For many new parents, having a baby leads to chaos in the home, but with a bit of expert help they soon find peace can be restored. Women's Editor Sarah Foster meets a professional 'baby guru'.

IT'S not exactly the response you would expect her to come out with, but what Claire Verity declares does show her down-to-earth approach. The question posed - do you have children? - provokes a negative reply.

"Good God, no," she says good-humouredly. "It's not that I don't like babies, it's just that I don't go all gaga with them. I'm thinking about parents and what I can do for them."

She may not be a mum herself, but she is certainly an expert. For coming up to 25 years she's been advising brand new parents and so can confidently claim her lofty title, The Baby Guru. Yet Claire admits her lack of children does prompt prejudice from some.

"It just really annoys me when people say 'she hasn't got children herself, what does she know?'," says the 41-year-old, who lives near Harrogate. "At the end of the day does an open heart surgeon perform surgery on himself?"

It seems that Claire could have a point. While many parents, out of love, allow their baby a free rein, she's learned from working with so many that this only causes stress. Just like her counterpart Jo Frost, the famous TV 'supernanny', she goes along to clients' homes and tends to hit them like a whirlwind.

"I go into their homes, put the baby into a routine for them - how to get them to sleep at night, how to feed them correctly - and then leave," says Claire.

"You have to be disciplined with the parents. It's not the baby I'm strict with, it's the parents. They have to understand that this tiny little baby is not going to rule their life. That's where lots of people go wrong."

She may sound harsh or autocratic - like a Cruella de Vil-type villain - and yet the actions that Claire takes do seem to have a huge effect. She claims to make an instant difference and what is more, that this will last.

"Within 24 hours I can have a baby into a routine and usually within a month I can have them sleeping through from 11 till seven," she says.

"Sometimes from about three months I'll have them sleeping through from seven till seven. Parents get so nervous - they don't think they can do it on their own - but I give them a call a week later and everything is fine. It's so lovely."

Claire makes it sound extremely simple, but can it really be like this? When asked what magic she employs she only laughs and says there is none.

"What I basically do is implement a gentle routine," she says. "There isn't really a secret - it's just a case of implementing this routine that babies thrive on. I've even had quads in a routine."

She may have never had a family, but Claire did grow up on a farm - which though it may sound unrelated, she claims did help her learn her skills. She says they're based on common sense that's been passed down the generations.

"My mother and grandmother taught me everything that I needed to know," says Claire. "It's just solid, old-fashioned advice, like putting a baby out in the garden for lots of fresh air. People don't do that anymore. They seem to wrap their baby in cotton wool and keep them inside a heated house and it's just not good for them."

Her first experience with children was from working as a nanny, but she soon found this didn't suit her - she seemed to handle babies better. She quickly fell into a niche where she just worked with under-ones.

"Children are OK, but they're not for me," admits Claire. "I went into babies and that's where I found my forte."

You get the feeling her detachment is the key to what she does - she can go into people's homes and simply see things as they are. When babies cry she doesn't rush to pick them up as parents might.

"I implement a controlled crying technique," explains Claire. "I'd leave a baby to cry for five minutes and then go back and see if it's all right, then I'd leave it for ten minutes and go and check. A lot of the time a baby will just cry itself to sleep, and if it's fed and warm it won't cry. If a parent goes in all the time they're making a rod for their own back."

Another aspect of Claire's work is the important job of feeding. Again she stresses that it's the parents who should lay down all the rules.

"With a newborn I would recommend feeding every three hours, depending on the weight and the health of the baby, but there's no reason why you can't feed every three hours during the day and every four hours during the night," she says. "It's very much a case of a sleep pattern, a routine you have to put into place from day one."

It is this vital night time plan that she will outline this weekend when she appears at the Bambino Show, a big event for parents-to-be in Harrogate. She'll be on hand on both the days to answer questions and advise, and hopes to help dispel the nerves that often plague new mums and dads. Another project she's involved with is a brand new DVD.

"It's something I've wanted to do for years," explains Claire. "It's great to be able to put myself into every home in the country for £12.95. Lots of people would obviously like to have the help of a maternity nurse or consultant, but they can't afford it, and I think a visual aid is much better than a book. I'm going to demonstrate things like how to use sterilisers, how to swaddle a baby and how to bath a baby - all the things you need to see which a book can't show you."

The DVD - due out next month - is sure to propagate Claire's name, but she's already quite familiar to a batch of grateful stars. She's worked for people like Mark Knopfler, plus Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, and even handed out advice to an inquisitive Princess Diana.

"I met Princess Diana a couple of times - she bombarded me with questions," she says. "She asked for tips, not for her boys but for a friend of hers. All my famous clients have been absolutely lovely. There wasn't anybody who wasn't. Everybody I've worked for has been incredibly nice and very sad when I left. It's usually the mums who are crying, not the babies."

So can it possibly be true that there's no baby Claire can't tame? She will admit that some are easier to bring in line than others, but gives the overall impression that she won't admit defeat.

"Every baby is different, so you're going to get the ones who, for some reason, just don't behave, but the majority of times, as long as they're well fed and warm, they're good," she says.

* www.thebabyguru.co.uk

* Claire will appear at the Bambino Show, at The Pavilions of Harrogate on the Great Yorkshire Showground, on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets cost £5 and children under ten go free. For more information, visit www.bambino show.co.uk

* Claire's DVD The Baby Guru - Coming Home Surviving The First 48 With Your New Baby, will be out on October 20 for £12.95