence why we are fans of The Natural Parent Magazine. This is our tribe!
Tell us about this baby sleep product and the Koola brand we hear you are soon to launch
This is the second baby brand I have created. I have a good understanding of this industry and I learnt a lot from my first brand. Koola is a sleep toy for infants that supports a child in many different ways.
“It’s been a work in progress for over 3 years- the idea came about from struggling with my baby girl’s sleep.”
It’s still a secret so I can’t tell you exactly what it does, but if you are familiar with the famous Lulla Doll, you will have some sort of idea. It has some similarities. If I was to personally describe it in a nut shell, I would say, “think of the Lulla Doll but a million times better in every single way”!
This has never been done before (hence why I cannot expose the details until it is ready to launch). There is a huge amount of scientific research to support health benefits of the unique function we have embedded into our Koola doll. The research related to the function embedded shows positive health outcomes for babies, and a lot of research has been conducted with preemies in NICU too. I am really excited to give them to the hospitals to support those little tiny babies. It’s one of those things that if you have grown up kids, you will say, “I wish we had this when I had babies”!
Where did the idea come from?
So the idea came from a problem I was having when trying to get my daughter to sleep. Sadly, she was a very sickly baby: tongue ties, lip ties, GERD and cow’s milk protein allergy. Anyone with a child who has experienced even one of these things alone, is likely struggling with their child’s sleep. So sleeping was a real challenge. Actually, the first 2 years of her life were a fog. We never slept and that’s why this product is really important to us. And when I say we never slept, I am serious. I was lucky to get two hours per night and it was never more than 30 minute blocks. She didn’t fall asleep until after 1:30 am until after 18 months, then would wake every 45 minutes in pain. It wasn’t until a Gastroenterologist in Sydney helped her CMPA and GERD settle that life improved for us. So the idea with the Koola came about while I was up at night/morning with her. I used this method to get her to sleep as it relaxed her more than anything. I remember telling my hubby the idea of putting the strategy into a toy and him saying it was a great idea (which he rarely says), so I knew I needed to make it happen!
