Beyond The Diaper

Most kids are potty trained before they can wipe themselves. And that gap between using the toilet and actually being clean is causing more problems at school, socially, and medically than most parents realize. An occupational therapist who has spent ten years in the continence field breaks it all down.

In this episode of Beyond the Diaper, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Tabitha Poole, an occupational therapist with 17 years of experience and a decade of specialization in continence management for children, to talk about one of the most overlooked and underteached skills in early childhood: wiping.

Tabitha works with children, families, schools, and health professionals around the world through her private practice and her training work with ERIC, the UK's children's bowel and bladder charity. She brings warmth, humor, and an incredibly practical approach to a topic most parents dread bringing up.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why wiping is actually a collection of 20 separate steps and how to break them down
• The backwards chaining method that makes teaching wiping much less stressful
• Why kids refuse to use the toilet at school and how that leads to constipation and UTIs
• How the bladder and bowel are connected and why a full bowel causes bladder accidents
• What a poo diary is and why keeping one makes every pediatric appointment more productive
• Why being rushed in the morning is quietly causing constipation in school-aged kids
• Why movement throughout the day is essential for healthy bowel and bladder function
• How to make wiping feel safe, calm, and even playful for toddlers
• What the La Petite Creme wiping lotion does for kids transitioning from wet wipes to toilet paper
• Why practicing wiping on a balloon at home actually works

Whether you are just starting potty training or you have a school-aged child who still cannot wipe independently, this episode will give you a completely new framework for thinking about this skill and the confidence to actually teach it.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child's health.

Sarah Quintana has spent more than two decades caring for babies and families, first as a NICU nurse and lactation consultant, and now as a postpartum doula helping parents navigate one of life’s biggest transitions. After years of supporting families in hospitals, she discovered that what many parents need most begins after they come home.

In this episode of Beyond the Diaper, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Sarah Quintana, RN, IBCLC, postpartum doula, and educator, to discuss the realities of postpartum life, the importance of continuity of care, and why building a village matters more than ever. Together, they explore how families can create support systems, ask for help, and find confidence during the fourth trimester.

Sarah Quintana shares her journey from hospital nursing to entrepreneurship, the lessons she has learned caring for newborns and parents, and why she believes it's never too late to reinvent your life.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why the transition from hospital to home can feel overwhelming for new parents

• How postpartum doulas provide support, rest, confidence, and reassurance during the fourth trimester

• Why continuity of care makes such a difference for growing families

• How modern parents can intentionally build a village when family support is limited

• The importance of planning postpartum support before baby arrives

• Why asking for help is a strength, not a weakness

• What practical support new parents actually need most in those first weeks

• How Sarah reinvented her life and career in her 40s

• Why La Petite Creme has become one of her favorite tools for baby and postpartum care

This episode is warm, encouraging, and full of practical insights for new parents, healthcare providers, and anyone interested in creating better support systems for families during the postpartum period.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child's health.

She has been raising her kids in the US for eight years while holding onto everything French that matters. The discipline, the hot meals, the no-nonsense simplicity. And she says both cultures gave her something the other one could not.

In this Village Edition of Beyond the Diaper, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Virginie, a French mom, nurse, and La Petite Creme team member, for an honest and warm conversation about what it is really like to raise kids between two very different parenting cultures.

Virginie moved to the US eight years ago with her two children and has spent that time absorbing the best of both worlds while noticing what each side gets wrong. What she shares is not a debate about which culture is better. It is a real, nuanced portrait of what happens when you raise children with structure, warmth, simplicity, and an open mind.

In this episode you will learn:

• What Virginie kept from French parenting and what she happily let go
• Why French school lunch is 45 minutes with a proper hot meal and what US school lunch looks like by comparison
• How positivity and encouragement are things she gained from American culture that France does not always offer
• Why raising kids in different cultures builds resilience, adaptability, and social intelligence
• What French postpartum care actually looks like, including the PMI drop-in support system available in every city
• Why the midwife in France handles everything from prenatal breathing to postpartum pelvic floor rehab
• Why diaper time in France is a quiet, devoted moment and not a stressful production
• How La Petite Creme's lotion connects Virginie to her memories of diapering her own babies
• Why American parenting tends to overcomplicate what the French keep beautifully simple

This episode is gentle, funny, and full of the kind of cultural insight that makes you rethink your daily routine in the best possible way.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child's health.

Your kid refuses to eat. You have tried everything. Pediatric dietitian Dr. Jenny Janov says the problem might not be your child at all. It might be the stress you are both bringing to the table.

In this episode, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Dr. Jenny Janov, founder of Eat Play Thrive Nutrition and head of content for the Bébé Foodie app, to talk about one of the most stressful parts of raising kids: getting them to eat.

From starting solids to navigating picky eaters to managing the anxiety that builds up around mealtimes, Dr. Jenny brings a warm, practical, non-judgmental approach that will make every parent feel less alone and a lot more equipped.

In this episode you will learn:

• What a pediatric dietitian actually looks at beyond what is on the plate
• Why the context around food matters more than the food itself
• How stress at the table becomes a self-fulfilling cycle and how to break it
• The right way to introduce allergens early and why timing matters
• Why children are neophobic by nature and what that means for picky eating
• How to tell the difference between a picky eater and a problem feeder
• The division of responsibility: your job versus your child's job at mealtimes
• Why pressuring kids to eat one more bite almost always backfires
• How to introduce new foods without a meltdown using food chaining
• What teen athletes need nutritionally that most parents are missing
• Why what you model at the table matters more than what you put on it

Whether you have a toddler who only eats beige food or a teenager who skips breakfast before a game, this episode gives you a completely different way to think about food and your child.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer : This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child’s health.

Nobody tells you that becoming a parent comes with grief. Not sadness exactly, just the quiet loss of who you were, what you expected, and the life you thought you were going to have. End-of-life educator Brit Foster Rothstein says that grief is real, it matters, and most of us are carrying it unresolved.

In this episode, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Brit Foster Rothstein, end-of-life educator and former high school English teacher, to talk about the grief that lives inside parenthood and why ignoring it is costing you your presence, your relationships, and your ability to connect.

This is not an episode about death. It is an episode about all the losses that do not get named and the emotions we push down because we think we are supposed to feel only grateful.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why grief lives inside every major life transition, not just death
• How the loss of your pre-parent identity is real grief that deserves space
• Why NICU parents need permission to grieve the birth they did not get, even when their baby is alive
• How unresolved childhood grief gets dragged into your parenting
• Why social media leaves no room for the emotional complexity of parenthood
• The link between grief, self-compassion and real self-care
• Why repair with your child starts with repair with yourself
• What it means to let your past inform you without letting it distract you

Whether you are a new parent, a seasoned one, or simply a human carrying more than you have been given permission to put down, this episode will change how you think about your own emotional life.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer : This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child’s health.

In France, you do not leave the hospital until a midwife has checked off every item on a list with you. In the US, they check if you have a car seat. What does that difference actually cost new moms?

In this episode, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Dr. Pauline Dravet Gounot, a French neonatal ICU doctor now living in Miami, to compare what newborn and postpartum care actually looks like in France versus the United States. Dr. Pauline has given birth four times, practiced medicine in both countries, and has a front-row view of where the US system leaves new moms behind.

What she describes is not a small difference. It is a completely different philosophy about what parents need before they go home.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why French hospitals use a checklist to confirm every parent is ready before discharge
• The role midwives play in France that no one is filling in the US system
• Why the US sends new moms home without the educational foundation they need
• How the lack of postpartum support shows up in a pediatric office
• Why visitors after birth can make recovery harder, not easier
• The difference between people coming to help and people coming to hold the baby
• How grandparents play a different role in postpartum recovery in France vs. the US
• What the US gets right that France is now learning from
• The 15 minutes alone in the car that every mom will immediately recognize

This episode is honest, warm, and full of the kind of conversation that makes you feel seen as a parent navigating a system that was not built with you in mind.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child's health.

The back pain, the sciatica, the pelvic floor problems. What if most of it was preventable? Not with a pill or a surgery, but with how you have been sitting for the last ten years.

In this episode, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with Dr. Sandra Doman, a Webster-certified chiropractor based in Miami, to talk about something that affects every pregnant woman, every new mom, and honestly every person sitting at a desk right now: how the way you move your body every single day shapes everything that comes next.

They cover the mechanics of pregnancy, why postpartum recovery is harder than it needs to be, and why that low back pain and pelvic floor weakness you have been told to just accept is not actually normal at all.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why how you have been sitting for the past decade matters more than your pregnancy workout routine
• What Webster certification is and how sacropelvic balancing can support a better delivery
• The number one habit that leads to sciatica, pubic bone pain, and pelvic floor weakness
• Why crossing your legs is silently affecting your pelvic floor
• How to sit, stand, and bend in ways that protect your body for decades
• Why squatting matters more than your morning Pilates class
• The other 23 hours concept and why one hour of physical therapy is never enough
• How kids iPad habits are creating the first generation that grew up shaped like a C
• What real self-care looks like for moms
• The case for bringing your baby to work and building a village that holds everyone

Whether you are pregnant, postpartum, or just a human who sits too much, this episode will genuinely change how you hold yourself for good.

Beyond the Diaper is a podcast about medical issues within the context of motherhood and self-care, hosted by Dr. Varisa Perlman of La Petite Creme.

Medical Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child’s health.

Every parent obsesses over their baby's poop, and honestly? They should. What's in that diaper tells you more about your child's health than you might think. In this episode of Beyond the Diaper, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with nurse practitioner and mom of three Paige Williams-White to break down one of parenthood's most talked-about (and sometimes dreaded) topics: poop. From that alarming black meconium on day one to toddler constipation and toilet training struggles, they walk you through what healthy digestion actually looks like at every stage of your child's first years and what to do when things go sideways. In this episode, you'll learn: What newborn poop colors mean (and the one color that's always a red flag) Why bilirubin levels in newborns are so closely tied to peeing and pooping How introducing solids changes your baby's digestion The real reason toddlers withhold poop and why yelling makes it so much worse When Miralax is helpful and why it's never the full solution How to "invest in the poop bank" with diet, hydration, and daily habits Why constipation is often hereditary and what parents can do for themselves too Whether you're in the newborn phase or deep in the toilet training trenches, this episode gives you honest, practical, medically-informed guidance to make you feel a lot less alone and a lot more confident. If this episode made you feel less alone in the poop trenches, hit subscribe and leave us a review. New episodes of Beyond the Diaper are here to make parenthood (and self-care) feel a little less overwhelming. You've got this! 0:00 Welcome & Episode Intro 0:37 Why Poop Matters in Parenthood & Chinese Medicine 1:47 Newborn Meconium: That Dark, Tarry First Poop 3:07 Transitioning Colors: Green, Yellow, and What's Normal 4:36 Blood Streaks, Mucus & When to Worry 6:04 Bilirubin & Why Pooping Is Critical in Week One 9:41 Introducing Solids: How Poop Changes at 4–6 Months 12:20 Foods That Constipate vs. Foods That Help 13:46 Toilet Training & The Stress-Poop Connection 17:33 Toddler Withholding, Accidents & Breaking the Cycle 21:35 Enemas, Miralax & The Two-Prong Approach 24:52 La Petite Crème for Toddler Hemorrhoid Relief 27:10 Is Constipation Hereditary? (Yes.) 29:55 Paige's Personal Favorites: Water, Apples, Pears & Kiwi 31:31 Exercise, Walking After Meals & Lifestyle Habits 34:23 Prepping Healthy Snacks Before School Pickup 36:57 The "Poop Bank" Concept & Final Takeaways 🌿 Website: https://www.lapetitecreme.com/ 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la.petite.creme 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lapetitecremebaby 👤 Guest Links: https://www.instagram.com/ms_paigea 🛍️ Products mentioned: https://www.lapetitecreme.com/collections/organic-wiping-lotion/products/wiping-lotion-for-kids https://www.lapetitecreme.com/collections/french-diapering-lotion/products/french-diapering-lotion-for-babyMedical Disclaimer This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding concerns about your child’s health.

No one plans for a NICU stay. But for many families, it becomes part of their parenting journey. In this episode of Beyond the Diaper, Dr. Varisa Perlman sits down with NICU nurse and educator Alyssa to talk about life inside the NICU, caring for premature babies, navigating unexpected birth experiences, and supporting parents through one of the most challenging seasons of their lives. Together they discuss: • What happens inside a Level IV NICU • Premature babies and developmental care • Birth trauma and the hidden emotional impact on parents • Why education and communication matter so much in the NICU • Learning to accept help and lean on your village • Self-care for parents in survival mode • How children can change and heal us in unexpected ways Whether you've experienced a NICU stay yourself or simply want a deeper understanding of the realities many families face, this conversation is filled with compassion, perspective, and hope. 🌿 Website: www.lapetitecreme.com 📸 Instagram: www.instagram.com/la.petite.creme 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lapetitecremebaby 👤 Guest Links: www.instagram.com/alysthenurse www.tiktok.com/alysthenurse ⚕️ This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider with questions or concerns regarding your child’s health. 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Meet Alyssa, NICU Nurse & Educator 03:30 Who Ends Up In The NICU? 07:00 Birth Trauma & The Parent Experience 10:30 Supporting Parents Through Crisis 14:00 Grieving The Birth You Expected 18:00 Expectations vs Reality In Parenting 22:30 Understanding Prematurity 25:00 How The NICU Mimics The Womb 28:00 Self-Care For Parents 32:00 How Children Change Us 37:00 Learning To Accept Help 42:00 Why Every Parent Needs A Village 44:00 Final Thoughts If this episode resonated with you, subscribe to Beyond the Diaper and join us every fortnight for honest conversations about parenting, child health, and self-care.

Why does your child keep getting rashes?In this episode, Dr. Varisa and Paige break down the common causes behind recurring skin irritations, from diaper rash to sensitivities. Learn what’s normal, what to watch for, and how to better protect your child’s skin with simple tips.