Bonded From The Start

In episode two, co-hosts Laura Todd and Carina Lane discuss pressures affecting parents, from limited support and postpartum mental health struggles to social media comparison and parenting guilt. Drawing on their professional work in perinatal and infant mental health, and their own parenting experiences, they explore why families need more accessible, individualized support.

• In this episode, we unpack:
  • The Solo Parenting Trap: Connecting the unrealistic expectation that parents should manage alone with the reality of deep burnout and limited support networks.
  • Competing Demands: Navigating the constant juggle of career decisions, family relationships, financial strain, and social media scrutiny.
  • Our Personal Stories: Carina shares her raw experience with postpartum anxiety and early attachment struggles, while Laura reflects on postpartum anxiety, grief, and isolation.
  • Mending Systemic Gaps: A call for better access to perinatal mental health support, including screening, clear referral pathways, language-accessible care, and cross-disciplinary training.
  • Understanding Your Baby: How gaps in child development guidance and online misinformation leave parents anxious, and how to shift toward values-based choices rather than social media guilt.

Resources & Recommendations Mentioned in This Episode:

• Laura’s Recommendation: The Invisible String by Patrice Karst 
• Carina’s Recommendation: If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff 

Timestamps

• [00:06] - The episode’s focus: unmet needs in perinatal and infant mental health
• [01:22] - Why families need more caregiving support
• [03:08] - Parenting under conflicting demands and public scrutiny
• [05:04] - Finding a village when family relationships are strained
• [08:48] - How postpartum mental health struggles can affect bonding
• [10:34] - Carina’s postpartum anxiety and Laura’s pandemic-era experience
• [13:56] - Where families encounter gaps in maternal mental health care
• [15:52] - Language access and a provider response that missed the need
• [18:02] - Why early childhood programs need screening and referral pathways
• [20:27] - Building perinatal mental health into professional education
• [22:24] - How cross-disciplinary knowledge can support families while they wait for care
• [24:00] - Developmental guidance, misinformation, and learning to observe a baby
• [27:50] - Fitting parenting methods to your child: Social media guilt, daycare, and values
• [29:40] - Weekly recommendations begin
• [29:55] - Laura’s recommendation: The Invisible String
• [31:01] - Carina’s recommendation: If You Give a Pig a Pancake
• [32:21] - Wrap up and Thank you

Hit that FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE button right now so you never miss an episode!

Connect with us online:

• Instagram: @bondedfromthestartpod
• Email: [email protected]

Meet Laura Todd:

• Website: lauratoddlpcc.com
• Instagram: @the_infant_therapist
• TikTok / YouTube: @the_infant_therapist

Meet Carina Lane:

• Website: mindfulstarts.com
• Instagram: @mindfulstarts

Theme music composed by: Kevin Bryson

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Bonded from the Start Podcast!

Every great partnership has a beginning, and ours starts right here. In this inaugural episode, we give you the inside scope on our "meet cute" story . We talk about how our paths crossed online, into how we bonded (literally bonded from the start!) from the world of early childhood development and perinatal mental health, and the exact moment we realized we needed to build this podcast together.

We discuss why bridging the gap between parental mental health and infant development is so vital and why we are so passionate about destroying the separate silos of parenting support.

Resources & Recommendations Mentioned in This Episode:

Laura: Any Emily Henry Books

Carina: Dad Brain by Darby Saxebe

Timestamps:

• [00:01] - Welcome to the first episode and the “meet cute” setup
• [00:34] - How Laura and Carina connected on Instagram
• [01:07] - Their first Zoom call and shared professional path
• [02:51] - Meeting in person at the PSI conference
• [05:30] - Why perinatal and infant mental health need to be connected
• [09:02] - The LA networking-event adventure
• [11:10] - How the idea for the podcast came together
• [15:42] - Weekly recommendations begin
• [16:17] - Laura’s recommendation: Emily Henry books
• [17:49] - Carina’s recommendation: Dad Brain
• [20:11] - Wrap-up and thank you

Hit that FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE button right now so you never miss an episode!

Connect with us online:

• Instagram: @bondedfromthestartpod
• Email: [email protected]

Meet Laura Todd:

• Website: lauratoddlpcc.com
• Instagram: @the_infant_therapist
• TikTok / YouTube: @the_infant_therapist

Meet Carina Lane:

• Website: mindfulstarts.com
• Instagram: @mindfulstarts

Theme music composed by: Kevin Bryson

Welcome to the Bonded from the Start Podcast!

Feeling lost in your postpartum or parenting journey? Tired of feeling like you are missing information as a provider when you are supporting new families? Wish more people were having honest conversations about motherhood, parenting, pregnancy, and postpartum? Well, you are in the exact right place!

Join co-hosts Carina Lane and Laura Todd as they explore the connection between pregnancy, postpartum mental health, and infant/early childhood development. Raising our children, managing our own mental health, and protecting their emotional development are not separate silos, they are an interconnected ecosystem.

In this quick trailer, we give you a sneak peek into what this podcast is all about, including:

• Deep-Dive Conversations: Expert insights on pregnancy, postpartum, and infant/early childhood mental health.
• Solo & Co-Host Episodes: Raw, honest reflections exploring our favorite topics and clinical concepts in this field.
• Curated Recommendations: Our top picks for books, TV shows, movies, professional resources, and parenting products.
• Real Talk: Learning something new while making sure we have plenty of laughs along the way.

Don't miss Episode 1!

Hit that FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE button right now so you never miss an episode!

Connect with us online:

• Instagram: @bondedfromthestartpod
• Email: [email protected]

Meet Laura Todd:

• Website: lauratoddlpcc.com
• Instagram: @the_infant_therapist
• TikTok / YouTube: @the_infant_therapist

Meet Carina Lane:

• Website: mindfulstarts.com
• Instagram: @mindfulstarts

Theme music composed by: Kevin Bryson