Babyproof a yacht? How the super-rich are turning to the ‘mummy concierge’

A poet, a linguist and a advertising guru be a part of forces to give you the identify of an unborn baby. The beginning of a nasty joke? The plotline for the following episode of Black Mirror? Neither – fairly, it’s one of many jobs a “mummy concierge” to the super-rich may be requested to do.

Child-proofing a yacht to make sure the plugs match a breast pump, discovering the perfect potty-training knowledgeable on the town and reminding potential mums to pack their facial mist of their in a single day bag are simply a few of the different duties Tiffany Norris has put in her diary of late.

Basically an assistant to very rich girls earlier than and after they offer start, Norris shines a lightweight on the brand new extremes taken by dad and mom who’re keen to pay her charges, which begin at £275 an hour.

The whole lot from sourcing a bespoke £3,000 nightdress to put on whereas giving start, to packing an in a single day bag for the suite in a non-public hospital, to surrounding their mattress with photos from residence, has been requested of the mom of 4, who lives within the Cotswolds.

“Plenty of shoppers are high-powered profession girls who want steerage. They’ve totally staffed households and the ‘mummy concierge’ is rather like one other member of workers,” says Norris.

The large payments are on the excessive finish of a profitable trade. However figures from market analysis firm Kantar places the babywear clothes market alone at greater than £860m over the yr to Might, and virtually £300m for journey gadgets, equivalent to automotive seats and pushchairs.

On the identical time, there was a shift in direction of girls wanting to offer start in non-public hospitals. The Portland hospital in London, the one privately owned maternity hospital within the UK, says it had seen an increase in expectant mothers choosing it. Right here payments begin at £7,495 for a consultant-led vaginal supply.

Self-employed midwives, who work outdoors the NHS, additionally report a surge in enterprise.

Within the US, the pattern of child planners – related in some points to a marriage planner – has been rising. Companies such as American Express and Fifth Third Bank have provided staff with similar types of services.

Unsurprisingly, some rich {couples} have taken the thought the additional mile. Norris, previously a journalist who ran an organization to assist individuals map out distinctive methods to suggest, arrange her enterprise after changing into overwhelmed earlier than her first baby was born in 2017.

“I used to be pregnant with my little boy and had a meltdown in John Lewis pondering ‘How do I do know what the fitting equipment to purchase is?’. It sparked the thought – you may have individuals planning weddings, however nobody helps you intend having a child.”

Since then, she claims to have labored with high-profile girls, not solely serving to with impending arrivals, however giving recommendation afterwards, in addition to being a shoulder to cry on.

“I do the primary yr,” she says. “They could want recommendation on the way to get a baby into a non-public college in London, or assist to discover a potty-training knowledgeable.

“I might advise on what number of Babygros and vests to pack, and a hospital bag in your accomplice, in addition to little issues, like ensuring to take a cellphone charger with a really lengthy lead. I’ve had somebody who wished a bespoke nightdress made to offer start in, costing £3,000.”

Earlier jobs she has taken on for shoppers embody adorning non-public hospital suites with framed photos, flowers, and bedsheets from girls’s properties, in addition to organising post-birth photoshoots, and spending hundreds on kids’s wardrobes – only for their holidays.

“Lots of my shoppers have vacation properties, or non-public yachts. I used to be as soon as flown to Dubai to assist babyproof a yacht, checking the plug sockets can handle a UK plug to make sure a breast pump labored. Additionally ensuring the stair gates had been steady sufficient for a bouncy ocean,” she says.

Dad and mom get in contact by phrase of mouth, though she declines to say how many individuals have engaged her companies in the mean time.

“My on a regular basis clientele are London-based in Chelsea, Kensington, or elsewhere within the UK, such because the Cotswolds. I even have a number of Italian shoppers and Individuals, individuals who have moved over right here for work, and have vacation properties.”

An preliminary one-hour session on the cellphone is £275 after which the value after that varies relying on what she is requested to do.

“That is the place I get to know my shoppers and perceive what’s worrying them, or what they want steerage on. This may be something from selecting which advisor to assist ship your child privately, to creating positive you may have the perfect child equipment on the market.

“As soon as we now have labored out what every consumer wants then we put collectively a ‘maternity map’ which outlines all the following steps and what I may also help them with,” Norris says.

She won’t give a determine on the price of the service general, however says it “is determined by what individuals need and the way a lot time it takes”.

She dismisses the concept that the massive quantities spent are a waste of cash, saying that rich individuals merely need the perfect for his or her baby.

Norris is commonly requested about names. “I had one adamant consumer who wished a novel identify. We arrange a thinktank with a linguist, a advertising knowledgeable, a branding knowledgeable and a poet and sat round brainstorming. “The couple had been American and had excessive expectations of what they wished their baby to be. It was like branding your child, they wished to ensure their baby had a head begin in life.”

Ultimately, they got here up with a shortlist of 17 and narrowed down from there. “The entire course of took round two months,” she says.

Whereas there are not any middle-range priced being pregnant planners, companies to assist girls by being pregnant and the postnatal interval are rising.

The Child Present – held in London with 30,000 individuals attending – options consultants to assist with all the pieces from getting ready for start to weaning.

Web sites equivalent to My Expert Midwife, arrange by medical professionals, provides downloadable booklets on a spread of points, together with getting ready for a caesarean, for £5.95. It additionally has information on what to pack in your hospital bag for the start.