Swaddlers + Waddlers

We talk a lot in our weekly conversations about tips for staying regulated and supported in parenthood so this week we spent time sharing ideas for helping little ones respond to overstimulation and overwhelm. It can sometimes be surprising and hard to discern from other behaviors. Most often it looks like: requests for increased attachment or connection, fear, aggression, resistance, disconnection and irritation (by no means an exhaustive list). Like adults, there can be obv

What happens when we trust our child, and when is it hard for us to do that? For our Swaddlers conversation, a lot of the discussion centered on trusting our babies when it comes to sleep (theirs and ours) Trusting that they are waking for good reasons — developmental changes/growth (which might wake them on their own, but also means they might need more nursing), teething, feeling rested from late naps Finding ways of meeting our needs and their needs. For example, when o

We've been exploring Kristen Neff's work on having fierce self compassion and applying it to motherhood. Practicing this level of self compassion means to offer yourself the same amount of protection that you would your child. It means talking to yourself with as much love as you do your child and loving yourself just as much. You may find that it's necessary to sit with these invitations for a while first, practice often and offer yourself the opportunity for a re-do for mor

Community play like going to the park, music classes, play dates, playgroups and library meet-ups can be exciting but also overwhelming and full of new firsts. Here are some of the suggestions we’ve shared in group: Sharing is not developmentally expected. It’s normal for toddlers to want to keep their toys safe or not want to stop playing to give the toy to a friend. It’s also normal for toddlers to take toys from one another as they work through some of the social expecta

Despite some popular opinions, food readiness has to do with development, not age. In general, babies are ready to explore solid foods when they can sit up mostly unassisted and are no longer tongue thrusting. The correlating age range is between 5-8 months for most babies. We offer a separate solid foods workshop quarterly in-person or as a recorded class. We cover readiness signs, getting started, common first foods and stages, baby led weaning, iron levels, choking and al

Some babies are happy to sit at the table peacefully and eat with no end in sight while other parents find it hard to keep babies at the table. As always, there are a variety of perspectives. You can either keep very clear expectations with simple mantras like "your bottom stays in the seat at the table" or you can opt for the other direction which is to choose your battles carefully and meet them where they're at: consider getting on the floor for a picnic, offer smaller tab