The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train

How do I think about infant sleep as an occupational therapist and holistic sleep educator? What framework allows me to understand and address your family’s sleep challenges?

In this episode, I outline the 3 pillars of my practice, and how I use these three pillars on our first call together to get a clear picture of what sleep looks like for your family.  Understanding these 3 pillars lets me start honing in on what we’ll focus on in our work together.

The 3 pillars are:

1. Development (sleep and other milestones, temperament, sensory development, social-emotional development)

2. Environment (not just the physical environment, but the way the day is laid out, and how parents are doing, too!)

3. Attachment (the way your baby seeks attachment changes with development; finding ways to meet the attachment needs while also shaping and supporting sleep development)

If this approach resonates with you, I’d be happy to connect with you on a 30 minute screening call.  Families often leave that call with more confidence that getting sleep coaching support is the right next step.  Even families who chose not to pursue coaching after the screening call still report feeling heard (sometimes for the first time in a long time) and more hopeful. 

Mentioned in today’s episode:

• Neufeld Institute: neufeldinstitute.org

What you can do next:

Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!  Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.

• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠ https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
• Book a screening call with Heather (Occupational Therapy receipts are provided for families from many provinces in Canada)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

There’s a lot to feel frustrated and run down about with your baby’s sleep.  But the flip side of the coin matters too.

In this episode, we explore the positive side of baby sleep: what happens with sleep, what it can teach you, and what you gain from it (yes, truly!).

If you’ve been struggling to see the positive side of baby sleep, have a listen while I explore:

1. Sleep development

2. Uncoupling sleep from problem solving.

3. Letting go, acceptance, and control

4. Forcing rest

5. Empowerment as a parent who knows your baby best

Mentioned in today’s episode:

• Harvey Karp

• Sarah Ockwell-Smith

What you can do next:

Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!  Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.

Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠ https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1

Book a screening call with Heather (Occupational Therapy receipts are provided for families from most provinces in Canada)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist and developmental infant sleep coach gets honest about the things that may be driving you mad about baby sleep.  And when the reality of baby sleep conflicts with what we’ve been told, the gap between what we want and what is happening can be wide.  Let’s get honest about what makes baby sleep hard because then we can shift to what can make it easier.  

Honesty about how hard it is and understanding why sleep might be looking this way can give us a strong start to how to navigate it.

So let’s dive in.

Is there something that would make it on your top 5 list of things you might hate about baby sleep?

Let me know!  I love receiving emails from Baby Sleep Connection Podcast listeners.  My email is [email protected]

And if you’re feeling like focusing on the negative is too much, stay tuned for the next episode where I’ll talk about the 5 things to LOVE about your baby’s sleep!

What you can do next:

1. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!  Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.
2. Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails (https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
3. Book a screening call with Heather (OT receipts provided for families from several Canadian provinces; families outside of those provinces can work with me through my international sleep coaching practice)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

If you’ve been giving yourself a hard time for not staying calm, have a listen.

Perhaps being calm is overrated.

It feels so good to stay calm, but calmness doesn’t always fit the situation.  It’s also simply part of the human experience to go through challenges that throw us out of calm, dysregulate us, and leave us feeling off balance and stressed.  The Beatles may have sung about having “nothing to get hung about”, but the truth is there are things in life to get hung about.

In this episode,  Heather talks about:

• Is staying calm really the goal?

• When things get hectic, stressful, or exciting, do we “stay” regulated?  Or do we match ourselves to the situation?

• A 4-stage framework that is an alternative to “staying calm”: Recognize, Recalibrate, Reset, and Nurture

• The analogy of squeezing a lemon

• An incident this morning that gave Heather real world practice recognizing, recalibrating, and resetting.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Lisa Carpenter, coach and previous guest on The baby Sleep Connection Podcast: lisacarpenter.ca 

• Mitch Albom, Twice, novel. 

What you can do next:

• Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.

• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠ https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for families in many provinces in Canada -email Heather if you wonder if your province is covered)

If you’ve been giving yourself a hard time for not staying calm, have a listen.

Perhaps being calm is overrated.

It feels so good to stay calm, but calmness doesn’t always fit the situation.  It’s also simply part of the human experience to go through challenges that throw us out of calm, dysregulate us, and leave us feeling off balance and stressed.  The Beatles may have sung about having “nothing to get hung about”, but the truth is there are things in life to get hung about.

I am proud to say that my teenager edited and published this episode for me. In our excitement of working together (and my impatience to get it published after a 3 week delay). Congrats on a job well done, Roo!

In this episode,  I talk about:

• Is staying calm really the goal?

• When things get hectic, stressful, or exciting, do we “stay” regulated?  Or do we match ourselves to the situation?

• A 4-stage framework that is an alternative to “staying calm”: Recognize, Recalibrate, Reset, and Nurture

• The analogy of squeezing a lemon

• An incident this morning that gave Heather real world practice recognizing, recalibrating, and resetting.

Mentioned in this podcast:

• Lisa Carpenter, coach and previous guest on The baby Sleep Connection Podcast: lisacarpenter.ca 
• Mitch Albom, Twice, novel. 
• Ep 27: Sleep, Rest, & Support:…–The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train – Apple Podcasts

What you can do next:

• Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.

• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠ https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1

• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for families in many provinces in Canada -email Heather at [email protected] if you wonder if your province is covered)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

To start 2026, I’m joined by a guest whose story brings new perspectives around surviving and thriving in parenthood.

Stephanie Woodward is a not-for-profit CEO, attorney, proud disabled woman, and mom to six children—including triplets and children adopted through foster care.  She and her husband went from family of 2 to family of 8 within a single year. 

In this conversation, we explore parenting multiples, navigating NICU life, pregnancy loss, supporting older siblings through massive transitions, and why routine plus flexibility matters more than having a perfect plan. Stephanie also speaks candidly about disability, scrutiny, and the assumptions that still shape how society views parents, and disabled parents in particular —often without realizing it.

This episode isn’t about one right way of parenting: It’s about responsiveness, creativity, advocacy, and building family life around what actually works.

In this episode, we cover:

• Parenting triplets alongside older children

• Life in the NICU and transitioning home

• Supporting big siblings through major family changes

• Parenting as a wheelchair user and adapting routines

• Misconceptions about disability and caregiving

• Why “routine plus flexibility” is a powerful parenting framework
  

You can find Stephanie and her family on Instagram at @WCTriplets, and learn more about her work with the Disability EmpowHER Network via the links below.

Where you can find Stephanie:

• Instagram, TicTok, and Facebook at WC Family @WCTriplets

• Disability EmpowHER Network https://www.disabilityempowhernetwork.org/

What you can do next

• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for Ontario families)
• Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend! Provide a review on Apple Podcasts. It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.
• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠
• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for Ontario families)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

Sometimes health and medical issues get in the way of how sleep development unfolds.

In this episode, Heather Boyd discusses why airway and obstructive sleep apnea are so important to understand, common signs parents may see at night and during the day, sleep apnea’s impact on learning and behaviour, and a plan of action if you are noticing signs of obstructive sleep apnea in your infant.

Knowing what to look for and when to pursue medical support can make all the difference.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Little Bird Dental self-assessment tool: https://littlebirddental.ca/airway-centric-health-care/

What you can do next:

• Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!

• Download the Parent Self-Care Toolkit at https://heatherboyd.vipmembervault.com/products/units/view/1239883/?lesson=1601156

• Find previous episodes of the podcast at familysleep.ca/podcast

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

New Years Eve, and New Years Resolutions land differently once you’re a parent.

The idea of setting resolutions and goals for oneself in the usual ways may not fit at your season of parenting. And that’s ok.

Instead, let’s explore 5 questions to ask yourself as you step into 2026.

Join Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist, sleep coach, and mother of 3 as she explores the merit of asking yourself:

1. What about this past year am I proud of or feel happy when I think of it?

2. What do I want to take with me from this past year?

3. Who do I want to be this coming year?

4. What do I want from my environment that will help me thrive and feel good --and how will I create it?

5. Who in my life is important to me (and have I told them lately)?

Here’s to the coming months/season/stage of your parenting providing you with rest, connection, and meaning.

What you can do next:

• Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!  Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.  It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.
• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠
• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for Ontario families)

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

In this episode, we break down what newborn sleep really looks like in the first week—especially the shift from the sleepy first night to the cluster-feeding intensity of night two.

You’ll learn what’s normal, why it happens, and simple ways to support rest and regulation in these early days. Night one is recovery; night two is recalibration.

We cover:

• The biology of newborn sleep and why it’s so fragmented

• What to expect on Night 1

• What to expect on Night 2 (and why it feels so intense)

• Gentle strategies that actually help in week one

• Red flags that mean it’s time to reach out for support

Mentioned in this episode:

• Ep 62: Sleep Development from Newborn to 3 months

• Join the December 16th Mom & Baby Circle sample class at Between Mothers in St. Catharines
• Ep 15: Holistic Approaches to Raising Healthy Kids with integrative pediatrician, Dr. Joel Warsh
• Ep 25: The Feeding Journey with Karla Masse, IBCLC

What you can do next

• Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend! Provide a review on Apple Podcasts. It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.
• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠ https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for Ontario families)

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

If you identify as a highly sensitive person, wrap yourself in your favourite blanket, grab a tea, take a deep belly breath and listen in on this episode. 

Psychotherapist Nelia DeAmaral chats with occupational therapist and sleep coach Heather Boyd about how to navigate early motherhood as a highly sensitive person.

In this episode we talk about:

• What you may recognize in yourself as a highly sensitive parent

• The difference between overstimulated and stressed

• Shifting from overstimulated to regulated

• Is your baby overstimulated?  Or are they actually under-stimulated?

• Contrasting calm versus regulated

• The Window of Tolerance

• Strategies for supporting yourself and your baby as a highly sensitive parent

Mentioned in this episode:

• Brainspotting.com

You can find Nelia at neliadeamaral.com, and on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nelia.deamaral/info.  

What you can do next

• Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend! Provide a review on Apple Podcasts. It truly makes a difference to reaching families who would benefit from understanding their baby’s sleep better.
• Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.
• Book a screening call with Heather (receipts provided for Ontario families)

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood