Voices of Your Village

We all want our kids to be empathetic. But where do we start to instill empathy? In this episode of Voices of Your Village, I sat down with my sister-in-law Logan Blask (again!) to pick her brain on how to instill and model empathy for our tiny humans. Logan shared the tools and techniques she has used since her kiddos were babies to help guide in building empathy. From helping them name their emo...

Your preschooler is refusing foods again. Your newborn is crying all the time or was just diagnosed with reflux. Your two year old has itchy, red, irritated skin. These seemingly separate issues may actually have a connected root cause: disrupted gut health and food sensitivities. In this episode of Voices of Your Village, integrative dietitian Bridgitte Carol digs into food sensitivities and how...

Raise your hand if you entered parenthood with feelings, expectations, and experiences from your own childhood that affect who you are as a parent. Yep, all hands in the air. The thing is, in order to be the parents we want to be, we have to look at what we are bringing to the table. At the end of the day it can absolutely feel like your kiddo is deliberately not picking up their toys when they kn...

Pacifiers! Oy vey, the questions, the shame, the guilt, the fear, this one comes as a heavy one that my pal Amanda joined me to lighten up a bit. Amanda, a Speech Language Pathologist and owner of Simply Spoken Therapy, taught me how pacifiers affect oral motor development, which ones are better for oral motor at different ages and stages, and when it may be beneficial to transition away from them...

Our kids are growing up in a different world than we did; a more accepting world, and one with conversation we need to be prepared to have. Gender fluidity and identity is something many of us did not grow up talking about, but thankfully, that has changed, and we need the language to evolve, too. Trystan Reese, a trans father of three, and social justice activist joined me on the show to dive int...

Eeee it finally happened! You requested Mr. Zachary Campbell enough that we got him behind the mic! This week Zach and I dove into how to teach sexual consent, what we hope for our children when it comes to this topic, and what this journey looked like for us. We chatted about hot topics like Aziz Ansari, how to navigate these uncomfortable topics, and what it looks like to teach your child to adv...

Natalie Norton has experienced immense trauma in this life. She dives into it and how she continues to move forward. Ultimately, how do you choose life when it’s so overwhelming? When you are continuously pushed back down? Emotional intelligence is the key. Natalie and I dive into what that means for her. I could get nerdy with this woman all day! She is mindful, brilliant, and intentional. Natali...

Wanna know the secret to almost ALL of my sleep consultations? Two words for ya, sleep pressure. What is sleep pressure? How do we control any of this? How does sleep pressure change through infancy, toddlerhood and beyond? I’m throwing all those details and so many more at you in this episode. The thing is, it does matter when nap time is, how long it is, and how far from bedtime it is. Those ove...

Daylight Savings Time is just around the corner and that extra hour of sleep doesn’t usually count for parents too. Fear not, in this episode and the freebie on www.seedandsew.org/resources you get a step by step guide for both preparing for DST and responding to it afterward! I dive into the crucial things to pay attention to, how to avoid an overtired human, and what it looks like if your kiddo...

She’s baacccckkk!!! One of my favorite people to nerd out with over child development, OT Lori Goodrich, from episode 4 is back on the podcast today! I’d never given much thought to how solid foods played a role in the sensory system before Lori entered my world. Sure, it’s about taste and texture, but it’s also about oral motor development and how food affects the system. I learned so much from L...

Awesome! Your kiddos know what they are feeling, but now what? What do they do with those feelings? How do we support them through their feelings while building their ability to do so solo one day? Enter coping strategies. Wait? Aren’t they called coping mechanisms, Alyssa? Aha, yes, there are coping mechanisms that help you feel calm again that are short-term fixes, but coping strategies are long...

Let me guess, when you found out you were pregnant you didn’t find yourself looking up the ins and outs of pumping in your workplace? You are not alone. Luckily, Mamava is here to help! I interviewed Mamava founders, Christine & Sascha on all things breastfeeding and pumping on the go and in the workplace. As these two boss women found themselves without adequate pumping support on the go, they kn...

Chiropractic care for kids?! Let me guess, you’re over there like oh heck no! I hear you, I was there too. I was scared, not really knowing what it looked like to adjust kiddos. Would you crack them? How do you even get them to lie on the table? What is the point? Isn’t it dangerous? I dove into all of these questions and more with Stacey on today’s episode. What I learned? Chiropractic care can h...

Homebirth?! What if something goes wrong?! Why would you even want to do that?! As a sexual assault survivor homebirth has always stood out to me as an option where I could know the people who would potentially be touching my body in a vulnerable emotional state. Tracy, or as the grammers may know her @knowingtracy share her path to homebirth-- her reality, her fears, her perspective as a black wo...

Holy moly, Chrissy Powers is a gem! Marriage and family therapist, mama to three with one in a fresh newborn stage, wife to her husband, and gal working to navigate all the things, Chrissy shared her brilliance with us as we navigated what it looks like to have conflict in front of kiddos. How do we model that? What about when we lose our cool? We dove into all the things in this episode! Head on...

Woo! The second episode of Village Chatter is here. I answered all of YOUR questions about Tiny Humans, Big Emotions! You submitted questions ranging from building an emotional foundation in the womb alllll through early childhood. What do you do when you yell? When you make a mistake? How do we keep kiddos from feeling responsible for our feelings? And the list goes on...I came at ya with answers...

Peeing when you sneeze, cough, jump, or during any sudden movements? Yeah, it’s very common, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I hung out with Jamie Jones from PROnatal fitness in New York City to talk about the Pelvic Floor, Diastasis Recti, and how your breath can be a game changer. She went into the anatomy, what’s going on down there, and what you can do to build a strong, healthy pelvic flo...

Let’s talk about sex, baby. Really though, let’s because this is a key component to SO MANY THINGS. Think, self love, body positivity, body awareness, reducing rape & sexual assault, reporting rape & sexual assault, reducing unwanted pregnancy, increasing female sexual pleasure (orgasms aren’t just for the dudes, y’all). We can either act like none of us have bodies, libido, or sex and see what ha...

Welcome to our first episode of Village Chatter where I answer all of YOUR questions on a topic. Today’s topic, drum roll please, Ya snooze, Ya win! You submitted questions ranging from infant and toddler sleep schedules, to traveling with those littles, and what to do with the preschool who will not stay in their bed. I came at ya with answers for every single question! I even have freebies just...

When it comes to wrestling, rough and tumble play, and physical play in general, I had a lot of hesitations. I’ve seen it go awry and y’all know I’m all about teaching consent from infancy. Can we really teach kids to respect one another’s bodies when they’re throwing each other around? Will they notice the verbal AND non-verbal signs of someone who is not consenting? I had these and so many more...

Did you know that most people diagnosed with MS are women in their child bearing years? Yep, big gulp from me when I heard that. As if being a woman in your child-bearing years isn’t hard enough, right? Well, Alex from Hello My Tribe joined us to share her journey as a mama with MS-- from postpartum realities to breastfeeding truths, she left it all on the table. I learned so much and also left fe...

What does an emotionally intelligent 5-year-old sound like? What tools do they have? I sat down with twin five year olds who are two of the most emotionally regulated kiddos I have ever met. I got to learn tools they have in their toolbox, and how they approach scenarios in everyday life one another and other children. Tune into this adorable episode for the inside scoop of what a five year old is...

The greatest predictor of success in life is emotional intelligence. The brain is 90% developed by age five, so what are we doing to lay this foundation birth to five? I hung out with Logan Blask, mom of two five year olds who have a beautiful emotional foundation. We discussed the ins and outs of laying that foundation, what it looks like on a daily basis, and how we can foster emotional developm...

Brittany Murlas, founder of Little Feminist Book Club joined me to discuss what it means to raise a feminist and how to go about doing so. Feminist, it's a word that makes people feel different things, but really it means equality for all genders; rad, right? Sign me up! The thing is, we live in a world that isn't equal right now, so how do we go about making that change. What role do books play i...

When was the last time you dove into conversation with a five year old? They are wise beings, and this one is no different. Mabel Chew opened up about her experience with sleep consulting, on the receiving end that is. She shared what it was like to have new expectations set for a sleep routine, and how she adapted. Mabel also went into feelings related to being five-- transitions to new schools o...