The Aware Parenting Podcast

In this episode, I share listeners' questions and my answers, for babies 3 months to 12 months old. The questions include: "Can babies get nightmares/night terrors as young as 3 months?" "How do I support my baby when he gets the wriggles?" "Should I be putting my 9 mth old In her own cot?" "Do we have to co sleep?" "Do you think the whole family should sleep together?" "For day time naps do you r...

In this episode, I talk about the chronotypes of the early bird and the night owl. I also explain how you can differentiate each of these from the effects of accumulated healing-feelings. I also share about the possibility that both chronotypes and accumulated feelings can be happening, and what you can do it this is the case. If you'd like my free PDF to learn more about sleep, secure attachment,...

In this episode, I talk about the most common reason why babies and toddlers: wake up with the slightest noise or movement; wake up after one sleep cycle; wake up crying; are restless at night; wake frequently; appear to resist sleep; take a long time to go to sleep. If you're walking on eggshells to make sure they don't wake up, this might interest you. I explain how quiet and stillness can indic...

In this episode, I talk to Maru Rojas again. Maru is an Aware Parenting instructor in the UK and is originally from Mexico. She was a guest on the podcast on episode 139, also talking about sleep. If you haven't listened to that episode, I highly recommend listening to it after this one. Maru shares her journey of sleep with her daughter and son, as she gradually increased the depth of her underst...

In this episode, I share why Aware Parenting doesn't include the terms 'overtired', 'wake windows', and 'sleep regression', and what we perceive is going on when these terms are used. Because Aware Parenting has such different ways of understanding what's going on with sleep, it doesn't use a lot of terminology commonly used in other parenting paradigms. If you'd like my free PDF to learn more abo...

In this episode, I talk about the three ingredients for restful sleep. The first is well-known, the second is less well-known in this culture, and the third is often not recognised at all. I also explain the three different ways to bring about calmness before sleep, and why two of those only lead to superficial calmness, which often leads to babies and children waking up easily and frequently. The...

This little mini episode continues on from the last episode on cultural beliefs in relation to sleep. I talk about how looking at sleep practices all around the world helps us understand biological needs and cultural practices. Babies and children vitally need sleep, so it's adaptive for there to be many ways to support them to be able to go to sleep in whatever climate and culture, but these diff...

I love looking at how cultural beliefs and practices affect parenting, and in this episode I explore this in relation to sleep for babies and children. I talk about The Continuum Concept book about the Yequana people, by Jean Liedloff, and how reading it affected me back in 1992. I explore how Classical Attachment Parenting was deeply influenced by Indigenous cultures in hot climates, and how pare...

Hello again! This is a very different episode, and it's for mothers, to mark Mothers Day in some parts of the world. Please note, that this is based on The Marion Method, rather than Aware Parenting. In the episode, I share three things: ~ An invitation to see what shows up for you on Mothers Day. ~ Me appreciating you as a mother. ~ Me standing in for Divine Mother / your Inner Loving Mother / th...

I'm so delighted to be starting this second sleep series, in tandem with editing my book, Sound Sleep and Secure Attachment with Aware Parenting, as well as offering a live round of the course of the same name, and my first Aware Parenting children's book, on rambunctious play before bed. This episode is an introduction to what me and my guests will be talking about in this series. I include: The...

I'm grateful to one of my lovely mentees, who requested this episode, where I talk about some of the differences between Aware Parenting and Classical Attachment Parenting (a term created by me and adopted by Aletha Solter, the founder of Aware Parenting). Classical attachment parenting (CAP) refers to the original attachment parenting paradigm, which was first described by William and Martha Sear...

I'm so delighted that Kim Cousins is back on the podcast! Kim is an Aware Parenting instructor as well as a registered nurse who works on a perinatal mental health unit. She is also studying a graduate certificate in family therapy. She was also on episode 136 with her colleague, Erin. Please note that this episode talks about painful experiences in relation to food and feelings. As always, I invi...

This is the last episode in the series related to my latest best-selling book, 'I'm Here and I'm Listening', before I return to finish the food series, so this episode is a kind of bridge back to that! Then I'll be starting the second sleep series! Today, I share a story from my book, again from a child's perspective. Before that, I talk about how in Aware Parenting, one of the core aims is to hel...

In this episode, I talk about why children aren't fighting sleep, and why we're often fighting their natural relaxation response. I share concisely about how we can trust children and follow their lead and can then cooperate with their natural relaxation response. I explain the power of play before bed, and why we can look at the "it'll all end in tears" phenomenon in a very different light. At th...

In this episode, I share about how we can stay connected with children in relation to screens, including with attachment play. I offer some information that I wish I'd had when my children were younger, about loving limits. I also share a touching story at the end from my new book, 'I'm Here and I'm Listening', from the perspective of a child. Putting ourselves in our child's shoes can really help...

In this episode, I share about what's going on when a child is hitting. I talk about them being in the fight or flight response, and how we can help them move out of that state of hyperarousal, through feeling physically and emotionally safe, to return to homeostasis through healing raging and crying (or laughing and playing) with our loving support. I mention ways we can prevent hitting from happ...

In this episode, I talk about when children use have a soft toy, blanket or other object as a control pattern. This might be something they use to suppress their feelings when going to sleep or during the day when feelings bubble up. I explain about how they used to be known as 'transitional objects' in Winnicott's work, and how we see them differently in Aware Parenting. I also share my own exper...

In this episode, I respond to questions about loving limits that parents asked on my social media accounts. They include: What happens when loving limits don't seem to work – eg, the child moves on to something else and doesn't express any feelings; When loving limits aren't actually the most apt response; When our own feelings come up; When we find it hard to be with the crying and raging that ha...

In this episode, I share an update on loving limits, after gaining lots of new clarity through the process of editing my latest best-selling book, 'I'm Here and I'm Listening'. and having conversations with Aletha Solter, PhD, the Founder of Aware Parenting. The update includes: The importance of giving information when offering a loving limit; The language we might use when offering loving limits...

This is part of a series of episodes where I refer to topics in my new best-selling book, 'I'm Here and I'm Listening', and I read a story shared from a child's perspective. In this episode, I talk about the process of helping a child move out a freeze state (which in Aware Parenting we tend to refer to as dissociation, or a control pattern) and back into connection with their body and feelings. O...

Long gone are the days where parents who wanted to leave the park were told to just walk away and say "bye!" to their child. However, it can be so common for us as parents to feel really powerless when we want to leave the park and our child doesn't want to. This can often correspond with times when we're hungry or tired, and our own feelings can easily bubble up and out into responses we later re...

There is an episode called 'Go away" from early on in The Aware Parenting Podcast, AND I felt called to record another one. That's partly because one of my favourite parts in my new best-selling book 'I'm Here and I'm Listening' is where we see this from a child's perspective. In fact, when parents ask about helpful responses to their crying child saying "Go away!" I often ask them to reflect back...

My new book is out! It's called 'I'm Here and I'm Listening' and is for parents of 1-8 year olds. In this episode, I read the first couple of chapters of the book. The audiobook won't be available for a few months, so I thought I would give you an audio taster! The paperback of 'I'm Here and I'm Listening' became an immediate best seller – reaching number 1 in the Child Development and the Emotion...

Welcome back after the festive season! This episode is informed by Aware Parenting, but includes a lot of The Marion Method in terms of our reparenting and reculturing journey. I talk about what may be getting in the way of our deep connection with our innate body wisdom in relation to food: Our thoughts and beliefs and understanding about food and eating; Needs we may be meeting with food; Ways w...

Hello again! This is a pause in the food, feelings and trust series for a festive season special, all about the opposite of overwhelm. I share about: The importance of connection with yourself and your values; How to prevent overwhelm in the first place (saying no is a big factor here); How you can recognise overwhelm in yourself and your baby/child/teen; How to release overwhelm. I'm sending you...