Child

Child episodes:

• 03.18.2024

  27. Birthday Cake

  We get inside the mind of a one year old with Professor of psychology and baby expert Alison Gopnik. What can babies teach us, and how are they influencing their future. We also take a moment think about the village...

  
• 03.18.2024

  26. Nursery

  Whenever an infant heads to nursery, it can feel like an enormous step. Things are changing for everyone. There are all sorts of feelings flying around - relief, sadness, doubt, fear. But what’s going on behind the doors of nurseries...

  
• 03.18.2024

  25. Lullaby

  Lullabies. Simple, soothing… nonsense. Right? Wrong. Here we’re getting behind the importance of music and singing in a baby's development. India speaks to Dr Nina Polytimou about her research into how music can help with speech and communication and also...

  
• 03.18.2024

  24. Attachment

  Attachment is an interesting word. It conjures up images of love, security, but also a specific focus and intensity that has encircled modern parenting. India Rakusen speaks to Child Psychotherapist Graham Music about attachment styles and people behind the theory....

  
• 03.18.2024

  23. Crawling

  Seeing a baby make its first moves is a magical time. It marks the beginning of their independence. And it’s something that is often tracked using developmental milestones - but are they actually more problematic than they are useful? ...

  
• 03.18.2024

  22. Baby Food

  Baby food is about so much more than mashed carrot. It’s another important foundation for the rest of the child’s life. But it isn’t an equal playing field and it’s another minefield of parenting. India Rakusen talks to feeding...

  
• 03.18.2024

  21. Sleep

  Go on, be honest. Is this the first episode you clicked? It drives people crazy. It’s a firecracker of a topic, and emotions run high around sleep. So let’s talk about it. When did we start getting so anxious...

  
• 03.18.2024

  20. Playtime

  As parents start to think about the development of the child within, they might head out to classes. The advice on how a baby ‘should be’ and the pressures on parents to ‘get it right’ can be a lot, but...

  
• 03.18.2024

  19. Time Warp

  We’re taking a pause to lose ourselves down the rabbit hole of time. Because something strange happens to time in those first weeks of a baby's arrival. The rest of the world still seems to, mostly, rise with the sun,...

  
• 03.18.2024

  18. Fingers and Toes

  How are mother and baby developing? Sure, we’ve counted their toes - but what happens now? So many huge emotional shifts are happening in the “Fourth Trimester”. We talk about postnatal care with midwife Leah Hazard and the history...

  
• 03.18.2024

  17. Milk

  Milk. However it comes its a vital source of life. India Rakusen explores it’s various forms and the history and politics that have shaped the way we view how we feed our babies. The pressures around feeding our new-borns...

  
• 03.18.2024

  16. First Love

  The chemical and emotional connection between a parent and baby is really important but just how quickly are babies making emotional connections? India talks to MIT Professor Rebecca Saxe about scanning babies brains to find the answers. Helen Jukes...

  
• 03.18.2024

  15. Golden Hour

  The baby is born and takes its first breath. But it’s not over. India examines how the body reacts and recovers in this first hour, how the placenta is born, and how bonding begins between parents and baby. And what...

  
• 03.18.2024

  14. Pain

  The baby is almost here. In this episode, India Rakusen explores how the baby moves through the cervix into the birth canal to the moment the baby’s head starts to crown. And through all of this, how is pain...

  
• 03.18.2024

  13. Trust

  With near-constant headlines of problems in our maternity services here in the UK, what does the word ‘trust’ mean today when it comes to birth, and what can we do to create more of it? India Rakusen heads to...

  
• 03.18.2024

  12. Consent

  Being in control and having a sense of choice can be the difference between a positive or negative birth experience, but how much choice do women really have? India Rakusen speaks to Dr Anna Nelson about consent for cervical...

  
• 03.18.2024

  11. Oxytocin

  Labour begins. The womb begins its grinding dance into contractions and the hormone Oxytocin steps onto the scene. In this episode, India Rakusen explores the influence that both people and the places we are in have over labour and...

  
• 01.29.2024

  10. Due Date

  At the end of a pregnancy, a lot is going on. The baby might be descending and moving into place, and the pregnant body is changing every day. It’s the baby’s time to arrive and it’s going to happen, one...

  
• 01.29.2024

  9. Birth Plan

  How can we truly plan for something as big and unknowable as birth? What are we forgetting to prepare for - or not being told? India Rakusen talks to obstetrician and gynecologist Dr Ranee Thakar about tearing during birth, and...

  
• 01.29.2024

  8. Mother Brain

  The huge changes that occur during pregnancy have been felt by people for millennia, but it's only in recent years that we've had data to back those feelings up. India Rakusen talks to Herman Potzner about just how energetically taxing...

  
• 01.29.2024

  7. Are They What You Eat?

  India explores the complicated world of nutrition with the help of Dr Emma Derbyshire. How much of the advice out there is crucial, and how much is just another stress on a new parent? And could the food we eat...

  
• 01.29.2024

  6. The Unforeseen

  Talking about pregnancy loss, miscarriage and unexpected news in pregnancy is difficult, not just for those going through it but for the whole society. But why? India speaks to Clea Harmer, the CEO of the baby loss Charity Sands...

  
• 01.12.2024

  5. Birth of a Mother

  What does it mean to suddenly take on this role, this mantle of ‘mother’. It’s a powerful world and it’s meaning has changed through time. We speak to writer and science journalist Lucy Jones about the mind blowing experience...

  
• 01.12.2024

  4. Every Heartbeat

  Ultrasound scans are an amazing window into a previously utterly mysterious world. Having one can bring a whirlwind of emotions, but they also provide a lot of important information for midwives, doctors and parents. After going for her own...

  
• 01.12.2024

  3. The Secret Within

  Pregnancy tests are so easy to take at home, but that wasn’t always the case. In this episode, India examines the moment of finding out you’re pregnant and what to do with that knowledge. Should we tell, or wait...

  
• 01.12.2024

  2. Source of Life

  All around the world, the placenta is revered in rituals - but in many places it’s mainly seen as medical waste. What is this incredible organ, who does it belong to and how does it feed, grow and protect a...

  
• 01.12.2024

  1. The Dance Begins

  After that very first moment, when sperm meets egg - the life of a human begins to unfold. But how does that one cell begin to divide and differentiate into the billions of complex parts of a human being. How...

  
• 01.05.2024

  Introducing Child

  In this new look at the beginnings of life we tell the story of a child from fertilisation to first birthday through the lens of society, history, and science.