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

If you’ve been trying to fit a square peg baby into a round hole based on what you’ve been told about sleep, listen to this week’s episode as Heather Boyd, O.T. and Certified Infant & Family Sleep Specialist delves into ways to reduce some of the friction between what you’re trying to shape and how you can lean into the need instead, to get easier sleep.

In this episode, Heather covers:

• The 3 questions to ask yourself that immediately drops some of the resistance you might have around helping your baby sleep holistically

• Why meeting the need for secure attachment supports sleep

• How attachment needs that are met naturally lead to independence 

• 3 thoughts you may have about meeting the need (and why they get in the way of sleep)

• 3 key messages around meeting your baby’s needs

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
✔️ Book a call or email Heather at www.familysleep.ca/contact to find out if the Confident & Connected Baby Sleep Program is the right fit for supporting you.

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

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

Heather Boyd, sleep coach, occupational therapist, and mom of 3 addresses the big concern that many parents have around their baby being overtired.  She provides reassurance and strategies for managing overtiredness in babies and explains what else might be going on, and why it can be SO hard to get your baby to fall asleep if they’ve missed their bedtime.

 2:18 Fear of baby being overtired

3:26 How sleep is built

4:48 Signs that your baby is overtired

5:34 What overtiredness, overstimulation, and boredom have in common

6:00 Signs of overstimulation

6:27 Signs of boredom

7:15 What if it’s not overtired, it’s dysregulation?

7:50 Sleep pressure and overtiredness

8:20 When we miss tired cues (or the cues are unclear)

9:05 The Wake Maintenance Zone

10:13 When we’re over-invested in getting our babies to sleep (and why it gets so frustrating when they don’t!)

11:05 How to get unstuck when your baby won’t sleep

13:40 3 Strategies if your baby skips a nap

15:05 3 Strategies if you feel your baby is chronically overtired

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Previous Episode: How sleep is built: EP 2: What's Driving Your Baby's Sleep? on Apple Podcasts

• The Wake Maintenance Zone

• Tired Cues

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.

✔️ Attend the Ask & Answer on June 18th 2024. Enroll here. https://heatherboyd.vipmembervault.com/products/courses/view/1169576  

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

✔️ Work with Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact⁠

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood 🎙️Podcast coach: Min Sukree

In this episode Heather Boyd, sleep coach and therapist, chats with Tara Gratto, mom of 2 and parenting coach who supports parents and caring adults of children from toddler through early teen with behaviour, emotional regulation and social-emotional wellbeing. 

*Heather's audio in this interview is, unfortunately, quite low. We didn't edit it out to provide context for the questions Heather asks Tara. Thankfully, Tara's audio is fine. We'll correct this problem in future episodes!)

A long-time educator and former preschool owner, Tara has two decades of experience working with children and families. She is the host of Tara’s Take: Parenting, Education & Life With Kids Podcast and author of comic picture book The Adventures of Team Brain. 

Tara works one-on-one, facilitates workshops and group programs as well as does children's book talks at schools, libraries and special interest programs.

We cover:

• Emotional intelligence
• The reason parents struggle to teach emotional regulation to children
• Why building our own emotional vocabulary helps us support our kids.
• What Tara discovered as a preschool teacher about the challenge with “Name It To Tame It” (and how you can make it work better)
• Tools to build emotional regulation including narration and picture books
• Boundaries and the value of failing

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Tara Gratto, The Adventures of Team Brain

• Janan Cain, The Way I Feel

• Marc Brakett, Permission to Feel

• Jane Yolen & Mark Teague, How Do Dinosaurs Say I’m Mad 

• Eva Eland, When Sadness is at Your Door 

Additional Mentions:

• Dr. Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson (Name it to Tame It, and Flipping Your Lid)

Where to find Tara:

https://www.instagram.com/taragratto/

https://www.facebook.com/raisingresilientchildren

https://www.taragratto.ca/

Heather Boyd, occupational therapist, mom of 3, and Infant & Family Sleep Specialist, outlines the four most common reasons she sees parents struggle with a baby who is not sleeping as well as expected.

This episode is a sneak peak at Heather's upcoming free Masterclass, "Why Isn't My Baby Sleeping?". Save your seat for May 30th at www.familysleep.ca/free-workshops to attend live, get the replay, and get a written summary of the call.

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.

✔️ Attend the next free online masterclass, Why Isn’t My Baby Sleeping?, https://www.familysleep.ca/free-workshops May 30th 2024  

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

✔️ Work with Heather https://familysleep.ca/contact⁠

Credits: 🎵 Music: Jordan Wood 🎙️Podcast coach: Min Sukree

Join Heather Boyd in her interview with Sara Intonato, master coach to parents of children with special needs, as they explore parenting, self-regulation, and how Sara used yoga and self-care to heal emotionally after her son was diagnosed with autism.    

With over 20 years of coaching experience that includes an extensive background in the ancient science of yoga, Sara Intonato brings a unique combination of skills and insight to her clients.

Sara’s disciplined self care has allowed her to boldly advocate for her own child with autism successfully, even when experts told her it was impossible. Using her Full Potential Method, Sara teaches parents the skills they need to heal themselves, lead with confidence, and live a life so joyful, they thought was only a pipe dream, simply by showing up and taking action every day. Sara's insights are valuable whether you are a parent of a child with special needs or high needs, highly sensitive or neurotypical. If you find yourself questioning how to parent the child in front of you while not burning out, come listen to Sara's perspectives and supportive insights.

In this interview, Sara and Heather discuss:

• the importance of tools for coping with parenting challenges
• self-regulation
• how to put your self-care in the context of better supporting your child emotionally
• the value of having a plan of simple actions to support co-regulation, including breathwork and yoga
• the role yoga played in Sara's 20s to cope with debilitating panic attacks
• how to take your own healing seriously
• the value of going inward, instead of to social media, for the answer to the question "What do I need?"
• how silence can help one heal
• how to release guilt around taking care of yourself
• the importance of acknowledging the reality of intense, 24/7 parenting

You can find Sara at saraintonato.com and on Instagram at @sara.intonato   Her book is: Emotional Healing for Parents of Children With Autism: The Journey You Never Expected to Take

Mentioned in this episode:

• Bessel van der Kork, The Body Keeps the Score

• Documentary: Rocco Up RoccoUp.com

• Pema Chödrön , American Tibetan Buddhist, author, speaker

Wondering what you can do next?

✔️ Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!  Provide a review on Apple Podcasts.

✔️ Attend the next free online masterclass, Why Isn’t My Baby Sleeping?, https://www.familysleep.ca/free-workshops May 30th 2024 

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

✔️ Work with me https://familysleep.ca/contact⁠ in the Confident & Connected Baby Sleep group program or one-on-one.

Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist, Sleep Coach, and Mom of 3 explores a NEW way to give on Mother’s Day.  If you’ve been disappointed, underwhelmed, overwhelmed, or overcommitted on Mother’s Day and are left wondering how to feel loved and nurtured on Mother’s Day, have a listen.

Heather explores:

• 4 gifts to give yourself this (and every) Mother’s Day

• What to let go of

• Why self-love is important

Mentioned in this episode:

• Sarah Rosensweet: website https://www.sarahrosensweet.com/   Perspective on Mother’s Day: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_-tMBcgPQf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

• Gabor Mate, How to Reset Your Body from Chronic Stress https://youtu.be/Rik5E7wey0w?si=dBsoKKTW2yEdROpw

• I promised in the episode to share a booklist on self-love.  Here it is!

• Kamal Ravikant, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It

• Shad Helmstetter, PhD, What to Say When You Talk to Yourself 

• Dr. David D Burns, 10 Days to Self Esteem

• Nathaniel Brandan, 6 Pillars of Self-Esteem

• Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting: Raising Children with Courage, Compassion, and Connection

Wondering what you can do next?

1. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!

2. Attend the next free online masterclass May 30th 2024, Why Isn’t My Baby Sleeping?, https://www.familysleep.ca/free-workshops  

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

4. Work with me ⁠ in the Confident & Connected Baby Sleep group program or one-on-one. ( https://familysleep.ca/contact)

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

🎙️Podcast coach: Min Sukree

When sleep gets challenging, it's tempting to focus all of your attention on your baby's behaviour (hello, behavioural sleep training!). Instead, what if you put your energy and attention on things BEYOND actual sleep that can make sleep easier?

Sleep hygiene is probably the most underrated and underappreciated strategy for sleep, but can be SO valuable for making sleep easier. And that's the goal! Easier sleep!

Join Heather Boyd, Occupational Therapist, sleep coach, and mom of 3 as she discusses 4 sleep hygiene approaches that you can use to make it easier for everyone in your family to sleep.

Wondering what you can do next?

1. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!

2. Attend the next free online masterclass, Why Isn’t My Baby Sleeping?, May 30th 2024  

3. Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠

4. Work with me⁠ in the Confident & Connected Baby Sleep group program or one-on-one.

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood🎙️Podcast coach: Min Sukree

In this episode, Heather Boyd, mom of 3, certified Infant & Family Sleep Specialist, and Occupational Therapist, talks about why working so hard on making our baby’s sleep better can often make sleep harder.

She shares:

✔️ Why we are conditioned to think grit gets us goals

✔️ Why sleep training  culture makes us believe it’s our JOB to work hard to make sleep easy

✔️ How working hard on your baby’s sleep is like training for a 5km run at 2am!

✔️ How working less on sleep gives you MORE time, MORE energy, and maybe even MORE sleep!

✔️ 5 ways to work less hard on your baby’s sleep to get more sleep.

Mentioned in this episode: Episode #2 of The Baby Sleep Connection Podcast: What’s Driving Your Baby’s Sleep? https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/0ofSCAQyZIb

Looking for more?  Here's what you can do next:

1. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend!

2. ⁠Sign up for weekly baby sleep emails.⁠

3. ⁠Work with me⁠ in the Confident & Connected Baby Sleep group program or one-on-one.

Credits:

🎵 Music: Jordan Wood

🎙️Podcast coach: Min Sukree