The Sleep Mums

Hypnobirthing, will it make me run around like a chicken or moo like a cow during birth? Probably not…

In this episode, we talk to midwife, Doula and Hypnobirthing practitioner Lynsey McGillivray about misconceptions, how it works and why it’s not just for people who want incense and whale sounds at their birth.

More and more parents are coming to Hypnobirthing but there are still a lot that feel unsure about (the mooing, for example!). Lynsey is pretty unique in her wide range of experience and expertise on hypnobirthing, for all kids of birth - including C-sections to VBACS - and in this fascinating episode, she puts the record straight.

When people talk about babies and toddlers dropping a nap it sounds as though you simply chuck it on the floor and shove it under the bed with the long forgotten toys. It rarely feels that simple though. Do they need a nap? Don’t they? Is it making overnight sleep worse? Or Better? What if I take the nap away and it changes everything? What if I take the nap away and it changes nothing!

In this brand new episode we’re here to answer all these questions and help you drop a nap without losing sleep over it.

Plus we’ll answer our listener Emma’s question about whether dropping a nap will impact overnight sleep.

1 – When do babies drop a nap 2 – What are the signs? 3 – Nap drops by age 4 – Power naps 5 – Trouble-shooting naps.

Parenting is a massively emotional experience, you can go from feeling endless love to boundless frustration in an instant. It's daunting and exhausting because the feelings can be so powerful. There are no right or wrong emotions though: there's just a lot of them!

In this episode we talk to psychotherapist Sarah Wheatly from Birth and Beyond who launched Parent Kind after experiencing PND after the birth of her son. We chat through the rainbow of feelings you can have as a parent, how to cope, when to seek help and how it can impact partners.

This is the chapter that I wish had been in my baby books, the realness, the rawness and the practical stuff we so often don’t think about preparing for a new baby.

Each week in pregnancy you focus on your growing bump and developing baby but what about what comes next? What is the stuff they don't tell you in the baby classes or the things you can't just buy with one click in the middle of the night?

What do you really need to know?

1 - What to buy?  2 - Birth Expectations 3 - What about sleep? 4 - Parent Skills Required? 5 - How to Survive When Baby Arrives?

There isn’t a magic spell that can help your baby sleep - although this podcast comes pretty close! – but whilst there might not be magic, there IS witching…

The 'so-called' witching hours, when your lovely baby suddenly becomes more than a little bit spirited. So as we’re getting close to Halloween we thought we’d re-share this fantastic episode when we go through some of the things that can help you through your baby’s unmagical witching hour… or two (without casting a spell on them!)

There have been a lot of bizarre baby sleep hacks doing the rounds recently, because when you’re looking at the clock… or Tik Tok, you’ll try anything once!

However, if you’re looking for some baby sleep hacks with proper staying power have a listen to this reep of our really popular episode Baby Sleep Hacks.

We cover some tried and tested methods to help baby sleep better, for longer. They're not all quick fixes... but they really can work.

Fertility: why is it still so hard to talk about?

The process of conception isn’t always as fun or easy as we’re lead to believe. It can be long and heartbreaking, full of fear (and monthly disappointment) that parenthood may never happen. From peeing on sticks, to taking temps, the anger and frustration when you see blood, miscarriage and the agony of ttc afterwards. It’s all so much and, often, all so silent.

This week, The Sleep Mums: A to Zzz is Paul and Louise’s story. It’s a reminder that the path to parenthood isn’t a smooth one…

[although theirs has a bit of a surprising ending involving a giant wooden penis!]

In this episode we are going to help you get your evenings back. We often focus on night-time sleep or when we’ve focused on night-time sleep, daytime sleep… but evenings and having some ‘grown up time’ is important too.

Strangely, it’s not a topic that’s often approached by sleep experts or books …. But that is why we are here: to go where others won’t!

We’ll also answer our listener Scott’s question about whether they can get their evening back with a 10 week old.

1 – Why is it important 2 – How early can you do it? 3 – How does it work with older kids? 4 – How to go about it 5 – Making it work for you.

This week's guest on The Sleep Mums A to Zzz is Charlotte Stirling Reed to  take us through W for Weaning.

Charlotte has made a huge impact on parents food journeys, helping to take it from food fight to food fun. She is a baby and child nutritionist, an author and an expert. She’s worked with Joe Wicks on Wean in 15 and has her own excellent weaning book too.

In this episode we cover when and how to wean, the guidelines (and how much you should stick to them!), allergies and Charlottes do's, don'ts and favourite recipes!

In today’s podcast we’re going to be talking Dream Feeds; are they the dream or can they sometimes be the opposite?  We’ll start with the meaning of the dream feed - FYI it’s not where you dream that you have fed or are feeding your baby, only to wake up on the loo!

We’ll also cover where it can really help, where it can’t and, something that is often missed from conversations about dream feeds… how to stop, when you and baby are ready.

Plus, we’ll answer our listener Katy’s question about whether a dream feed could be affecting weaning.

1 – What is a dream feed ? 2 – Why do people recommend it? 3 – Is it always a good idea? 4 – How do you stop? 5 – Are there alternatives to a dream feed?