Suma Prasad

10/23/2020

Noel took excellent care of my son overnight from 3-9 weeks old. She helped pave the way for good sleep habits and gave us helpful daytime schedules / tips. She truly loves what she does and it shows!

Suma Prasad

10/23/2020

Noel took excellent care of my son overnight from 3-9 weeks old. She helped pave the way for good sleep habits and gave us helpful daytime schedules / tips. She truly loves what she does and it shows!

Wendy Pabich

10/4/2019

Noel helped with our twins from the time they were born, and was a true life saver.  She was instrumental in helping them learn to sleep through the night, helping us develop a schedule for the twins, and providing a fount of knowledge in all aspects of newborn care.  Her calm, caring, and nurturing nature was much appreciated and greatly helped us transition into the role of new parents.  Her extensive experience and intuition combine to make her an amazing baby whisperer.  Anyone who is lucky enough to have Noel in their family's life will be forever thankful.  We cannot recommend Noel Merkel highly enough!  

Lea Mckinstry

10/3/2018

Noel was incredibly helpful with our 4 month old son's transition from co-sleeping to his own crib. She gave me a plan and the support I needed to get started and confidently change my son's sleep habit from waking every 2 hours to sleeping 8-10 hours straight. My only wish is that I had found her sooner so we could have started better sleep habits earlier.

Jenna Rayachoti

9/19/2018

Noel is an incredible doula and newborn care specialist! She helped us immensely with our baby starting around day 2. She worked with us 2-3x/week until our little was about 5 weeks old. In the first week or so, it was great to have Noel at our house at night just to ensure that my husband and I got more rest. I had hesitations about having someone who I didn't know very well care for our baby at night when she was so little. I wanted to spend every moment with her. But Noel is amazing with babies and I immediately felt completely at ease and excited about her spending the nights with our baby. Noel is so kind, trustworthy, and confident. She speaks to babies with both enthusiasm and softness, and she clearly has the magic touch to soothe any fussy baby! Every morning, Noel would give us the rundown of how the night went, what she noticed and learned about our baby and any advise she had for the coming nights that she wouldn’t be with us. We were also having some trouble with our baby sleeping during the day and Noel helped us troubleshoot and suggested a wonderful schedule to follow that worked really well for us. Noel is a wealth of knowledge about babies and their rhythms/patterns. She pays very close attention to them and has so much experience with different babies, especially with twins! I would highly recommend Noel to any family who has a newborn or a young baby at home and wants some rest or needs some help with sleep or a generally fussy baby. We miss having Noel around our home and we know our baby does, too!

danielle saffer

4/23/2018

I will start by saying that I believe my angel mom sent Noel to our family. I was terrified/excited when I found out I was having twins. I was scared because I had never been around newborns. I had pre-eclampsia at 32 weeks, I was even more scared. I almost died form blood loss and it took me a month to recover. We had precious preemie boy/girl twins on January 4, 2018. They had to spend 2 weeks in the Nicu to learn how to eat. I became anxious to care for them at home when I was so sick. We  managed on our own for about 2 weeks. We knew we needed help. At Noel's interview, she instantly knew what to do with our son Sully. She was a perfect for our family from day 1. Noel was with our babies 1 month (not supposed to even be born yet) to 14 weeks (7 weeks adjusted). In that amount of time Noel helped get our babies to a healthy weight, took care of all night feedings, set up their sleep environment, cut night time feedings, coached me on the day schedule, and sleep conditioned our babies to now SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. They would not be here if we didn't have Noel. Now I have 2 healthy babies who sleep all night long at 3.5 months. This is a huge accomplishment since they were 7 weeks early. She nevere gave up,  Noel loved Susannah and Solomon. She spent time talking me through everything and was flexible with her hours. She would text with me all day when I had questions. I can be anxious and she was patient with me. She takes pride in her work and wants to finish what she started. I needed guidance and Noel was there any time I needed anything. She is an angel. I think more importantly, she is my close friend now. She advised me the whole time when I asked. She was gentle with me. She gave me my confidence back about being a mom when I lost it. I thank God that we found Noel. She still spends time talking me through things even though she has left for a new job. Thank you Noel. What a blessing you have been in our lives.

Emily Walter

10/23/2017

Noel was definitely a godsend for us! She entered our lives about a week after our Twins were born. My husband and I were at our wits end, neither of us were sleeping and we didn't even know where to begin! She was with us for 4 months and those four months were probably the best foundation I could have ever gotten to becoming used to being a mom. She was with us during the night time which allowed me to get enough sleep to make it through the days! She was also available via text when I had random questions throughout the day. She was always full of great tips and advice but was quick to follow our lead if there was something we wanted done a certain way. All-in-all we trusted her judgment and I couldn't have been happier. She was always very reliable, definitely trustworthy, always had a great positive attitude and was good at bolstering my confidence. The babies loved her and all her lavender! By the time she left us they were sleeping through the night which was wonderful for me. She made me feel confident and like I knew what I was doing even when I clearly did not! My husband and I appreciated her openness and her calm demeanor. Even when we were nervous and anxious about the dual screaming matches she never missed a beat. I would recommend her to anyone with absolutely no reservation!

Adam Brotman

5/5/2017

Noel is an experienced, seriously capable newborn baby nanny.

She works extremely hard and takes her job very seriously and professionally.

Our baby is now 5 months old, and is very well adjusted, happy and social thanks to Noel's attention and hard work.

K Meck

11/10/2016

If you're reading this, you're considering hiring a doula for the care of the most precious thing in your world. After our daughter choked at two weeks of age, we decided, in our new-parent terror, that we would always keep her under watch, even when she was sleeping. After many sleepless nights, we decided to hire a night doula. We soon learned that it is a rare person who provides awake care - staying awake the entire night while the child sleeps. Most night doulas rest when the child rests. As soon as we met Noel, we knew she would be a great fit for our family and our needs. Noel's calm nature when engaging with both us and our child belies her deep experience with newborns and infants. In hiring for awake care, it is critical that the doula doesn't also have a "day job" in order to be fully present for night duties. Noel was very clear about our daughter being her priority and turned her schedule upside down to help ensure our daughter's safety. Noel joined us when our daughter was four weeks old and was unwavering in her compassionate support for our family. She always respected our decisions as parents, and was also happy to provide suggestions if we wanted her perspective. She never questioned our decision for awake care or tried to create an "easier" schedule for herself, even after our daughter had been given a clean bill of health. As our daughter went through sleep transitions, Noel helped us navigate those, providing patient education and problem-solving with us. Noel helped us create a path forward for sleep conditioning that was aligned with our childrearing values. Noel felt like a true partner in "Team Baby" and we trusted her completely. She was respectful of our home, our employment agreements, and was always, always on time. She flexed her schedule to accommodate shifts in ours and was completely dependable. We can't recommend Noel highly enough as you make the important decision about who to entrust with the care of your child.

PALS Doulas

5/12/2015

This doula is not currently certified through PALS Doulas.

Kate Watson

2/18/2013

I have had the great pleasure of getting to know Noel Merkel over the past two years, most specifically the past 2 months, as I have witnessed her experienced care of my roommate’s newborn twins. Having the opportunity to observe Noel in this home setting, on such a personal level has been remarkable. I have learned so much from her natural talent and nurturing disposition, and have every intention of implementing her techniques in the future with my own children. To watch Noel with the twins is to assume they are her own children. Her awareness of their needs and the comforting demeanor she possesses is truly a thing to see. I have especially enjoyed her tips on sleep training, and her overall loving spirit.  If she is available when I start my own family, I can't think of anyone I would trust more in my home and with my children.