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The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train
The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train episodes
- Ep 22: Mindfulness, The Nervous System, & Sleep with Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan
Heather Boyd speaks with Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, a physiologist and sleep therapist with a passion for supporting people and organizations using Western medicine, Eastern philosophy, consciousness, evolution, and feelings of safety for our nervous systems.
In this episode, Dr. Nerina and Heather explore:
How our nervous systems developed through evolution to support surviving and thriving.
The resourcefulness of our nervous systems to protect us through freezing, fighting or fleeing (sympathetic nervous system), and maintaining safety (ventral vagus nerve)
What “safety science” is and how it relates to gauging our environments as safe or unsafe so we can react appropriately
Co-regulation and its role in feeling safe
Oxytocin’s role in helping a mother create safety for a newborn
How intuition supports you physiologically
How to listen inwardly in a noisy outward world
Morning habits that support your ventral vagus nervous system
Self-talk, the “shoulds”, and the resulting dysregulation
Calming the inner voice
Using breathing techniques to regulate
Why we might do well to replace the word “sleep” with “rest”
Hunter gatherers, bimodal sleep, and polyphasic sleep
Fear, love, and grief
How to move from "must do" to a state of safety/love
Dr. Nerina's 5 non-negotiables for more restful sleep
Cultural differences in night and daytime sleep (and the many factors that impact this
and more
Mentioned in this episode:
- Stephen Porges, developer of the Polyvagal Theory
- The Little Book of Sleep by Dr. Nerina
- Finding Inner Safety: The Key to Healing, Thriving, and Overcoming Burnout by Nerina Ramlakhan | Goodreads
- Dr. Nerina’s course to reset your nervous system: https://drnerina.com/awakenyourpotential/
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Get access to the Baby Sleep Roadmap, your guide to your baby’s sleep from morning to night and back again. Available at www.familysleep.ca/links for 50% off until September 30 with the code 5050
✔️Get self-paced sleep support with the comprehensive and holistic Baby Sleep Mini Course at 50% off until September 30th at www.familysleep.ca/links with the code 5050🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
1 hr 11 min - Ep 21: How to Hire a Sleep Coach
It's hard enough managing the sleep deprivation and deluge of information about what you SHOULD be doing to support your baby's sleep.
But now you’ve got to google “sleep coach” and figure out what coach you should pay money to to support you?
In this episode, Heather Boyd explains how to find a coach who’s right for you (even if you’re looking for something different than what she offers as a coach), and how to move from frozen and overwhelmed to seeking support that can help you move forward.
What’s covered in this episode:
How skepticism and overwhelm held Heather back in her own journey to get support
What key factors can help guide your decision (including where to find a sleep coach, and how to find one that aligns with your goals)
Should you hire someone with a health professional background?
How can you be savvy about reading testimonials?
How to be open to coaching so you can get the most out of the experience
Intro calls: why you should book one if it’s available, and what you should ask
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Get access to the Baby Sleep Roadmap, your guide to your baby’s sleep from morning to night and back again. Available at Baby Sleep Roadmap (vipmembervault.com) for 50% off until September 30 with the code 5050
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
35 min - Ep 20: Long Bedtimes: Why they happen and what to do about it
Long bedtimes are a frequent challenge for families looking for baby sleep support. Spending one or two hours in a dark room trying to cajole your baby to sleep is a stark contrast to the peaceful, connected bedtimes you may have imagined.
In this episode, Heather Boyd, O.T., mom of three, and certified Infant and Family Sleep Specialist, explores 6 reasons long bedtimes might be happening, and what to do about it!
Have a listen to learn:
6 common reasons bedtimes are long
6 strategies for making bedtime a more manageable length
Her realistic and flexible approach to late bedtimes with her own children
How to set up a "runway" to bedtime
Why looking at bedtime as the last connection before a lengthy separation supports an easier bedtime routine
How bedtime routines get shaped over time
Mentioned in this episode:
EP #2: What's Driving Your Baby's Sleep?
Ep #13: How Much Sleep Does Your Baby Need? (And are they getting enough?)
Gordon Neufeld, Developmental Psychologist, neufeldinstitute.org
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. (https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1)
✔️ Get access to the Baby Sleep Roadmap, your guide to your baby’s sleep from morning to night and back again. Available at Baby Sleep Roadmap (vipmembervault.com) for 50% off until September 30 with the code 5050 (www.heatherboyd.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1140910)
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
33 min - Ep 19: Are Bad Habits Really That Bad?
Heather helps unravel the myth that helping your baby to sleep is a “bad habit”.
If you nurse to sleep, bed share, or rock, pat, or walk your baby to sleep, listen in to explore:
The 3 reasons we fear “bad habits”
How habits serve us
Why habits are like diapers!
3 things to say to yourself that help you take the fear out of bad habits
Mentioned in this Episode:
Sign up for the Free Sleep Workshop: Why Isn’t My Baby Sleeping? August 26th 2024 at 11am. www.familysleep.ca/free-workshops
Episode 2: What’s Driving Your Baby’s Sleep? EP 2: What's Driving Your Baby's Sleep? - The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train | Podcast on Spotify
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Sign up for the free workshop on August 26th 2024 www.familysleep.ca/free-workshop
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
16 min - Ep 18: The 5 Steps of Conscious Discipline (for Parents Who Want to Respond Instead of React)
Heather Boyd is joined by Mr. Chazz, educator, mentor, and motivational speaker, who is making positive waves in the parenting community through his work teaching Conscious Discipline.
In this episode, Mr. Chazz covers:
- The 5 steps to Conscious Discipline (I am, I calm, I feel, I choose, and I solve)
- The idea of accepting the parenting reality in front of you, instead of resisting it
- Learning conscious discipline and emotional regulation for your SELF, so that you can teach it to your child
- How an understanding of the 3 brain states (executive, emotional, and survival) can help you and your child regulate big emotions
- Why it's more than just "know better, do better"
- The OOPS strategy to life's "oopses" (Our Opportunity to Practice Skills, or Our Opportunity to Problem Solve)
- The analogy of adding "songs" to our harddrive or playlist to break the cycle on reactive parenting
- Why he believes that we ought to move beyond self-care to encompass "community-care"
You can find Mr. Chazz at www.mrchazz.com, on social media at instagram.com/mrchazz and on tiktok, and on his podcast, The Learning Curve https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/learning-curve-with-mr-chazz/id1525418064Mentioned in this Episode:
- Conscious Discipline book and resources: https://consciousdiscipline.com/product-tag/poster-set/
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Sign up for the free workshop on August 26th 2024 at www.familysleep.ca/free-workshop
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
40 min - Ep 17: 3 Ways to Connect With Your Baby for Better Sleep and Easier Parenting
Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist, mom of 3, and certified Infant and Family Sleep Specialist, talks about the value of connection and self-regulation in helping make transitions (including bedtime) easier.
Parenting is hard. Let’s find ways to use connection to ease the load.
Have a listen to hear about:
How Gordon Neufeld’s approach to attachment supports cooperation
Keeping your dignity intact through parenting challenges
“Leading the Dance” through attachment
3 ways to use connection: Physical connection, Silliness, and Stories
2 ways to ramp up connection through Awareness and Habits
Dr. Laura Markham’s approach to deliberate connection
Ways to connect with your baby by turning inward and connecting with yourself
And if you’re curious about how Gordon Neufeld’s Roots of Attachment can support your baby’s sleep, follow the link in the bio.
Mentioned in this episode:
Free Workshop August 26th 2024! 4 Reasons Your Baby Isn’t Sleeping The Way You Expected (And What to Do About It Without Sleep Training). Get all the details and sign up at www.familysleep.ca/free-workshop
Free Resource: Gordon Neufeld’s Roots of Attachment applied to sleep: https://heatherboyd.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1072127
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
28 min - Ep 16: Little Changes Add up: Strategies for Making Parenting Easier
Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist and sleep coach, explores the strategies she guides parents to use to tackle the mountain of challenges in the first few years of parenting (and beyond!).
In addition to sharing how she tackled a particularly chaotic period of parenting, Heather breaks down the three steps she uses when there seems to be more problems to solve than there is time to solve them.
If you’ve found yourself asking “Where do I start?”, have a listen.
Wondering what you can do next?
✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Reach out to Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact
🎵 Music Credit: Jordan Wood
24 min - Ep 15: Holistic Approaches to Raising Healthy Kids with Integrative Pediatrician, Dr. Joel Warsh
Heather Boyd interviews integrative pediatrician, Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh about what it takes to raise healthy children. Dr. Warsh, M.D., has a Master’s degree in epidemiology, and founded his private pediatric clinic in California in 2018. He is a speaker, published researcher, dad, and author (his book, Parenting At Your Child’s Pace: The integrative pediatrician’s guide to the first three years comes out August 6th).
In this episode we cover:
- Integrative medicine: what is it?
- His recipe for a healthy childhood "smoothie"
- Sleep as one of the foundations of childhood health in his SEEDS of Well-Being approach: Stress, Environment, Exercise, Diet, and Sleep
- The rise in chronic illness and mental health challenges in childhood
- Managing the comparison and “perfect parenting” trap in the age of social media
- How to use information wisely to focus on what works well for your child and family
- Dr. Warsh’s take on developmental milestones (how to use them without undue anxiety about “being behind”)
- Taking the fight out of a “this versus that” mentality: baby-led weaning versus purees, breastfeeding versus formula
- How to be flexible with your parenting expectations
You can pre-order Dr. Warsh’s new book (out August 6th) at www.parentingatyourchildspace.com. Contact Dr. Warsh at [email protected] with your receipt for an advanced peak at one chapter and 1 month free in his online VIP parenting community, Natural Parenting. Dr. Warsh also runs a speaker series masterclass, RaisingAmazingPlus.com
You can find him on Instagram at @DrJoelGator
Wondering 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 better understanding their baby’s sleep.
✔️ Sign up for Heather’s weekly baby sleep newsletter. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Reach out to Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact
41 min - Ep 14: Dropping Naps: How Should I Handle This?
In this episode, Heather Boyd, O.T., mom, and sleep coach, explores why babies drop naps, why it can feel so difficult, and what to do to make it easier.
Even though dropping naps is a normal part of development, it can be a bumpy ride!
Whether dropping naps is parent-led, circumstance-led, or baby-led, Heather explores ways to make the transition easier.
She also explores:
Robust naps versus “cat naps” (neither is bad or good)
What signs there are that your baby is ready to drop a nap
The role adenosine plays in naps
Why nap dropping isn’t “all or nothing”
How to prepare for bedtime when a nap varies from day to day
How expectations can support you in managing the “messy middle” of dropping naps
How the last nap drop with our child went (and how we stayed flexible)
Why dropping naps can feel disappointing for parents, and
Why dropping naps can be a great thing!
Wondering 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 better understanding their baby’s sleep.
✔️ Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Work with Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact
36 min - Ep #13: How Much Sleep Does Your Baby Need? (And are they getting enough?)
Heather Boyd, OT, Sleep Coach, and mom of 3 answers the common question that tired and worried parents ask: How much sleep does my baby need?
We explore how many hours of sleep are recommended at various ages, and what factors can impact how much sleep your baby needs (and how much they're getting!).
The Resources I Mention in this Episode:
Sign up for the Podcast Resource Hub to access National Sleep Foundation recommendations, nap expectations, https://heatherboyd.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1170166
Listen to Episode #12: My Baby is Overtired!
On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ep-12-my-baby-is-overtired-what-do-i-do/id1735142551?i=1000658895939
On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/34HoonI0T8P3Ky6MkIbTQ2
Read 2 Family Sleep Blogs on this topic:
Family Sleep Blog: How Much Sleep Does My Baby Need? https://familysleep.ca/blog/how-much-sleep-does-my-baby-need
Family Sleep Blog: How Many Hours of Sleep Does My Baby Need https://familysleep.ca/blog/how-much-sleep-does-my-baby-need-are-they-getting-enough
Sleep Foundation blog https://www.sleepfoundation.org/children-and-sleep/how-much-sleep-do-kids-need
What I cover in this episode:
2:00 How the National Sleep Foundation developed their recommendations
3:10 Age-based recommendations for total sleep
3:35 Factors that affect total sleep
6:00 Signs that your baby is getting enough sleep
8:00 The roles that temperament and lower sleep needs play
8:56 Naps
13:45 When baby is underslept: strategies and recommendations
Wondering 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 better understanding their baby’s sleep.
✔️ Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails. https://heatherboyd.activehosted.com/f/1
✔️ Work with Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact
Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood
16 min
About The Baby Sleep Connection: Holistic help for tired, responsive parents who don't want to sleep train
From the publisher's feed
Hello tired parents! If you feel exhausted and overwhelmed about your baby’s sleep and are trying to be gentle and responsive but aren’t clear how, welcome!
In this podcast, we go beyond wake windows and bedtimes to help you understand your baby’s sleep so that you can find responsive ways to support it…without sleep training!
The Baby Sleep Connection also explores all the layers connected to baby sleep --maternal mental health, nutrition, temperament, sensory processing, gentle/responsive parenting, and infant development so that sleep (and life!) feels easier. I'm so glad you're here.
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