So we are back from another epic camping adventure and I shared on my socials what that looks like for us. It has become such a special part of our family traditions and I am so keen for you to all have a go too! We did a Q+A and lots of similar questions keep coming up. Like.. where will my baby sleep? How can we safely co-sleep? What if the tent isn’t dark enough? What about white noise? What if my baby waking in the night wakes the camping neighbours?

So, I am giving you a bit of a run down.

Understanding our children’s sensory preferences can help us to tweak their daily rhythms so that their sensory needs are being met in helpful ways. For example, if you have a child who needs vigorous bouncing or rocking to get to sleep, and your back can’t hack it - we can get creative as to how we can meet their sensory needs for vestibular input, outside of sleep time.

We were never meant to care for a child alone.

Because, the harsh reality is - that the work it takes to take care of one child, is literally more than one person can handle on their own.

Yet we are often bearing the weight of the childcare responsibilities. So, how can we make sure that our partners or alternate caregivers can do their part at bedtime?

The term ‘infant mental health’ really refers to the social and emotional development of kids from infancy to about 3 years old. The emphasis is on building and nurturing attachment relationships, because this is the context in which your baby’s brain is being built.

Today we are looking at six ways that you can nurture infant mental health in your family, or support clients and friends to do the same - because, the foundations we lay in infancy matter - and imagine a generation of humans with a secure attachment and healthy social & emotional development?!

We’ve all been asked it, and likely we have all asked it to others before - the age-old, stock-standard, question to ask new mothers.

“IS YOUR BABY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT?”

But this question is loaded. And it has unintended consequences on mothers - on their confidence. I asked a bunch of mums in my Mama Matters Insta Community how they felt when they heard this question.

The trifecta: tonsils & adenoids removal, and grommets insertion- all under general anaesthetic. My baby girl. She was 22 months by the time she went in.

We had no idea what to expect for her surgery and recovery, as every man and their dog will tell you a different story.

I don’t need to tell you how many different approaches, conflicting advice there is out there today when it comes to baby sleep - a Google search of ‘sleep training’ yields a whopping 945,000,000 responses.

I am not going to go into the whole impact of being surrounded by such approaches and advice (stick around, I’m sure I’ll go into it often), but I will give you the support to make the best decision for you and your family - from someone who knows whats important when it comes to your relationship with your babe.

Ruptures refer to those moments of disconnection between us and our kiddos - moments of mis-attunement, of having to prioritise the needs of someone or something else over the needs of your child.

Ruptures inevitably happen, and they are a part of being in any imperfect, authentic relationship.

But when ruptures happen, they need to be repaired.

It’s true, most babies want to be on us- a lot. They especially like to be held while they sleep.. and rocked, and jiggled, and bounced, and sung to, and stroked, and patted, and shhhhhh’d and allllllll the things…

So, what’s the secret to helping babies to learn to sleep somewhere else? Well, I’ll tell you….

My baby was born a healthy gal. But after she caught a cold from her lurgy big bro, who was bringing home everything from childcare, she developed a wet cough that just wouldn’t shift.

My friend was breastfeeding in a garden centre when a stranger approached her, said “he’s looking straight at me!” and reached into her pram, pulled out a t-shirt and placed it over them. She was flabbergasted. So I put out a question to our community- has anything like this ever happened to you?!