The Be Well Baby Podcast

Your birth plan isn't a contract with the universe. It's a flow chart. In our Season 1 finale, doula and Baby Chick founder Nina Spears shares how to write birth preferences that prepare you for the birth you actually get.

Nina has supported over 800 families in person and attended more than 350 births over 15 years. She's the author of The Baby Chick Guide to a Positive Pregnancy and built Baby Chick into one of the most trusted pregnancy, birth, and postpartum resources out there.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Why a birth plan should be a flow chart, not a wish list
• How "birth rehearsals" help you and your partner prepare for the what ifs
• What a doula actually does (and why we're not there to replace your partner)
• Why the invisible load starts the moment you see a positive pregnancy test
• Practical ways partners can share the load during pregnancy, from booking the prenatal massage to researching car seats
• What catches partners off guard in the first days postpartum 💛
• Why every pregnant person needs to unlearn being a "good girl" and a "good patient"

Connect with Nina:
Website: baby-chick.com
Instagram: @thebabychick

Thank you for 50 episodes! 🎉 Season 2 is coming soon with shorter episodes built around the question every parent asks at least once a day: Who cares? Until then, go back and listen to Season 1 from the beginning.

If this episode helped you, share it with a pregnant friend or their partner, and leave a rating and review. It helps more families find the show.

Your host: Dr. Emily Spaeth, PT, DPT, IBCLC, is the founder of Be Well Baby®, a multidisciplinary perinatal and infant care practice in Portland, Oregon. She's spent her career helping families feel supported through pregnancy, feeding, and early development, starting in the NICU and spreading that expertise all over her community. Emily's mission is to change the way people think about preparing for having a baby, this podcast is part of that.

Stay connected while we're on break:
Join Notes from the Nest, the Be Well Baby newsletter, to get practical support for pregnancy, feeding, and your baby's development, plus the first listen when Season 2 drops. 💌 www.bewellbaby.org/#notes

If you'd like to schedule a virtual pregnancy or lactation visit visit www.bewellbaby.org/book-now

Pelvic floor physical therapist Val explains the surprising gut-pelvic floor connection, from bloating to bladder leaks, and how to spot the signs.

Most people don't think to connect their digestion with their pelvic floor, but Dr. Emily and pelvic floor physical therapist and functional nutrition practitioner Dr. Val Brown explain why the two are deeply linked. In this episode, they cover surprising symptoms that point back to gut health, from crumbling nails to hearing your heartbeat on your pillow at night, the connection between hypermobility and digestive issues, how the nervous system controls digestion and absorption, and why bladder leaks might have more to do with your diet than you think. Val also shares simple, doable shifts anyone can make to support better digestion and a healthier pelvic floor, starting tonight.

• What functional nutrition is and how it differs from typical dietitian care
• Surprising symptoms (nails, eyebrows, sleep) that point to gut and hormone imbalances
• How chronic stress and the nervous system affect digestion and absorption
• The connection between hypermobility, EDS, and digestive issues
• How bladder and bowel habits relate to pelvic floor health
• One small, doable shift to improve digestion starting today

Val is a pelvic floor physical therapist and functional nutrition practitioner with nearly two decades of experience across pelvic health, neurology, orthopedics, and chronic pain. She brings together clinical training and lived, embodied understanding, having walked her own path from disconnection back to herself, which shapes how she shows up for her clients: not just as a clinician, but as someone who understands what it actually takes to trust your body again. Val's work integrates structure, sensation, and nervous system regulation as one system rather than separate interventions, with no fixed protocol. Instead, she teaches clients how their bodies actually work so they can learn to trust and respond to them in real time. She is the creator of the Vital Access Method, a framework centering the pelvic floor across conditions including hip and back pain, digestion, perinatal health, hypermobility, and more.

Dr. Emily Spaeth is a physical therapist, IBCLC, certified neonatal therapist, and founder of Be Well Baby, a multidisciplinary perinatal and infant care practice in Portland, Oregon. Be Well Baby can help you prepare for an empowered birth, and offers the most comprehensive healthcare for tongue ties & torticollis. Emily is also the founder of the Perinatal Business Alliance, bringing healthcare providers to connect and collaborate so that we can change perinatal healthcare for the better!
Learn more: bewellbaby.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for personalized medical care. If you're experiencing pelvic floor symptoms, digestive issues, or disordered eating, please reach out to a provider you trust.

Leave us a review, it genuinely helps other families find this podcast. And if you know someone dealing with bloating, leaks, or gut issues that they haven't connected to their pelvic floor, send this one their way.

Struggling to stay connected after having a baby? Licensed counselor Miranda Bayard-Clark shares real tools for rebuilding your relationship postpartum.

Having a baby changes everything, including your relationship with your partner. In this episode, Dr. Emily Spaeth talks with licensed counselor and relationship coach Miranda Bayard-Clark about what really happens to couples after baby arrives, and how to protect your connection through it.

They cover rebuilding rituals after a baby, managing resentment and mismatched expectations, setting boundaries with extended family, and recognizing postpartum depression and anxiety from a partner's perspective. Miranda also introduces her "piggy bank theory," a simple framework for keeping your relationship's emotional reserves full before conflict hits.

If you're expecting, newly postpartum, or just trying to reconnect with your partner after the fog of early parenthood, this conversation is full of practical tools for marriage after having a baby that you can start using tonight.

• Why "preparental" conversations matter as much as premarital ones
• How to rebuild connection rituals after a baby disrupts your routine
• Tools for navigating conflict and resentment between new parents
• How to recognize postpartum depression and anxiety symptoms in your partner
• What to say (and avoid saying) when your partner is struggling postpartum
• Setting healthy boundaries with extended family after baby

Miranda is a Licensed Professional Counselor (Oregon #C4122), Gottman-trained Bringing Baby Home educator, and founder of Love After Lullabies, a coaching practice and podcast helping couples navigate the transition to parenthood. She holds a Master's in Counseling Psychology from Lewis & Clark College and has been in private practice since 2012, supporting adults and couples through life transitions and mental health challenges. Miranda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner and their two daughters.
Learn more: loveafterlullabies.com

Dr. Emily Spaeth is a physical therapist, IBCLC, and certified neonatal therapist, and founder of Be Well Baby, a multidisciplinary perinatal and infant care practice in Portland, Oregon. Be Well Baby offers in-home physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, lactation support, craniosacral therapy, and infant massage for families navigating pregnancy through early parenthood.
Learn more: bewellbaby.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and isn't a substitute for personalized medical or mental health care. If anything in this episode brings up something you're struggling with, especially around postpartum mental health, please reach out to a provider you trust.

Were you asked if you wanted to breastfeed?

Emily sits down with Dr. Julia Farrell (OTD, IBCLC, OHSU Doernbecher, Pacific University adjunct) and Dr. Jairrah Godsil (OT, IBCLC, Children's Mercy Hospital) to talk about their mixed-methods research study on how occupational therapists support direct breastfeeding for medically complex infants. Julia and Jairrah share what pulled each of them into lactation work, walk through their survey and focus-group findings, and unpack the three major themes that emerged: holistic intervention, clinical challenges, and role expansion. The conversation covers what "direct breastfeeding" actually means clinically, why bottle-feeding swallow studies don't translate to breastfeeding safety, the systemic gaps that lead to missed breastfeeding opportunities, and what expecting parents can do to advocate for themselves before and during birth.

• How Julia and Jairrah's individual research interests (feeding therapist education and medically complex dyads) merged into one combined study
• The finding that OTs with breastfeeding certifications were significantly more likely to intervene at the breast — and what that says about gaps in standard allied health training
• Theme 1 — Holistic Intervention
• Theme 2 — Clinical Challenges
• Theme 3 — Role Expansion
• Missed breastfeeding opportunities: the systemic and logistical reasons babies and parents miss early feeding windows, from lack of a documented feeding plan to delayed skin-to-skin after cesarean birth
• Practical advice for expecting parents: making a breastfeeding plan (including a backup plan), and considering colostrum harvesting in pregnancy

Dr. Jairrah Godsil, OT, IBCLC is an occupational therapist and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who specializes in neonatal intensive care (NICU), and infant feeding/breastfeeding. She provides occupational therapy services in the neonatal, cardiac, and pediatric intensive care units and inpatient/outpatient swallow studies at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) in 2012, Master of Occupational Therapy in 2015 at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UT Health), and Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy at Creighton University in 2023. She actively volunteers for the American Occupational Therapy Political Action Committee (AOTPAC) and serves as the AOTPAC Ambassador of Kansas. She actively participates in research to support neonatal development and feeding. She is inspired to help others and has had experience with breastfeeding and feeding issues.  

Dr. Julia Farrell, OTD, IBCLC has practiced as an occupational therapist for 28 years. Julia has specialized in supporting families whose children have pediatric feeding, eating, and swallowing disorders since 2004 and has been an IBCLC since 2018. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics’ Institute on Development and Disabilities at Oregon Health and Science University’s Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. In her academic work, she is instructor of record for the breastfeeding elective at OHSU’s School of Medicine and an adjunct instructor at Pacific University’s Occupational Therapy School. Clinically, she works in the Multidisciplinary Feeding Clinic Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, where she prioritizes supporting parent-child interactions to bolster parental confidence and self-efficacy in safely and responsively feeding their child. In addition to her paid positions, Julia volunteers with Feeding Matters and serves as the Legislative and Advocacy Co-Chair for the Occupational Therapy Association of Oregon.

"Wait and See" Isn't a Diagnosis: Baby Head Shape, Torticollis & Feeding Delays | Be Well Baby Podcast

Season 1 is wrapping up soon, and before Dr. Emily Spaeth steps away to prep Season 2, she's sharing a preview of what's coming: shorter episodes with one topic to care about. In this preview, Emily digs into a pattern she sees constantly in her work as a physical therapist and lactation consultant: parents being told "it's fine, don't worry about it" about things like head shape, body asymmetry, and feeding struggles, when a specialist's trained eye would catch something worth addressing early.

Emily breaks down three common examples (asymmetry, head shape, and feeding), explains why general pediatrics isn't built to catch every narrow, specific issue, and makes the case for why the first year of a baby's life is a window where small things are still small — and easy to fix. She also gives listeners a first look at Be Well Baby's brand-new Multidisciplinary Clinic, a low-pressure, community-style clinic launching September 11th in Portland, Oregon.

• Why "it's fine, it'll even out" isn't always the full story on baby asymmetry, hitch-crawling, or head-turn preference
• The current torticollis screening guidelines most pediatricians haven't caught up on yet
• How a flat spot can quietly progress into a helmet conversation — and how to catch it earlier
• Why feeding struggles aren't always just "practice," and when to look deeper at alignment and oral function
• Why pediatricians are experts in reassurance and rule-out, not in narrow specialties like infant bodywork or lactation
• The difference between "not an emergency" and "nothing to look at" — and why that middle space matters
• A first look at Be Well Baby's new Multidisciplinary Clinic: what it is, who it's for, and how to join the first session on September 11th

Be Well Baby's new Multidisciplinary Clinic brings together an expert in infant development and a lactation consultant in the same room, at the same time, so families get both feeding and developmental perspectives in one visit. It's designed for families who are brand new to Be Well Baby and want a low-commitment way to get a screening, as well as families who've already completed a package of visits and want a check-in on new questions as their baby grows.

First clinic: September 11th at 10:30 AM Location: Be Well Baby, Portland, Oregon

• Learn more or book with Be Well Baby: bewellbaby.org
• Follow along on Instagram: @bewellbabypdx
• Multidiscipinary Clnic: www.bewellbaby.org/clinic
• Interested providers: Perinatal Business Alliance, connecting perinatal providers across Portland Metro and Southwest Washington - www.bewellbaby.org/perinatal-business-alliance 

Be Well Baby is a multidisciplinary perinatal and infant care practice in Portland, Oregon, founded by Dr. Emily Spaeth, PT, DPT, IBCLC, CNT, TIP. The team offers in-home and office visits for physical therapy, occupational therapy, lactation support, and craniosacral therapy for families navigating life with a new baby.

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice.

In this episode, Dr. Emily Spaeth sits down with Sivan Dirks, an acupuncturist, herbalist, and birth doula who specializes in prenatal, postpartum, and pediatric care. Sivan is the director of Wise Mama Collective and runs her own acupuncture practice, Rose City Baby.

Sivan path into birth work started organically. Clients kept asking her to be at their births long before she was trained as a doula. Through her own three pregnancies, including a cesarean birth and a VBAC, she developed a deep understanding of what actually builds confidence in labor: not blind trust, but real knowledge of how the nervous system works.

In this conversation, Emily and Sivan talk about:

• Why "just trust your body" isn't enough on its own, and what real confidence is built on instead
• How the nervous system acts as a "doorway" to birth, and why interrupting it is so much easier than supporting it
• The difference between sympathetic and parasympathetic states, and why birth is fundamentally a deactivating process
• A simple breathing tool you can use right now to create more choice and calm in stressful moments
• Why every provider interaction that leaves you scared or anxious is a communication failure, not a reflection of you
• How to start reconnecting with your own inner wisdom, even outside of pregnancy

One of the most powerful moments in the episode: Sivan shares a quote that's stuck with her for years — between stimulus and response, there is space, and in that space, we have choice, and in that choice, we have freedom. She unpacks what that means physiologically and how it applies directly to labor, parenting, and everyday life.

Connect with Sivan:
Wise Mama Collective - https://www.wisemamacollective.com/

Resources mentioned:

Be Well Baby - www.bewellbaby.org
Oura Ring (Emily's sleep and recovery tracker) - https://ouraring.com/raf/aeac336b38?utm_source=user&utm_medium=iac_raf&utm_type=alwayson-cvr&utm_campaign=2026RAF&utm_variant=2026_raf_dec

If you've ever found yourself Googling "why won't my baby sleep" at 3am, this episode is for you.

Felicia Nassif is a pediatric registered nurse with over 17 years of trauma and pediatric care experience, a certified lactation educator, parent coach, and pediatric sleep consultant. Through her practice, Conscious Living Coaching, she helps mothers build confidence, improve sleep, and create sustainable routines rooted in nervous system regulation.

In this conversation, Emily and Felicia talk about:

• Why nervous system regulation, not technique, is the real foundation of sustainable sleep
• Felicia's own journey through sleep deprivation, co-sleeping guilt, and being diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome as an adult
• The sleep cues parents miss (and why waiting until your baby is rubbing their eyes is already too late)
• Safe co-sleeping and why refusing to talk about it openly can actually make things less safe
• Why moving feeding to the start of the bedtime routine (instead of the end) can change everything
• Responding versus reacting, and learning to trust your baby's ability to self-settle

Felicia's program, The New Mom Reset, is for families who are done Googling and ready for a plan!

Visit Felicia's website: felicianassif.com

Book a free discovery call with Felicia: https://calendly.com/felicia-nassif/45min

Follow Felicia on Instagram: @felicianassif

More About Your Host

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum.

Emily is also a professor and offers mentorship and continuing education courses for professionals so that she can effect systemic change! She is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

If this episode helped you, please send it to someone who's pregnant, postpartum, or supporting someone through birth — and if you have a minute, leaving a review helps us reach even more families. Thank you for being here.

Sometimes parents want to know what to do to help their baby develop. I get it — I've wondered the same thing. And although there are so many ways we can help, sometimes the answer is to do less, observe more, and enjoy more.

Dairian is a dear friend of mine, and she'll forever go down in history as my inspiration and bravery booster to start Be Well Baby®.

Dr. Dairian Roberts is a licensed occupational therapist with over 10 years of experience and an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She's the owner of Humbled by Motherhood (I know I was), where her approach blends OT, lactation support, and manual therapy into holistic, evidence-based care for families. She also founded The Lactation OT Platform where OTs, PTs, and SLPs learn about breastfeeding and chestfeeding, and where I am honored to have my continuing education courses living! 

In this conversation, we talk about:

• Learning your baby's cues, from cries to yawns to the "humming" sound that signals it's time to sleep
• Why doing less can be more: how overstimulation affects a baby's developing brain, and what a quiet, unstructured morning actually gives them
• The difference between an overstimulated baby who cries and one who shuts down and looks like they're sleeping
• Bottle aversion: what's really going on when a baby refuses, and how it differs from a baby who simply doesn't know how yet
• Dairian's work in USC's Lifestyle Redesign doctorate program and how it's shaping the way she thinks about habit change for postpartum families
• What it means to be an adult learner as a new parent, and why care plans need to meet families where they are
• The reminder that struggling with something new is a sign you're learning, not failing

Find Dr. Dairian Roberts

• Work with Dairian: www.humbledbymotherhood.com
• Learn more about Dairian's continuing education platform for clinicians www.LactationOT.com

More About Your Host

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint (http://www.bewellbaby.org/beyond-birth-blueprint) an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

We have restructured Beyond Birth so that you can access it so easily. We close the doors at the end of September. I can’t wait to meet you on the inside! 

Our mission is to fundamentally shift healthcare could look like for pregnancy, postpartum, and babies. Please help us spread the word by leaving a review! Every review matters!

If this episode helped you, please send it to someone who's pregnant, postpartum, or supporting someone through birth. Thank you for being here. 🤍

You're cleared at your six week checkup, but your body doesn't necessarily get that memo. If you're missing closeness with your partner, can't locate an ounce of desire, or wonder if something is wrong with you, this episode is for you.

In this solo episode, Dr. Emily Spaeth breaks down the physiology and psychology of postpartum desire, why low libido after baby is not a personal failure, and what you can actually do about it.

• The hormone crash. Why the drop in estrogen and progesterone right after birth (and the effects of prolactin, oxytocin, and testosterone while chestfeeding) directly suppress desire and arousal, and why that's chemistry, not a reflection of your relationship
• The dual control model. Introducing the "accelerator and brakes" framework for the nervous system, and why low desire is usually a brakes problem (stress, sleep deprivation, feeling touched out) rather than an accelerator problem
• Responsive vs. spontaneous desire. Dr. Rosemary Basson's circular model of sexual response, where willingness and closeness come first and desire shows up after arousal has already started, not before
• Arousal nonconcordance. Why your body's physical response and your felt desire don't always match, and why that's normal, not dysfunction
• Touch saturation. Why being "touched out" by the end of a day with a baby is real and valid, and doesn't mean you don't love your partner
• Practical tools. Talking to your partner before baby arrives, building a "secret language" or signal system for initiating intimacy, and why lube and time (and possibly a vaginal estrogen cream) matter for the first postpartum penetrative experiences
• The big reframe. Postpartum intimacy isn't about finding your way back to how things used to be, it's about building something new

Want more support with this topic? Join the free Sex After Birth workshop.

• When: Thursday, August 20th, 12–1pm (and check for future dates!)
• Who: Open to birthing bodies pregnant or postpartum, and partners, too!
• Details and future session dates: bewellbaby.org/sex-after-birth-class

• Sex After Baby, with Crystal Guard

If it helped you, send it to a friend who's pregnant, postpartum, or supporting someone who is. And if you have a minute, leaving a review helps other families find the show.

• Instagram: @BeWellBabyPDX
• Website: bewellbaby.org

Heidi Long is a birth doula, postpartum doula, and birth photographer based in Portland, Oregon, and the owner of Grounded Hearts Doula. With a decade of experience supporting families through birth, Heidi pairs her doula work with professional photography, capturing births, newborn sessions, and family milestones for the same families she supports.

In this episode, Emily and Heidi break down:

• What a postpartum doula does and how postpartum doula support is different from hiring a nanny
• Why you need a birth doula, even if you already have a supportive OB or midwife in the room
• How to know a birth doula or postpartum doula is the right fit for your family, and why intuition matters as much as the interview
• How Heidi combines doula support and birth photography to capture authentic, unposed moments during labor and delivery
• What it's like to work with the same birth photographer across your maternity, newborn, and family milestone sessions
• Heidi's advice for anyone considering hiring a birth doula, postpartum doula, or birth photographer for the first time

Ready to learn more about birth doula support, postpartum doula care, or birth photography? Find Heidi's links below to connect with Grounded Hearts Doula.

• https://www.groundedheartsdoula.com
• https://www.groundedheartsphotography.com

Heidi has generously offered folks who mention this podcast will receive a 15 minute fall mini session in October of 2026 out in nature among the autumn foliage!  

More About Your Host

Emily Spaeth is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, childbirth educator, and founder of Be Well Baby® in Portland, Oregon. With extensive NICU experience and training in craniosacral therapy, she leads a team providing home-based health care for families navigating the tricky parts of pregnancy and postpartum. 

She also hosts the Beyond Birth Blueprint (http://www.bewellbaby.org/beyond-birth-blueprint) an online birth and postpartum educational community available to families across the country—so no matter where you are, you have access to support, resources, and connection. Emily is also a mother of three and passionate about helping families move from surviving to thriving.

We have restructured Beyond Birth so that you can access it so easily. We close the doors at the end of September. I can’t wait to meet you on the inside! 

Our mission is to fundamentally shift what healthcare could look like for pregnancy, postpartum, and babies. Please help us spread the word by leaving a review! Every review matters!

If this episode helped you, please send it to someone who's pregnant, postpartum, or supporting someone through birth. Thank you for being here. 🤍