We've all watched in horror while television supernannies such as Jo Frost dole out the discipline to dysfunctional families in America and Britain. But did you know that all sorts of modern-day Mary Poppinses are now making their way into Irish homes -- and not just on the telly.

Scour the ads in any supermarket or parenting website and you'll find a growing army of Irish supernannies willing to tackle our home-grown parenting problems.

From sleep therapists to maternity nurses to a simple set of extra hands, mummies' little helpers are coming in all shapes and sizes -- and chances are there's one lurking in an unruly house near you.

Jenny Campbell runs Dublin-based agency Executive Nannies.

The supernanny medicine may have taken a long time to get here, but it seems Irish parents are now swallowing it with gusto.

"It hit the US first over 10 years ago, and then the UK, but so-called 'supernannies' are growing in popularity here now," according to Jenny.

"We were supplying regular nannies anyway, and, because of customer demand, started to supply short-term 'supernannies'. These now make up about 20pc of our business.

"We don't use the term supernanny ourselves because it's a bit of a loose term.

"We usually talk about sleep therapists or behaviour therapists or maternity nurses, because they all offer a short-term service to sort out a particular problem."

With both parents facing into a full day at the office, couples simply can't afford a bad night's sleep -- but they can afford a supernanny.

"We see two scenarios," says Jenny.

"One is that a lot more women are working now, and a maternity nurse or supernanny became an affordable luxury.

"The other one is that a lot of women are just at their wits' end and, regardless of the money, they just need to do something for their sanity and well-being.

"Their job or their relationship might be really suffering because of a sleep or behavioural problem with their child and they just really need help and don't know where else to turn."


Nuala Reddy has 20 years' experience minding children in London and Dublin.

She now works as a sleep and behaviour therapist and says there's no challenge she won't take on.

"I treat children who have all sorts of problems -- with sleep, with tantrums, with weaning, whatever. I'm open to dealing with any problem, and I haven't met a child yet that I haven't been able to help.

"Mostly, at the moment, I'm working as a sleep therapist, which can mean working with children from four months up to 11 years."

Parents usually book Nuala for just three nights. She comes, stays with the family through the night, and instructs them step by step on how to solve their sleep problems.

"You get people who haven't had a full night's sleep in years. When that happens, everything suffers: work, relationships, life.

"They are emotional basket cases. There are so many books out there all giving conflicting advice, and often people won't implement that advice unless there is someone there to enforce it.

"I think people are better off just getting someone in to sort out the problem once and for all. So that's what I do, I go in and make it all better."

Extract from the Irish Independent, 26 Nov 2008. Article by Anna Murphy