Decoded: The First Year

The first year of parenting can feel like one long stream of information overload mixed with opinions, old wive tales and Google generated confusion. Add in the -  Wake windows. Milestones. Sleep schedules. Tummy time. Feeding advice. Developmental checklists.  Opinions from strangers. Opinions from family. Opinions from the internet.  And finally, as a kick in the guts to the overwhelmed mothers...

When I started this podcast I made a big song and dance about NOT wanting this to be a parenting podcast. But there is a pattern I have seen emerge over the last few year which I think warrants a conversation as it has the power to either engage parents as being team mates in their child’s development or be passengers and think like victims.  So, lets decode a very particular kind of exhaustion th...

Today, we're going to decode exactly what is happening in your baby's nervous system when they will only settle for you or if they act as if you are the devil. And I promise you — it is not what most people think.

One of the most emotional experiences in early motherhood… is feeding. Because when feeding feels hard, many mothers quietly start questioning themselves.“Why does my baby only feed on one side?” “Why are they so unsettled?” “Why does feeding feel like a fight?”And the support we offer mother’s with breast feeding sucks. All too often, mothers are told: “Just keep trying.”But feeding is not simply...

Overstimulation has become so common… it now looks normal. The constant movement. The emotional volatility. The inability to slow down. The dysregulation after busy days. The exhaustion disguised as hyperactivity. Today, I want to talk about why so many children are not “naughty” or “too much”… They’re neurologically overloaded.

Few things make parents question themselves faster than sleep. Or lack of it. And somewhere along the way, many parents quietly start believing: “If my baby isn’t sleeping well… I must be doing something wrong.” Let’s remove something immediately. Your baby is not “bad at sleep.” That idea doesn’t even make neurological sense. Sleep is not a personality trait. It is a nervous system function. Beca...

One of the hardest parts of parenting… and a moment many parents don’t talk about is trying to stay calm when your child’s behaviour feels big. The meltdowns. The screaming. The constant movement. The emotional explosions that seem to arrive out of nowhere. You’re trying to stay calm… You’re trying harder… yet things feel worse. And eventually, after much self doubt, a quiet thought starts to form...

If you’ve listened to this entire reflex series… first of all, good on you.
 Because chances are, you didn’t come here looking for “perfect parenting.”
 You came here looking for understanding.
 You wanted to know:
“What actually matters in my baby’s development?”
 “What should I pay attention to?”
 “And how do I know if my child is truly okay beneath all the noise online?”
 And honestly?
 That qu...

There’s a question sitting underneath almost every conversation I have with parents.
 “How do I know if this is something we need to act on… or something my child will simply grow through?”
 And honestly?
 That question makes sense.
 Because parents today are caught between two very loud messages.
 One says:
 “Don’t worry about anything.”
 The other says:
“If you don’t fix this immediately, you’re...

If you’ve ever found yourself late at night…Googling your baby’s movements…Wondering if something you’re seeing is “normal”…Or worrying that you might be missing something important…This episode is for you. Because somewhere along the way, conversations about primitive reflexes shifted. From something that should bring clarity…To something that creates pressure. Parents are being told to watch clo...

You’re doing all the things. The toys. The tummy time. The music. The contrast cards. The play mats. You’re engaging…You’re interacting…You’re trying to give your baby every possible advantage. And still… there’s this quiet thought in the background:“Is it enough?”“Should I be doing more?”“Am I missing something that other mums aren’t?” And here’s where I want to shift something — gently, but very...

Hey Mum… Have you ever looked at your baby and thought…
 “They’re just a bit more sensitive…”
 “They’re strong-willed…”
 “They’re just not as easy as other babies…”
 And if you’re really honest —
there’s a tiny part of you wondering…
am I missing something here? 
Because one minute they’re calm…
the next, they’re overwhelmed.
 One day they’re exploring…
the next, they’re clinging or unsettled.
 It...

There’s a moment that catches almost every parent off guard…Your baby isn’t quite crawling yet — but they’re not quite still either. They’re rocking… shifting… almost like they’re trying to figure something out. And you start wondering:“Should they be crawling by now?”“Are they skipping something?”I want you to know — you’re not missing anything. Because what looks like “not quite there yet”…is of...

If you’ve ever watched your baby turn their head… and noticed their whole body respond…An arm straightening… the opposite side curling in…And you’ve thought, “Is that just random movement?”I want to gently shift that for you. Because what looks random… is actually incredibly organised. And more than that — it’s meaningful. Last week, we talked about gravity, tone, and how your baby learns to organ...

If you’ve ever looked at your baby during tummy time… and thought,“Why does this feel harder for them than it should?” Or maybe you’ve noticed moments where their body feels a little too stiff… or a little too floppy… And you’ve wondered — quietly — “Am I missing something?” Let me reassure you right from the start: You’re not missing anything. What you’re seeing… makes complete sense when we look...

The Moro reflex. Not because it’s the most talked about — but because it’s the one that shapes how your baby experiences the world from the very beginning. It’s their first “alarm system.” Their first response to stress. Their first layer of protection. And when this reflex is working well, everything else has a stable foundation to build from.

One of the first questions parents are taught to ask is: “Is this normal?” And I understand why. Normal sounds safe. Normal sounds reassuring. But neurologically…normal is a very blunt tool. Because development doesn’t happen in neat categories. It happens in patterns. Two babies can look completely different — and both be developing appropriately. And two babies can look the same — while their ne...

Hi, Mum, it’s Dr SCL.Today we’re tackling one of the sneakiest little phrases in early development:“They’ll grow out of it.”It sounds reassuring, right? Like a soft promise that time will solve everything. But when we look through a nervous system lens, it’s not just incomplete — it’s misleading. Reflexes don’t simply fade away on a schedule. They integrate. Or they don’t. And understanding that d...

If you’ve been listening to this podcast, you’ll have heard me say this a few times:Your baby isn’t random. Their movement isn’t accidental. And their behaviour isn’t a mystery. We need to talk about what comes before movement even looks like movement. Primitive reflexes. Don’t worry —you don’t need to memorise names. You don’t need to test your baby. And nothing I’m about to say means something i...

Milestone culture has trained us to look at outcomes. Rolling. Sitting. Crawling. Walking. But almost no one explains what makes those things possible in the first place. And when primitive reflexes do get mentioned? It’s usually in the context of something being “retained” or “wrong.”Which is unfortunate. Because that’s not how the nervous system works. Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on th...

Hey Mum. Let me guess… you put your baby on the floor for tummy time… and within about 90 seconds you’re wondering if you’re doing it right. Are they meant to be rolling by now? Should they be pushing up higher? Why does someone else’s baby look stronger already? Here’s what I want you to know. When your baby is on the floor… they’re not “just” doing tummy time. They’re not just filling in minutes...

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a milestone chartwondering “Are we behind?”or quietly panicking because your baby isn’t ticking boxesin the order the internet promised…This episode is for you. Because milestone charts were never designed to explain development. They were designed to record outcomes. And somewhere along the way, those outcomes started being treated like goals. Like skills...

Early walking gets celebrated. Photos. Applause. Comments like, “They’re so advanced.” And I understand the pride. But today, I want to gently dismantle a myth — without taking anything away from your child. Walking early is not the goal. A well-organised nervous system is.

Crawling has been deemed to be optional. Not in biology. Not in neurology. But on paper. And that should make us pause — not panic — but really pause. Because when something fundamental disappears from the conversation, it doesn’t mean it stopped being important. It usually means we stopped knowing how to explain it. Today, we’re going to decode crawling and “walk” through the bridge that connects...

I’m Dr SCL — chiropractor, dad, nervous system decoder — and today - we’re putting the motivation and emotion behind the super common question I get from parents of: “Is this normal?” “Should I be worried?” “Or am I just overthinking it?” And mixing it with the neurology which drives the function that they are really want to understand. In other words, this episode is all about - how to DECODE bab...