Bedtime Tea with Paula McDowell

Podcast inception time! I had a great chat with fellow sleep coach Hannah, owner of Little Nest Sleep and host of Sleep Like a Baby podcast! Hannah and I have very similar approaches to sleep and our kids are similar ages. The difference is her kiddo has more average sleep needs and mine has low sleep needs. Both wonderful healthy kids but our sleep journeys looked so different! We explore what it looks like to have a low sleep needs kid from out own experiences and our professional observations. And we get into why its so crucial that your sleep approach be tailored to your family and your child. Follow Hannah on Instagram at @littlenestsleep and check out 'Sleep Like a Baby?' wherever you are listening to this podcast! As always, find me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and tell me your thoughts on this episode! Leave a review if you like this content and if you'd like to support you can buy me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/paulamm

I had the pleasure of chatting with Greer Kirshenbaum, PhD, creator of Nurture Neuroscience Parenting. Her new book 'The Nurture Revolution: Grow Your Baby's Brain and Transform Their Mental Health through the Art of Nurtured Parenting' hits shelves tomorrow June 20, 2023! And boy is it a great read.Greer chats with us about her book, why nurture is so revolutionary, and we even hit up some of my fave topics like self-soothing and society's rules around parenting.Find The Nurture Revolution wherever books are sold, share it with your friends, buy it for anyone expecting: seriously it's that good.You can find Greer on Instagram at @nurture_neuroscience_parenting and on her website nurture-neuroscience.comAs always, find me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and tell me your thoughts on this episode! Leave a review if you like this content and if you'd like to support you can buy me a coffee at buymeacoffee.com/paulamm

Today's interview is for all the data nerds! I had the pleasure of chatting with soon-to-be PhD in Child Development Jessica Guy (@infantsleepscientist), and Dr. Laura Gainche (@scienceforallwomen), who is a sleep physiology PhD. Jess and Laura have joined forces to create Your Science Team (@yourscienceteam) and bring holistic sleep coaches all the sleep science we need plus disentangle the mess that is infant sleep research. Both of these women are so knowledgeable and just an absolute pleasure to chat with! Give them a follow on Instagram and check out their services. As always, follow me on Instagram @paulamoralesmcdowell - I'd love to hear your thought's on today's episode! Also, if you are interested in supporting this podcast, you can buy me a coffee here. (Truly appreciated- not in any way required!!!) Thank you for being an amazing audience!!

In the English-speaking Western world, sleep training has become the default. And as sleep trainers grow in numbers, so do the misconceptions about sleep and unrealistic expectations. In my practice, I have found that it's these myths that are causing parents anxiety- more so then their baby's actual wakefulness. So let's unpack some common myths together! This episode is jam packed with info but here are some topics covered: scheduling, sleep needs, self soothing, nursing to sleep, bedsharing, and more. As always, come chat with me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and leave a review if you haven't already.

For too long birthing parents have been told that all that matters is a healthy baby. Well that's crap. Your birth experience matters. The healthcare you receive, the support, the validation, the empowerment... it all helps to welcome you into parenthood. In this week's episode, Cheyenne Scarlett (@theinfodoula on Instagram) talks about the birth planning process, her research, and some of the unique challenges Black birthing folks experience in Canada. Be sure to give her a follow as well as @theblackbirthproject where Cheyenne and Kamika Rennel are collecting community data to better provide resources for birthing people. As always, please leave a review and send me a message if you liked this episode and tell me what you want to hear next! You can find me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell Much love!

This week I am chatting with another brilliant mind in the sleep world, my good friend and Public Health professional Candace St.John. We are breaking down a study that just came out last week titled 'Can cry tolerance be increased in mothers of infants with sleep problems, and why does it matter? A quasi-experimental study'. You can find it here. Let us know your thoughts on where sleep research is heading and what you feel should be studied instead! Check out Candace's work on Instagram @candacestjohn.mph And as always, find me at @paulamoralesmcdowell on Instagram as well

Today's episode touches upon an eternal debate: is sleep training at odds with attachment theory? Michelle is an expert in infant mental health and you might know her from Babies & Brains on Instagram and Tiktok... and if you don't go follow her ASAP! In this interview, she breaks down the basics of attachment theory and attunnement, why it might be at odds with sleep training, and what we can do to repair. Plus more tea on our thoughts on the industry as a whole. Follow Michelle @babiesandbrains on your fave social media platform and look out for her upcoming guide on parenting through attachment if you're looking to learn more. Join her subscription on Instagram for unfiltered Q&As and extra content. Thank you so much for listening! Follow me (Paula) on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and let me know what you want to hear about next!

Welcome to Bedtime Tea with Paula! In this debut episode, we're diving right in to a hot topic right now in the sleep world: the FDA's approval of the Snoo. You'll hear my thoughts on what this means and why some of the messaging coming from Happiest Baby is problematic. You will also hear from Dr Bonnie Sotto, a Pediatric Physical Therapist, who talks about what we should be looking out for in terms of physical development and extended swaddling. Find Dr Bonnie at @milestone_mama on Instagram or @milestonemama on Tiktok.Follow me (Paula) on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and let me know what you want to hear about next!Some articles referenced in this episode: FDA approval Business Insider's Look at Happiest Baby

In this episode, I chat with the lovely Jess & Nita, Registered Dieticians, moms and co-owners of Happy Healthy Eaters. They have an amazing course: Starting Solids Confidently (Use PAULA15 for 15% off!) where they teach you how to start your baby on solids in a way that stays true to your family's values while meeting your child's nutritional needs.  Today we chat about common questions around starting solids such as when to start, what foods to introduce first, and more! Be sure to give Jess & Nita a follow on Instagram at @happyhealthyeaters and check out their website which is full of amazing resources: happyhealthyeaters.com As always, follow me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell to continue the conversation and give this podcast a review on Apple Podcasts if you like what you hear. You can also leave me a voice note on Anchor to answer in a future episode.

Christia Spears Brown is an author, researcher, and professor of Developmental Psychology. Her book 'Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue' was incredibly eye opening for me early in my parenting journey. Dr Brown goes through the research around gender differences in kids and concludes that there is very little actual differences between boys and girls, despite society telling us there is.  Now Dr Brown is releasing a new book, Unravelling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why It's Time to Break the Cycle. Expanding past gender, Dr Brown explores biases around race, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and more. Needless to say, this was a fantastic conversation and one I feel is really important for parents to have. We discussed gender biases, trans rights, how immigration policies affect kids, and more. You can find Dr Brown on her website christiabrown.com and on Twitter @ChristiaBrown Preorder Unravelling Bias now wherever you get your books As always, you can find me on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell to continue the conversation. Feel free to drop me an audio message on Anchor to be played in a future episode! And of course, leave a review on Apple Podcasts if you like what you hear.