Our Story
Hi!
I’m Margaret, and I’m mum to two amazing children – Lena and Anthony. I mean it when I say they’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but that doesn’t mean that parenting has been all fun and cuddles!
When my first child (Lena) was born, I had some expectations. I’d read all of the books and followed the social media groups, but
I still felt lost when I got my newborn back home. It seemed that neither she or I knew the difference between night and day - and it was exhausting. The visiting midwife would ask questions about my baby’s routines and developments, and about things like how many wet and dirty nappies there had been in the previous 24 hours, and I just couldn’t recall anything. Blank.
To keep my sanity, I started to introduce daily routines into our family life quite early on. Schedules aren’t for everyone, but they really worked for me when it came to bringing up the baby! How did I track everything? On any sheet of paper I could find.
I documented things such as if Lena had slept or if she’d eaten properly. It covered times and timings, patterns and problems.
It got to a point where I naturally knew what to expect and what to do with/for my child, but this didn’t help anyone who was caring for Lena in my absence – such as family members who offered to babysit (glorious days), or the childcare - in my case, the nanny -
I needed to appoint when I returned to work. As a tech enthusiast, I couldn’t help thinking that there must surely be an App or something to help with all of this. There wasn’t. In feeling like I was stressed in trying to explain everything to our childcare provider of choice, I didn’t feel like I was fully getting the me-time I deserved whilst away from my baby. I panicked that routines just weren’t being followed.
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You always want the best care and attention for your child, and when you find out that 90% of their brain develops in the first 5 years of life, you really start thinking about how you can help your child reach their full potential. Whether we admit it or not, we look for milestones and we compare them to those experienced by other children. Well, if there’s one thing more exhausting than worrying about your own children – it’s concerning yourself with someone else’s! Reliable sources of information and support are key.
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When you choose a nursery, or a childminder, or a nanny – or even just someone to babysit – things can get really stressful as you attempt to build a relationship with someone who you hope will get to know your child almost as well as you do. You want to ensure that your child is safe, their routine is followed, and that organised activities support their ongoing development. Similarly, your childcare provider would probably like to know about all of these expectations, too! We often forget that they really do want to support you as a parent as they take care of your child. This is why I absolutely had to create something that would allow all of this to happen – especially after learning through Lena’s nursery that the EYFS (adhered to in childcare settings across the United Kingdom) highlight a massive 460 milestones for development under-5s development!
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During my career, I’ve always worked for companies building very complex digital products. When my daughter was born, no available App was ticking all of the boxes, and this became even clearer as my baby’s and my own needs changed as the weeks went on. So, I used my background expertise in tech - and my current wishes as a parent - and I created Onoco. On this site, you can read all about what it does, why it’s special, and how it’s going to be peace of mind at your fingertips as you and your baby take your next steps in routines and development.
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Let me know what you think!
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Virtual Hugs,
Margaret x