Doula Talk Blog & Podcast
Welcome. This is a space for thoughtful guidance, honest conversations, and practical insight for the postpartum period and first year.
Here you’ll find blog posts and podcast episodes that help you make sense of sleep, feeding, recovery, and the emotional load of early parenthood. My goal is not to give you more rules to follow, but to help you understand what’s happening beneath the surface so you can respond with clarity and confidence.
Whether you’re navigating sleep disruptions, feeding challenges, or simply trying to feel more steady in your role as a parent, these resources offer evidence-informed perspective, real-world context, and support you can return to whenever you need it.
You don’t have to figure it all out alone.
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Building Confidence in Baby Sleep: How to Make Baby Sleep Decisions Without Spiraling
If you've spent any time Googling baby sleep at 2 a.m., you already know the problem isn't a lack of information. It's too much of it, and none of it agrees.
One account says feed your baby to sleep. Another says never feed your baby to sleep. Someone says contact naps are biologically normal and beautiful. Someone else says they're creating bad habits you'll regret. One expert says sleep train immediately, and another makes it sound like a few minutes of fussing will require years of therapy.
Meanwhile, you're holding your phone six inches from your face at 2:14 a.m., praying your baby doesn't wake up again, wondering: Is my baby broken? Did I create this? Am I ruining sleep forever?
Here's what I want you to hear first: you're probably not doing nearly as badly as you think. Most of the exhausted, overwhelmed parents I work with haven't caused their baby's sleep challenges. They're just trying to make sense of conflicting information while caring for a baby who keeps changing on them.
Regulation Over Routines: Why Your Baby Doesn’t Need a Perfect Schedule
A mom told me recently that she spent three hours trying to decide between a two-hour-and-fifteen-minute wake window and a two-hour-and-thirty-minute one. By the end of the day, she was crying in the nursery because she couldn't tell if she was making everything worse.
That story broke my heart, not because she was doing anything wrong, but because she'd reached a point so many parents reach. She wasn't asking for a schedule anymore. She wanted someone to tell her she wasn't failing.
If that's you right now, I want you to hear this: after almost twenty years of supporting families, here's what I know. A schedule can support sleep. A schedule cannot create it, and you cannot force your baby to sleep. Before we ever talk about routines, we have to talk about regulation. That's the foundation everything else sits on.
Timing Is Everything: Why Your Baby Isn’t Fighting Sleep (Usually)
You’ve changed the diaper. Your baby has been fed. The room is dark. The sound machine is on. You’ve rocked, bounced, walked, shushed, and probably questioned every decision you’ve made since breakfast.
Your baby looks exhausted.
But they. Will. Not. Sleep.
If this sounds familiar, you may have found yourself Googling “Why is my baby fighting sleep?” while simultaneously trying to convince a very unhappy baby that sleep is, in fact, a wonderful thing.
But here’s something I want more parents to know:
Your baby probably isn’t fighting sleep. They’re communicating something.
And figuring out what they’re communicating can be much more helpful than immediately changing your entire routine or assuming you need sleep training.
RAINBOW Method: How to Make Intuitive Decisions in Postpartum (When Everything Feels Uncertain)
If you’re in the postpartum season right now, you’ve probably noticed something.
The decisions don’t stop after birth.
In many ways, they get harder.
Because now it’s not just about what might happen.
It’s about what’s happening right now, in real time, with a baby in your arms and very little margin for error… or at least that’s what it feels like.
Should I keep nursing or switch to formula?
Do we move forward with a tongue tie release?
Is it time to sleep train, or is my baby just not ready?
Should I go back to work… or stay home longer?
And underneath all of that is one quiet, persistent question:
How do I know what’s actually right for us?
Finding the Rhythm in the First Weeks: Sleep, Feeding, and Why Postpartum Support Matters
The early weeks with a newborn can feel deceptively intense. Days and nights blur together, sleep comes in short bursts, feeding feels constant, and just when something starts to make sense, it seems to change again.
For many families, this isn’t the moment of panic people often talk about. It’s quieter than that. It’s the feeling of holding a lot, all the time, without quite knowing how to interpret what’s happening.
This is often when families begin looking for postpartum support. Not because something is “wrong,” but because the mental load of figuring everything out alone starts to feel heavy.
Understanding how newborn sleep, feeding, and wake windows actually work in the first weeks can make this season feel steadier and far less overwhelming.
Is This Just Normal… or Is It Time to Get Sleep Support?
If you're here, you’re probably running on fumes. Maybe you're clutching your coffee like a lifeline, Googling “why won’t my baby sleep” at 2am, or whispering to yourself, “this can’t be normal, right?”
Beyond the Latch: How Tongue Ties Shape Airway, Sleep, and Development (Guest: Brittany Hageman)
When you’re pregnant or in the early postpartum days, you’re already juggling so much — from feeding schedules and diaper blowouts to that endless question of, “Why won’t my baby sleep?” And then someone mentions a tongue tie, and suddenly you’re down a Google rabbit hole wondering if this tiny piece of tissue under your baby’s tongue could be the root cause of everything.
Trust Your Gut, Not Just the Books: Tapping Into Parental Intuition Around Sleep
Let’s bust a myth right off the bat: there’s no one-size-fits-all method that magically works for every child. That’s especially true when you’re parenting in a connected, responsive way.
Attachment parenting doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your sanity. And seeking sleep support doesn’t mean you’re abandoning your instincts.
Your Baby Doesn’t Need a Perfect Sleep Plan. They Need You.