Posted on May 8, 2016
Dear Mamas: The Podcast – Episode four
Did you have a great Mother’s Day? I hope so! I hope you got some sleep. This whole episode is about sleep!
We don’t have a sleep expert because…every baby is different! And everybody’s sleep situation and what works for them and what doesn’t – it’s all different. And to be honest – we’re just not ready to hear any more sleep advice! Instead we talk frankly about our own experiences with kids who don’t sleep, and offer our own gentle suggestions (never advice!) about how to support mums who are in this situation.
Having not slept for many millions of years I have a lot of views about sleep – Holly does too. So we thought we would just have a chat about all of that tough, tough stuff.
You might enjoy this episode if you’re not getting sleep – hopefully you’ll enjoy it even if you’re not getting sleep. And let’s face it – as parents we know that even if you’re getting sleep now, chances are things might change and you’ll be sleepless again soon! The joy!
So grab a well-deserved Mother’s Day glass of wine or a hot chocolate, put your feet up and listen to us bitch and cry about sleep haha! Beware – I swear even more than usual in this one. For obvious reasons…
If you’ve got any questions – feel free to ask them here or on my Facebook page.
Dear Mamas is a monthly parenting podcast that’s all about the real honest sometimes tough stuff. Holly Walker and I hope to build friendship and community. You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or Stitcher, or listen here on my blog. Holly will be posting transcripts of each episode here for anyone who’s unable to listen (it might be up a bit late tonight because of Mother’s Day).
This one is your best one yet. Thank you. It really helped.
I just wanted to say be strong. be you. i know this seems endless with not sleeping. oh god it is painful and awful and makes you resent your whole world. it is fucking hard. i too tried everything with our second son and he was like that for years i hate to tell you. i just want to bundle you up in a nice warm bed and take the boy off you for the day! our son did not nap from day one and didnt go to sleep until 11pm and woke hourly until he was 3. the child cried all day and all night unless he was held. we had plans of not putting our son in care until he was ready for kindy. i could NOT cope any more. the best decision we ever made was putting him in with his big brother in the kindy creche from one year old for a couple days. i know you are at the same kindy and let me just say how incredibly lucky you are to have that resource and i am SO happy to hear ham is there (tearing up here!) for some time. rachel there i’ve always considered a miracle angel when she took atarau under her wing when she was in tipu area. oh my god i love that woman so so so so so so SO much for being his guardian. for her love and absolute joy in telling me all about his day. and FOR LETTING ME GO HOME AND SLEEP for a few hours a few times a week. that place is amazing and i am so proud of being a part of that community. please NEVER have guilt for letting the support of people who will love and admire your baby help you. western culture is fucked up and that little world emulates what every other culture in the world knows – it takes a village. much love, strength and a little reminder that what seems like an eternity now does fade relatively fast.
Thank you so much Laurel. Your comment made me cry! Yes, you’re so right. They’re amazing there and they are so gentle and kind with me. I’m so grateful and feel really lucky to be part of the community there. And Ham loves it. Makes me wonder why I didn’t do it sooner. I’m already starting to feel like a human being again! Thank you for your lovely comment, it helps so much xx
Thank you for these podcasts, they really really really help me a lot. Great work, so please keep them going! Just wanted to say that my every 45 minute waker has just turned 18 months, and is FINALLY sleeping for longer stretches. 2 hours in a row in the early evening! (I actually watched a whole movie with my husband, yup, life changer.) And, only waking 2-3 times from 10pm-7am! After hitting an all time low at 16 months (I feel ya Emily) things are slowly changing, and I can see the future, it’s coming! And I haven’t done anything different, only her. I wish you both a long, pleasant slumber and a husband romp!
That’s so awesome Julie!!! I am sure Ham will get there too. I’m trusting in him and I’m sure it will work out. Comments like yours really lift me ❤️
This was fantastic, the best episode yet. My son was a terrible sleeper for the first year of his life, and I was dreading going through the same thing with my second child. She’s only 8 weeks old but already is a very different sleeper – I can see now in retrospect that while I tried a lot of different things with my son, in the end it was just getting through it until he was able to sleep better. It really does seem to be developmental.