Mothering From Within

Before you had a baby, you were regulating your own nervous system all day long... and you didn't even know that's what you were doing. Coffee with a friend. A walk after dinner. Music in the car with the windows down. A hot shower with the door locked. None of it was really about the coffee or the nails or the book. It was regulation. Little resets, all day long, that you never had to n...

Kaili Ets — mom of two, pediatric occupational therapist, certified infant craniosacral therapist — shares the news she's been sitting on for 18 months: she's officially a pediatric osteopath. In this deeply personal episode, Kaili explains what osteopathy actually is (and how it differs from physio, massage, and chiro), traces the 9-year journey that led her here — from meeting her firs...

Ep. 81 | Bedtime Battles and Toddler Meltdowns: Why Play Works Better Than Bribes with Dr. Kim Van Dusen Okay, listen... if bedtime, bath time, or getting shoes on in the morning feels like a nightly negotiation in your house, this episode is for you. I'm joined by Dr. Kim Van Dusen, licensed marriage and family therapist, registered play therapist, and author of the brand new book Parenting...

Ep 80 | What Your Baby's Sleep Position Tells You About Their Body Have you ever noticed that your baby always ends up in the same position? Head turned the same way... one arm always up... or sleeping with their head tilted way back, chin up, like they're looking behind themselves? You're not imagining it. And it's not just a quirk. Your baby's body is always moving towar...

It's 2am, roughly 11 years ago, in a small apartment in Park Slope. I am on a therapy ball, bouncing hard, because vigorous is the only setting that works. My son will only sleep on my body, and the second the bouncing stops, he wakes up... Sound familiar? In this episode, Kaili takes you back to that ball and teaches you what she wishes someone had taught her then... how to actually look at...

You were told to rest for 6 weeks. Then you were "cleared." Back to normal. Except your body doesn't feel back to normal... and nobody explained that a C-section is major abdominal surgery, that 7 layers of tissue were cut and sutured back together, or that the connective tissue in your abdomen takes the better part of a year to remodel. You went home 48 hours later with a newborn a...

Your baby brings their fists to their mouth constantly. They only settle when they're held a very specific way. They clasp their hands, mouth everything, root even when they're not hungry... and you've probably wondered what it all means (or been told not to worry about it). Here's what I want you to know: none of it is random. All of it has a purpose. In this episode, I'm...

10 Baby Signs Dismissed as Normal If you've sat across from a doctor, a mother-in-law, or your mom group and heard some version of "it's fine, babies are like that, you're probably overthinking it"... this episode is for you. Okay, listen. Not an emergency and nothing worth addressing are two completely different things. And both can be true about the exact same symptom. I...

If you had a C-section and left the hospital with a list of things you can't do and almost nothing about how to actually heal — this episode is for you. Kaili sits down with Janelle Fontaine, a registered massage therapist, postpartum doula, and cesarean recovery specialist based in Vancouver. Janelle created the Caesarean Recovery Guide specifically because she kept meeting mamas who had no...

If you've been following along this month and thinking, "Okay, I get it now… but what do I actually DO?" — this episode is your answer. In Ep.74, I'm pulling back the curtain on baby bodywork. What it actually is. What a real session in my clinic looks like, start to finish. And why so much of this work can be done by you, at home, without any special equipment, without clinica...

If feeding has been persistently, confusingly hard — and you've already done all the things — this episode is for you. You've seen the consultants. You've tried the positions. You've adjusted the latch. Maybe you've even had a tongue-tie assessment, or a release, and feeding got a little better but not all the way there. And you're still sitting with that quiet, naggi...

Your baby can't say "my neck is tight" or "this position hurts" — but their body has been telling you anyway. The arching during feeds. The one-sided head turn. The baby who will only settle if you hold them just right. These aren't quirks, and they're not things your baby will simply grow out of. They're communication. And in this episode, Kaili teaches you...

You had a picture of what motherhood was going to feel like. Maybe it was vivid. Maybe it was just a warm, hopeful blur. And then your baby arrived — a whole person, with a whole nervous system and a whole set of needs that are entirely their own. In this episode, Kaili sits down with you for an honest, no-pressure conversation about the gap — the space between the motherhood you imagined and the...

What does it actually feel like to run a sold-out mom and baby class series — not the highlight reel, but the real version? In this episode, Kaili pulls back the curtain on her years of leading Babies at Play classes and shares the honest, behind-the-scenes truth that nobody told her before she started. From the beautiful exhaustion of holding space for an entire room of mamas and babies at once,...

Have you ever left a professional appointment with your baby feeling like something was missed? Like you could see something was off — but no one else could? In this episode, Kaili takes you inside her clinical eye and walks you through exactly what she's looking for in the first few minutes with any baby. The things that aren't on standard milestone charts. The things that don't ge...

Ep.68 | Why Your Baby Won't Settle (And It Has Nothing To Do With What You're Doing) You've tried the routine. You've tried the swaddle. You've tried the white noise, the swing, the side-lying feed. And still — your baby is fussy, unsettled, or just working so hard to get through the day. Before you blame yourself (or their "difficult personality") — there's...

Kaili Ets, mom of two and pediatric occupational therapist, shares a real-life look at what nervous system regulation actually looks like in early motherhood. It’s not about staying calm all the time—it’s about what you do when things feel hard. She walks through a moment many parents will recognize: coming home after a full day to a house that feels overwhelming, plans that didn’t happen, and a n...

Kaili Ets introduces the Mothering From Within podcast and explores something many parents don’t hear enough—you need safety too. In the early years, parenting doesn’t just shape your baby’s nervous system, it deeply impacts your own sense of calm, confidence, and trust in yourself. She explains how, as you begin to feel safer and more regulated, your baby often starts to settle too—not because yo...

If your baby only sleeps on you… wakes the second you put them down… arches, pulls off during feeds… or just feels tense, uncomfortable, or hard to settle… This episode is for you. 💜 Because what if this isn’t about bad habits… or something you’re doing wrong? In this episode, I’m walking you through the missing piece I see over and over again in my work as a pediatric occupational therapist— You...

How do you know if something is actually helping your baby… or if they’ve just gone quiet? In this episode of Mothering From Within , Kaili walks you through one of the most important (and often misunderstood) parts of baby development: 👉 the difference between a baby who is truly settled and a baby who is simply quiet from overwhelm or exhaustion Because those two things can look very similar on...

Ep. 63 | Slowing Down So Your Baby’s Nervous System Can Catch Up In this episode of Mothering From Within , Kaili reflects on something she’s still actively practicing in her hands-on work with babies: patience. Our adult brains move quickly—we’re often thinking about the next step, the next task, or the next thing to try. But babies experience the world very differently. Their nervous systems pro...

In this episode of Mothering From Within , Kaili explores swaddling through the lens of primitive reflexes, nervous system development, and sensory processing. She explains how swaddling can soften the Moro reflex during sleep, while also interacting with reflexes like palmar grasp and ATNR. Most importantly, she reminds parents that reflex integration happens during awake movement — through feedi...

In this episode of 'Mothering From Within,' host Kaili Ets dives into the essential role of the nervous system in early childhood development. Kaili explains the Moro and fear paralysis reflexes, which are foundational in shaping a child's response to stress and safety. She discusses how these reflexes can lead to behaviors like anxiety, meltdowns, and shutdowns when not fully integ...

In this episode of 'Mothering From Within,' host Kaili Ets, dives into the crucial topic of primitive reflexes and their far-reaching effects on child development. Exploring how these early automatic movement patterns, when not fully integrated, can influence a child’s ability to move, feel, focus, and cope, Kaili provides insights backed by real scientific research. Learn about the inte...

In this episode of 'Mothering from Within,' host Kaili Ets dives into the intricate relationship between primitive reflexes, movement, and nervous system regulation in babies. Kaili explains how retained reflexes can affect your baby's sensory processing and overall comfort. She highlights the importance of natural movements, such as rocking and floor play, in helping babies integra...