Sarah Ockwell-Smith (born ) is a British author of parenting and childcare books and a proponent of
attachment parenting
Attachment parenting (AP) is a parenting philosophy that proposes methods aiming to promote the attachment of parent and infant not only by maximal parental empathy and responsiveness but also by continuous bodily closeness and touch. The term ' ...
.
Published works
Ockwell-Smith's first book ''BabyCalm'', published in 2012, focuses on parenting from birth to six months. Her second book ''ToddlerCalm'', published in 2013, focusses on parenting from one to three years of age. In 2015 Ockwell-Smith branched away from the 'Calm' line of books to release ''The Gentle Sleep Book''. ''The Gentle Sleep Book'' offers sleep advice from birth to five years and does not involve any
controlled crying techniques. ''The Gentle Sleep Book'' has sold over 100,000 copies in the UK. ''The Gentle Parenting Book'', which provides an introduction to gentle parenting from birth to seven years, was published in Spring 2016, closely followed by ''Why Your Baby's Sleep Matters''.
Ockwell-Smith was contracted to write a further three books in the 'Gentle' series: ''The Gentle Discipline Book'' and ''The Gentle Potty Training'' ''Book'', both to be published in 2017, and ''The Gentle Eating Book'', published in 2018. Her latest books include ''The Second Baby Book'', published in 2019, and ''The Starting School Book'', published in 2020.
Ockwell-Smith's books have been translated into 30 different languages, including Spanish, Italian, Chinese,
Estonian,
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and
Turkish. She is represented by
Eve White
Eve White was an English television actress.
Among other roles, she appeared as Sue Morgan on the soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 1999 to 2002.
White is now a literary agent in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the U ...
Literary Agency and published by Piatkus, an imprint of the
Little, Brown book group
Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1992, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of New ...
and Pinter and Martin, an independent publisher based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Media appearances
Ockwell-Smith has appeared on
Channel 5 News and
Good Morning Britain discussing changes to
NICE
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
guidance. She was also interviewed for
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
about the birth of
Prince George. Ockwell-Smith has previously appeared on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour
in Spring 2016.
Personal life
Ockwell-Smith is married with four children. She was born in Bedfordshire and raised in
Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire where she attended the
Hertfordshire and Essex High School. She currently lives in
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...
, Essex. Ockwell-Smith holds an honours degree in
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
awarded from the
University of Greenwich
The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic.
The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...
and also holds qualifications in antenatal education. Before working as an author Ockwell-Smith worked as a
homeopath
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
,
doula
A doula () is a trained professional who provides expert guidance for the service of others and who supports another person (the doula's client) through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or ...
and
hypnobirthing
Hypnotherapy is a type of Mind–body interventions, mind–body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern. Popul ...
teacher.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ockwell, Sarah
Living people
1970s births
British family and parenting writers
English women writers
Alumni of the University of Greenwich