Evolutionary Parenting Podcast

It seems like you can't talk to anyone about your baby and their sleep without being told that you have to cry it out or use a modified version, like controlled crying. In our culture, it's the go-to for all sleep problems or even pre-emptive sleep problems. How did we get here? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Jennie Rosier, a professor at James Madison University and my co-author on a paper in the Journal of Family Issues on the same topic. How we got here is an interesting story, albeit one that has nothing to do with science.

Dr. Jennie Rosier: https://www.jmu.edu/news/media/faculty-experts/experts/rosier-jennie/

The Relationship, Love, Happiness Project: http://www.relationshipslovehappiness.com/

Love Matters Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/2NrlJggsXrfVNgp5Ycu1JY

Jennie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/relationshipslovehappiness

Jennie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RelationshipsLoveHappiness

Our Academic Paper: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0192513X20949891

To learn more about the Evolutionary Parenting Podcast visit https://evolutionaryparenting.com/evolutionary-parenting-podcast-2/

We can only understand our present when we understand our past, right? But how can we do that when the evidence of that past is gone? When the stories aren't passed down or recorded? This week we explore this question with bioarchaeologist Dr. Sian Halcrow of the University of Otago who does just this. She studies the bones of dead babies to help us better understand the practices and environments in pre-history eras. From weaning behaviours to the effects of fertility to how inequality played into parenting, we cover what is known - and what isn't - from these early times.

For more on Dr. Halcrow's work: https://childhoodbioarchaeology.org/about/

Some of Dr. Halcrow's work we discussed:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.24033

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/evolutionary-human-sciences/article/care-of-infants-in-the-past-bridging-evolutionary-anthropological-and-bioarchaeological-approaches/C4BA1819159896C951B207DF630D0CE2

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-27393-4_1

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02805-z?fbclid=IwAR29OK5Km8Wu8P6u0QkoTrJQKOMkHiCROLqyxU90VZOni3pGgaB6wYckNGM

To learn more about the Evolutionary Parenting Podcast visit https://evolutionaryparenting.com/evolutionary-parenting-podcast-2/

How does child anxiety affect sleep training? It's a question I've thought a lot about and always been frustrated that no one has ever thought to consider these children. This week I got to talk to Dr. Michal Kahn, the first researcher I know to consider the experience of anxiety - in this case separation anxiety - in the effectiveness of different sleep training methods. And while we don't agree on sleep training more generally, the concern for this subgroup was a shared point of interest.

You can see the paper here (and email Dr. Kahn for a copy): https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article-abstract/43/4/zsz268/5611128

Here is her clinic's Facebook page if you want to find out more or seek any services: https://www.facebook.com/cascsleep/

Do you use artificial sweeteners? Did you use them while you were pregnant? In our quest to curb sugar, we've moved towards a high use of these sweeteners without necessarily thinking about the effects. This week I had the chance to chat with Dr. Meghan Azad, a lead researcher in the field of understanding the effects of artificial sweeteners (or non-nutritive sweeteners as I learned they should be called) to talk about the effects of their use in pregnancy on our babies - yes, our babies! Our discussion was based on a series of papers she's published which you can check out below.

For more information on Dr. Azad's work and lab (and I hope to get her on again to talk about her breastfeeding work!), please check out her site here: https://www.azadlab.ca/

Relevant articles:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2020.1857513

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-020-0575-x

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/2/194

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2521471

Why does research not find a relationship between sleep training and attachment? Isn't the idea that we need to be responsive regularly to foster secure attachment? And isn't sleep training the opposite of that? This week, Dr. Levita D'Souza, a counselling psychologist and attachment researcher, joins me to discuss the many reasons why we may not find a relationship in the research. Or at least not as it's been studied.

To learn more about the Evolutionary Parenting Podcast visit https://evolutionaryparenting.com/evolutionary-parenting-podcast-2/

What happens to the brain during pregnancy and beyond? How does our parenting impact our children's neurological development for life? This week, I speak to Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum, the world's first neuroscientist-doula, about the research on how pregnancy affects our brains and how it primes us to parent in particular ways. Not only that, but how this neurological priming impacts our babies' development and what kinds of parenting our babies are looking for. A must-listen for anyone interested in pregnancy, parenting, and the brain.

In this episode, Tracy Gillett (of Raised Good) and I discuss the issue of alternative schooling. Specifically, what does education look like when you aren't using modern schools? What kinds of struggles can you face and what are the benefits to things like forest schooling, homeschooling, unschooling, and more? Drawing on our own experiences and a discussion of the research on education, I hope this conversation will help families who are looking for alternatives gain a better understanding of the options out there.

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with Dr. Gerald Giesbrecht of the University of Calgary about a recent study looking at the factors associated with and outcomes of delaying our responsiveness to our babies cries. Is this something that is beneficial? What are the nuances in the research that often don't get the space in mainstream science reporting? We go into all of this here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

In this interview with Lyndsey Hookway of Feed Sleep Bond and Holistic Sleep Coaching, we don't actually talk about sleep! Instead I got to ask Lyndsey about her research in the barriers and struggles facing families who are breastfeeding children with various medical conditions, including acute illness, chronic illness, life-threatening illness, and congenital problems. It is heartbreaking at times to hear what families face and the lack of support, but Lyndsey shares information for anyone going through this and has a road map for where we all need to be going to support these families.

In this interview, I talk to the founder of the Gentle Mama, Halyley Bukhamsin. She is a UK ex-pat living in Dubai and trying to help families move towards a more gentle response to their child's sleep. Most interesting to me is the cultural variety in Dubai and the unique circumstances that poses for someone working across so many cultures. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did and I thank Hayley for coming on, especially as she was at the tail end of fighting Covid!