As the Baby Planner industry first emerged in 2008, it was an industry and service that was focused on supporting expecting and new families navigate around the world of baby products. Mar De Carlo, IPHI’s founder, who has an incredibly diverse background with extensive professional training and experience, saw the need and importance to challenge the baby planning industry by reshaping its’ focus to include services to support expecting and new families navigate the world of pre-conception, birthing options, postpartum options, parental care, newborn care, breastfeeding options and much more in order to honor and assist the physical and emotional wellbeing that expecting and new families go through during their journey. 

Mar founded the International Academy of Baby Planner Professionals and consequently laid the industry’s professional foundation by introducing the baby planner industry’s first professional book and certification program in 2009, as at the time, no established professional training existed to qualify baby planner professionals with a scope of practice, boundaries of practice, code of ethics etc. 

In 2010, Ana Maria Anselmo, one of Mar’s first Baby Planner graduates joined the IPHI to support teaching and expanding IPHI’s Baby Planner program in Brazil.

In 2021, with the support of Ana Maria Anselmo, the first Portuguese book for Baby Planner professionals was launched.

Besides the significant contributions Mar has made to the baby planner industry, it is important to note that the content included in our Baby Planner program is not made up by Mar on her own. While Mar pioneered an expanded approach to Baby Planning and while Mar has over two decades of extensive professional training and experience which includes over 25 certifications, she along with her team, have compiled a wealth of evidenced based research and science that is not just based on theory but also practical application. During their learning journey, students of our Baby Planner program have an opportunity to apply and practice what they learn.

While our program introduces and includes a wealth of reliable and credible information from various experts and resources that tie to pre-conception, pregnancy and postpartum, students learn about the professional world of coaching and how to excel at coaching and consulting. It is one thing to know baby planning and it is another to be a successful coach/consultant and business owner. So apart from offering comprehensive evidence-based baby planner education, our program also includes comprehensive evidence-based coaching education and business education. 

Because our founder, Mar also has a diverse professional background and experience, she is able to look at the baby planner industry from different angles always allowing her to bring a new and fresh perspective to our program and students. This is what also gives IPHI an advantage in our curriculum development. Mar never stops learning. She consistently participates in new programs, collaborates and learns from experts, her faculty and continuously updates our program.

After having launched the first Baby Planner program in 2009, Mar De Carlo, the founder of IPHI, was provided an opportunity to evaluate and contribute to the profession of child sleep consulting in 2011. She noticed that a holistic child sleep consultant professional training program had not existed and also recognized that there were a large number of child sleep consultants who were using one size-fits all sleep training methods that did not leave much room for parents to have options. She also noticed that pregnancy sleep support and the child sleep education, prior to birth, was not being taught to child sleep consultants in addition to various vital subjects that affect sleep like birth psychology, birth trauma, emotional well-being, emotional abuse, cultural and religious differences, special needs, sleep-based nutrition for mom and baby, conscious parenting, yoga nidra and much more. 

As a result, in 2012, Mar was the first in the child sleep consultant industry to pioneer a holistic approach that began during pregnancy and included all of the subjects and missing pieces, mentioned above. Mar felt that by introducing her holistic approach, it would raise the bar and level of awareness for child sleep consultants, inspire them to begin working during pregnancy and also motivate them to reformulate their traditional use of sleep training to a customizable holistic approach that involves a thorough investigative process honoring each family’s unique needs, including evaluating and supporting parents physical and emotional well-being and where traditional and rigid forms of sleep training they were once using, were no longer the limiting standard.

In 2012, Mar launched the first Pregnancy & Child Sleep Certification program via IPHI, a holistic team-based approach and also founded the Association or Professional Sleep Consultants to provide a platform and space for sleep consultants from various backgrounds to connect, learn, grow and receive support. The program was received well and grew very quickly.

In 2015, Mar re-evaluated how her holistic approach was being implemented and applied by IPHI’s graduates and learned that while the majority of sleep consultants were implementing and utilizing her holistic approach properly, a minority were utilizing it improperly with rigid sleep training methods which created some confusion. In that same year, Mar addressed this challenge by deciding to write her book, “Awakening Through Sleep: a transformational and spiritual guide to pregnancy, adult and child sleep” in order to publicly document her holistic approach and clarify her message and expand her mission.

During 2015, Mar also began re-examining the accuracy and benefits of continuing to use the term “sleep training” as while the term can represent many different approaches to child sleep from “cry it out”, to “no cry” and everything in between, the term continued to carry a very negative and controversial perspective among professionals and parents which divided them and just as importantly did not accurately represent Mar’s pure holistic approach which does not require any traditional form of sleep training. Therefore, in the years that followed, Mar introduced updated measures, policies and upgraded content for IPHI’s Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant program (125 hours) to ensure that her holistic approach was not being misused by professionals or boxed in with the confusing various limiting perspectives of “sleep training”.

Besides the significant contributions Mar has made to the child sleep consulting industry with her holistic science of sleep method approach, it is important to note that the content included in IPHI’s Pregnancy & Child Sleep Certification program is not made up by Mar on her own. While the Holistic Science of Sleep Method system and formulation are unique to Mar and IPHI, and while Mar has over two decades of extensive professional training and experience which includes over 25 certifications, she along with her team, have compiled a wealth of evidenced based research and science that is not just based on theory but also practical application. During their learning journey, students of the IPHI Pregnancy & Child Sleep Consultant program are guided and mentored through a variety of real-life case studies where they have an opportunity to apply and practice what they learn.

While our program introduces and includes a wealth of reliable and credible information from various experts and resources that tie to pregnancy and child sleep, students learn about the professional world of coaching and how to excel at coaching and consulting. It is one thing to know sleep and it is another to be a successful coach/consultant and business owner. So apart from offering comprehensive evidence-based sleep education, our program also includes comprehensive evidence-based coaching education and business education. 

Because our founder, Mar also has a diverse professional background and experience, she is able to look at the child sleep industry from different angles always allowing her to bring a new and fresh perspective to our program and students. This is what also gives IPHI an advantage in our curriculum development. Mar never stops learning. She consistently participates in new programs, collaborates and learns from experts, her faculty and continuously updates our program.

We are the first organization to introduce the first Integrative Adult Sleep Coach Certification in 2015 to the Adult Sleep Coach Professional industry training professionals and raising an incredible amount of awareness to vital subjects that, at the time, were not being considered or evaluated as part of adult sleep coach-client relationship. 

After IPHI launched their Pregnancy and Child Sleep Consultant program in 2012, Mar De Carlo, IPHI’s founder, recognized the need to offer and Adult Sleep Coach Program as she became aware that a holistic professional training program for adult sleep did not exist at the time and many adults just as much as children were in need of support to overcome their sleep challenges. As a result, Mar began working on developing our program between 2012 and 2015. Our course was created and designed to prepare professionals to work with, address, and resolve a variety of adolescent and adult sleep issues ranging from insomnia to anxiety to chronic pain through an in-depth evaluation of health and lifestyle applying our Holistic Science of Sleep Method.

Besides the significant contributions Mar has made to the adult sleep coaching industry with her holistic science of sleep method approach, it is important to note that the content included in IPHI’s Integrative Adult Certification program is not made up by Mar on her own. While the Holistic Science of Sleep Method system and formulation are unique to Mar and IPHI, and while Mar has over two decades of extensive professional training and experience which includes over 25 certifications, she compiled a wealth of evidenced based research and science for the IPHI Integrative Adult Sleep Coach certification program that is not just based on theory but also practical application. During their learning journey, students of the IPHI Integrative Adult Sleep Coach program are guided and mentored through a variety of real-life case studies where they have an opportunity to apply and practice what they learn.

While our program introduces and includes a wealth of reliable and credible information from various industry experts and resources that tie to adult sleep, students learn about the professional world of coaching and how to excel at coaching and consulting. It is one thing to know sleep and it is another to be a successful coach/consultant and business owner. So apart from offering comprehensive evidence-based sleep education, our program also includes comprehensive evidence-based coaching education and business education. 

Because our founder, Mar also has a diverse professional background and experience, she is able to look at the adult sleep industry from different angles always allowing her to bring a new and fresh perspective to our program and students. This is what also gives IPHI an advantage in our curriculum development. Mar never stops learning. She consistently participates in new programs, collaborates and learns from experts, her faculty and continuously updates our program.

In 2019, Soda Kuczkowski, the founder of Start With Sleep and one of Mar’s first adult sleep coach graduates who has been working in the adult sleep medical and health industry for the last 16 years, joined the IPHI faculty team as the Integrative Adult Sleep Coach program’s lead instructor. Soda brings a wealth of experience and training highly beneficial to our program and students.

We are the first organization to introduce and launch an integrative Pre-Postnatal Nutrition Coach Certification program in 2013, expanding coaching professionals holistic nutrition knowledge and skillset for working with clients throughout pre-conception, pregnancy and postpartum.

While there are many general nutrition coach certifications available, Mar De Carlo, IPHI’s founder, recognized the need for one that specializes  to support women during their preconception, pregnancy and postpartum journey. 

In 2012, Mar teamed up with nutritionist Sara Spears to co-create and launch IPHI’s first holistic and comprehensive Prenatal Postnatal Nutrition Coach certification program in January 2013.

At the end of 2014, Sara left IPHI to pursue tim with her expanding family and Mar continued to oversee and support our program. 

From 2018-2020, Rebecca Burditt, nutritionist and IBCLC, joined the IPHI faculty team to  temporarily support Mar and our expanding program.

Our program prepares those seeking a professional career to become Pre & Postnatal Nutrition Coaches with a holistic perspective that integrates traditional, evidence-based nutrition education with additional integrative modalities such as the bio-individuality of clients, nutrition for sleep and stress, healthy exercise/movement, and eco-friendly practices throughout the pre & postnatal periods. Our focus is on a holistic approach to establishing healthy eating habits that begin during preconception and continue throughout pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. Our Pre & Postnatal Nutrition Coaches fill an important role in promoting healthy nutrition habits by educating, supporting and coaching families in response to their individual needs.

Our Pre & Postnatal Nutrition Coach model utilizes a holistic science-based approach that is also individualized and patient-centered in order to help arm our coaches with the skills, education and confidence needed in order to meaningfully connect with clients and by developing optimal full mind-body wellness. The IPHI does not believe in a “one size fits all” approach to providing nutrition education to our clients.

Our emphasis is based on the idea of using ‘food as medicine’ and that each client has their own unique biochemical, genetic, and lifestyle individuality and that this factor should be at the foundation of creating any personalized coaching plan.

Our IPHI Pre & Postnatal Nutrition Coach certification program builds on the foundations of nutrition education and also focuses on prevention, using whole real foods for optimal nutrition and lifelong health for the whole family.

Our program has been designed for  professionals who desire to begin or expand their knowledge and career working with preconceiving, prenatal, and postpartum families to provide nutrition coaching, education, support and resources in order to specifically meet their nutrition goals. This is a wonderful addition for any  professional who is currently working with new and expecting moms and is a wonderful complimentary program for sleep consultants, lactation consultants/educators, doulas, baby planners, newborn care specialists, pre and post natal yoga instructors, health coaches, family coaches, parenting coaches, nutritionists and more.

If you have no experience working as a coach and looking to start a new career, our program is also designed for you as it is comprehensive and provides all the tools you need to become a successful coach and business owner.

While our program introduces and includes a wealth of reliable and credible information from various industry experts and resources that tie to prenatal and postnatal nutrition, students learn about the professional world of coaching and how to excel at coaching and consulting. It is one thing to know nutrition and it is another to be a successful coach/consultant and business owner. So apart from offering comprehensive evidence-based nutrtion education, our program also includes comprehensive evidence-based coaching education and business education. 

Because our founder, Mar also has a diverse professional background and experience, she is able to look at the nutrition industry from different angles always allowing her to bring a new and fresh perspective to our program and students. This is what also gives IPHI an advantage in our curriculum development. Mar never stops learning. She consistently participates in new programs, collaborates and learns from experts, her faculty and continuously updates our program.