Sleep like a baby?

Do you have an orchid or a dandelion? How do you know if your baby is highly sensitive? And how can you parent with your own specific sensory needs? As mentioned in the episode, you can do a HSP test here: https://hsperson.com/test/highly-sensitive-test/

The advice about over-tiredness is always changing when it comes to babies... is it a thing? is it the end of the world? is there any science involved in this whole concept that a person can be TOO tired?

Nobody talks about how lonely it can be if you're the only one with a child who continues to be wakeful when everyone else around you seems to be getting more sleep. And then you might feel the pressure to sleep train if you ever talk about how tired you are. Perhaps your partner or someone else close to you is trying to get you to make changes in a way that doesn't feel right for you right now. T...

Do you have to sleep train in order for this regression to end? Why is your baby suddenly more wakeful? Why is there so much fearmongering out there about this stage? In this episode I talk about the sleep science at this age as well as all the other reasons why it can be a tough patch. If you want to know what you can do to improve the situation (without sleep training) and what red flags to look...

Yes that's right, more Lucy! We had so much to say about second babies that we had to make it into a 2-parter. What if you can't imagine loving. your new baby as much as your first? How does the bond work? How do you do bedtime with two children (and one parent?) Are nap times always a disaster if your older child doesn't understand the concept of 'quiet! the baby is sleeping...'?

Are you ever ready? What might sleep look like the second time around? Is there such a thing as a 'perfect age gap'? How do you keep your sh*t together when sleep deprived AND looking after another small human? I talk to my very good friend (and fellow sleep consultant) Lucy Bagwell about what she's learnt since having her second baby and try to take in as much advice as possible now that I'm verr...

What if there was no word for self-settling? How different would your parenting experience be if nobody expected your baby to sleep in a cot in their own room? This week I'm joined by Lenka Medvecová Tinková from the Durham University Infancy and Sleep Centre to talk about how our cultural expectations shape parenting decisions and ultimately how we feel about ourselves as mothers. For more inform...

A controversial question this week! There will be people who say that cry-it-out is always wrong/cruel/avoidable. And others that believe it is the best thing ever. But what about the space in between these two polarised stances? Kaitlin Klimmer and I are both sleep specialists who offer alternatives to sleep training, but where do we stand on the moral debate around infant sleep and controlled cr...

Are you holding yourself to the highest standards as a mum? Have you noticed a cycle of self-criticism creeping in? What happens when perfectionists and people pleasers have babies? This week's guest, Catherine Counihan, is an Integrative Psychotherapist working in private practice in London. Cath specialises in complex trauma, perfectionism, nervous system healing, shifting dysfunctional patterns...

Just fill their tummies and they'll sleep all night, right? Is food under one just for fun? And what about adding rice or cereal to a bottle at 4m... where do these ideas come from? My guest today, Stacey Zimmels is a Paediatric Speech and Language Therapist as well as a Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). She offers feeding therapy plus breastfeeding and lactation support online, in the home or at a Lo...

Is your baby sleeping less than their peers? Are they cat-nappers with late bedtimes but... actually thriving? You might be surprised to learn that this is actually A Thing! The idea that all babies need long naps and 12hrs overnight is totally outdated and not backed by science. But if you have a low sleep needs kid, you might be struggling to find more information about this. I spoke to fellow s...

My guest today is the relationship therapist and coach, Catherine Topham Sly who you may know from her Instagram account Insight and Connection. She is the expert in happy relationships after kids – and this is a subject that I have been desperate to cover for so long. In my opinion, how our relationships and partnerships change after becoming parents is still not spoken about widely enough. Espec...

Making her very welcome return to the Sleep Like a Baby? podcast is the one and only midwife and lactation consultant Olivia Hinge! You may well know her from much-loved Instagram account (@olivia_lactation_consultant), I know I am a super-fan. In this week's episode we talk a lot about the pressures that mothers put on themselves and celebrate the importance of imperfection. If you think you're n...

Helen Davies is a health visitor, PICU nurse and sleep specialist as well as a mother of four. She has 22 years of parenting experience and also runs the very funny, very real Instagram account @Essential_Parenting . TW: domestic abuse and mental illness In this week's episode Helen shares her story of overcoming a toxic relationship and mental health challenges. With such generous (and often hila...

This was one of the most enlightening, inspiring episodes I've ever recorded. Zoe Blaskey's Motherkind podcast is one of my favourite things to listen to and I just knew she would be the best person to talk to about maternal guilt and shame. We covered the intricacies of disagreeing with your partner over different parenting choices (what do you do when one of you really wants to sleep train?). As...

Can you be a responsive parent when you've got more than one baby? How do you get two or three babies to sleep at the same time? Do they 'have to' self-settle? Is it possible to co-sleep with twins? And what happens if you've got a big family and the youngest is a highly sensitive soul that needs a lot of extra support? Kathryn Stagg is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC...

Ever since I had my mum on this podcast, I've been desperate to ask her mum more about parenthood. Did she choose to cry-it-out? Was she obsessed with how her baby slept? What were her generation's expectations of infant sleep? This episode is a super special one to me as my 90 year old grandmother and I reflect on early parenthood - what do we have in common and what can we learn from her generat...

We really don't hold back in this week's episode! Is it ok to live sleep train a 4 month old baby on Instagram? Do paediatricians have the right to tell new parents they should leave their baby to cry it out? Are we shaming other mothers by saying controlled crying isn't for us? Rachael runs HeySleepyBaby - the largest biologically-normal infant sleep account on Instagram - and as a result, she re...

Sometimes the biggest change we can make to our family's sleep situation is to find acceptance and surrender to the present. I sat down with Ana from The Octopus Club to talk about how she found peace and patience over her own son's sleep (and frequent waking) over the last 3 and a half years. If you have a very wakeful baby or toddler, it can feel so lonely... and you might even blame yourself. I...

If you co-sleep with your baby now, will you have to do it forever? Are you holding your child back from independence? And what if you WANT to do it long-term - how do you cope with other people’s opinions about that? We also get into sex and bed-sharing, cosleeping when you have a baby as well as older children and establishing your own boundaries. This week I was lucky enough to spend an hour in...

Have you ever wondered if your child's sleep is influenced by their gender? Do baby boys wake more? Do little girls take longer to fall asleep? To explore this I sat down with Kirstie from Sonshine Magazine, a proudly feminist quarterly publication that explores the challenges and the joys that come with raising boys in the modern world. If we want the world to be a more equal place for everyone,...

Greer Kirshenbaum is the world's first neuroscientist doula and in this episode she shares her expert knowledge about the superpower that is nurture. We cover so much: How sensitive, attuned caregiving meets a growing brain's needs Why your baby or toddler settles differently in a childcare setting compared to home Why you don't need to feel guilty about childcare and going back to work Highly sen...

This week's chat is super personal! My mum, Jan, shares her experience of having four very different babies (born in the 70s, 80s and 90s) - we discuss breastfeeding, bed-sharing and responding to cries in the night. In 1978 my mum was 21 years old and had just given birth to her son. Six weeks later she found herself moving from a small town in NW England to the Yemen. She was breastfeeding and s...

Do you have to bed-share, breastfeed and baby-wear in order to have a securely attached child? Can your little one be TOO attached? Are you making them clingy by contact napping and feeding on demand? Is it your fault if your baby or toddler has a strong preference for one parent over the other? These are really common questions that come up all the time, and there are also a lot of claims that sl...

Have you experienced unwanted intrusive thoughts as a new mum? Why does the arrival of (very normal) maternal rage feel like such a shock to so many of us? I sat down with perinatal psychologist Dr Caroline Boyd who has written a beautiful, incredibly helpful book called Mindful New Mum as an antidote to all the parenting manuals out there currently prescribing a ‘right’ way to mother. Instead she...