Gwyneth's nanny to tell secrets

She is the celebrity nanny every new parent dreams of - if only they could afford her. Offering round-the-clock care, Rachel Waddilove has helped scores of stars including Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.

Now, after a month with the couple and their second child, she is to reveal all in a book on how to successfully bring up a baby.

In it, the 58-year-old maternity nurse guides parents through the first year and offers practical advice on how best to cope during the fraught few weeks immediately after the birth.

Due to be published this week, The Baby Book will mark Miss Waddilove's arrival in a fiercely-contested marketplace swamped by child-rearing gurus professing to know all.

Among her main rivals are Queen of Routine Gina Ford, who wrote the Contented Little Baby Book, and liberal love advocate Penelope Leach, who penned the Your Baby and Child manual.

They bitterly disagree on the central issue of whether babies should be fed on demand. However, Miss Waddilove, whose client list includes MPs as well as film stars, falls between the two camps and insists on telling parents to do what works for them.

She claims her routine is not defined by rigid timetables for eating and sleeping but adds: 'I do know after 30 years of experience that babies make better eaters, sleepers and much easier toddlers if they have some kind of structure.'

Miss Paltrow and Martin hired the nanny after the birth of their first child, Apple, and again after their second, Moses, who was born in March.

Miss Waddilove - whose fees range from £100 to £170 a day - stayed with them for the first month after each birth and then flew to America to help the actress look after Apple during filming.

The couple embraced the structured schedule the nanny put in place and were so impressed with her techniques that they did not hesitate when asked to add their names to the publicity campaign behind the book.