Bridging Midwifery, Maternal Health & Holistic Family Sleep Support
Meet Sara Rist, a Registered Nurse, Midwife, maternal and child health professional, founder of Summer Love, mother of five, and graduate of the International Parenting & Health Institute’s Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant Certification Program.
Based in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, Sara has spent decades caring for mothers, babies and families.
Her professional journey began in nursing, expanded into midwifery, and has continued to evolve through education in child sleep, breastfeeding support, infant massage, health psychology and other areas of maternal and infant wellbeing.
Today, through Summer Love, Sara brings those disciplines together to provide families with something she has valued throughout her career:
individualized support that allows parents to feel heard, nurtured and cared for.
More Than Two Decades Caring for Families
Sara’s healthcare career began when she became a Registered Nurse through the University of South Australia in 1997. She has worked within the private hospital sector as a Registered Nurse since 1998.
She subsequently expanded into maternal healthcare, becoming a Registered Midwife through Flinders University in 2006.
Her midwifery experience has extended across the continuum of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood, including:
Antenatal care and education
Labour and birth
Postnatal care for mothers and babies
Special Care Nursery experience
This has allowed Sara to support families through some of the most transformative and sometimes most vulnerable periods of their lives.
Expanding Beyond Traditional Maternal Care
Sara’s professional education didn’t stop with nursing and midwifery.
As her career evolved, so did her desire to understand the different factors influencing babies, parents and families.
She became a Paediatric Massage Consultant through Infant Massage Information Service in 2016 and a Happiest Baby Educator that same year. She later completed Red Nose Australia’s Introduction to Safe Sleeping for Educators, the Thompson Method Breastfeeding Program for Professionals, a Graduate Certificate in Health Psychology through Curtin University, and training as an Immunisation Nurse.
These disciplines may appear different on the surface.
But together, they reflect a consistent professional focus:
supporting the health and wellbeing of babies, mothers and families.
Adding Child Sleep to the Picture
In 2016, Sara completed her professional sleep education through the International Parenting & Health Institute, becoming what her current website identifies as a Maternity and Child Sleep Consultant.
As an IPHI Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant graduate, Sara added another dimension to an already substantial maternal and infant health background.
For a midwife, sleep is an especially relevant area of professional education.
The postpartum period doesn’t divide itself neatly into separate categories of feeding, recovery, infant development, sleep and parent wellbeing.
Families experience all of them simultaneously.
Understanding sleep through a holistic framework therefore complements Sara’s existing experience across antenatal education, postnatal care, breastfeeding support, newborn care and family wellbeing.
When Clinical Experience Meets Lived Experience
Sara isn’t only a healthcare professional.
She’s also a mother of five.
Her experiences both professionally and personally have shaped the kind of support she believes parents deserve.
In a 2026 interview with The Natural Parent Magazine, Sara reflected on how she often spent significant time with parents during antenatal classes, on postnatal wards and in the nursery. She saw firsthand how time limitations within healthcare settings could make it difficult to provide the depth of individualized support she wanted families to receive.
That experience eventually helped inspire something new.
Creating Summer Love
Sara founded Summer Love around a vision of holistic, individualized family support.
The name itself carries a personal connection: Summer is the name of Sara’s third child.
The business began taking shape in 2021, during a period when becoming a parent could feel particularly isolating. Face-to-face support had been disrupted during the pandemic, leaving many new and expecting parents navigating pregnancy and early parenthood with fewer opportunities for connection.
Sara initially offered free antenatal classes, followed by a free parent-and-baby group.
Families responded.
And Summer Love grew from there.
Creating the Kind of Support She Wanted Families to Have
At the heart of Summer Love is a philosophy that aligns closely with Sara’s professional journey.
She wanted to create a space where parents could receive individualized care rather than feel rushed, pressured or judged.
Today, Summer Love provides parent education and support, including parent-and-baby groups and individual consultations.
Sara’s professional knowledge allows her to draw upon decades of experience across nursing, midwifery, maternal health, newborn care, breastfeeding, infant massage and child sleep.
But perhaps equally important is the environment she has intentionally worked to create around that knowledge:
One in which families can ask questions.
One in which individual circumstances matter.
And one in which parents themselves are also cared for.
Continuing to Learn
One of the strongest themes running throughout Sara’s career is continued professional education.
Even after decades in healthcare, she continues expanding her knowledge.
Her current website notes ongoing study toward Midwife Endorsement through Curtin University in 2025–26, as well as continued breastfeeding education.
Sara told The Natural Parent Magazine that Midwife Endorsement represents an important step for Summer Love because it can enable prescribing, referrals and a provider number, potentially making aspects of her care more financially accessible through Medicare subsidies.
That continued growth demonstrates something we value deeply within the IPHI professional community:
Education doesn’t end when certification is earned.
The strongest professionals remain curious.
Supporting Safe Sleep Beyond Her Own Practice
Sara’s commitment to infant wellbeing also extends into community advocacy.
She has supported Red Nose Australia through a Summer Love Safe Sleep fundraiser, helping raise awareness and funding for the organization’s work supporting families, safe sleep education and research into sudden and unexpected infant and child deaths.
Combined with her own professional safe-sleep education, this adds another meaningful dimension to her work supporting families during infancy.
Where Midwifery, Sleep & Family Wellness Meet
Sara’s professional journey demonstrates why multidisciplinary education can be particularly valuable during pregnancy and early parenthood.
A new parent’s experience isn’t simply about birth.
Or feeding.
Or sleep.
Or emotional wellbeing.
Or infant development.
It’s all happening at once.
Sara’s professional foundation allows her to see families through multiple lenses:
Nursing
Midwifery
Pregnancy & Birth
Postpartum Care
Newborn Care
Breastfeeding Support
Infant Massage
Child Sleep
Health Psychology
Parent Education
Together, those areas support the holistic perspective at the heart of Summer Love.
Professional Profile
Sara Rist
Registered Nurse | Registered Midwife | Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant
Location: South Australia, Australia
Founder: Summer Love
Education & Professional Credentials
Registered Nurse
University of South Australia — 1997
Registered Midwife
Flinders University — 2006
Graduate Certificate in Health Psychology
Curtin University — 2022
Paediatric Massage Consultant
Infant Massage Information Service — 2016
Happiest Baby Educator — 2016
Immunisation Nurse — 2022
IPHI Certification
Holistic Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant
International Parenting & Health Institute — 2016
Additional Professional Education
Red Nose Australia — Introduction to Safe Sleeping for Educators
Thompson Method Breastfeeding Program for Professionals
Ongoing Midwife Endorsement studies — Curtin University
Ongoing Breastfeeding Educator studies
Professional Experience
Registered Nursing — since 1998
Registered Midwifery — since 2006
Antenatal Care & Education
Labour & Birth
Postnatal Mother & Baby Care
Special Care Nursery
Maternal & Infant Support
Areas of Expertise
Pregnancy & Birth
Postpartum Support
Maternal & Infant Health
Child Sleep
Breastfeeding Support
Infant Massage
Parent Education
Safe Sleep
Family Wellness
An Inspiration in Maternal & Family Support
Sara’s journey represents what can happen when extensive clinical experience is combined with continued learning, lived experience and a genuine desire to support families differently.
From becoming a Registered Nurse in the 1990s to qualifying as a Midwife, expanding into holistic child sleep, infant massage, breastfeeding and health psychology, and ultimately creating Summer Love, Sara has continued building upon her foundation rather than standing still.
Today, the parents who walk through Summer Love’s doors benefit from knowledge accumulated across decades.
But they also benefit from the philosophy behind it:
Families deserve time.
Parents deserve to be heard.
Care should recognize individual needs.
And support during pregnancy and early parenthood should extend beyond simply getting through the next milestone.
Congratulations, Sara!
We are proud to recognize your professional journey, continued commitment to education, and decades of service to mothers, babies and families as part of the International Parenting & Health Institute’s global graduate community.
