In this episode of the Birthing Dads Podcast, host Steven Kennedy speaks with Carly from Little Sparklers, a charity supporting families with sleep challenges. Carly shares her personal journey from struggling with an extremely unsettled baby to founding an organization that now supports nearly 200,000 families.

Key topics covered include:

• The wide spectrum of normal infant sleep needs and why some babies naturally need less sleep
• Understanding co-regulation and how parents help babies learn to self-soothe over time
• Critical analysis of sleep training methods and their potential drawbacks
• Safe co-sleeping practices and bed-sharing guidelines
• Practical alternatives to sleep training that work with your baby's natural needs
• Managing sleep challenges when returning to work
• Creating realistic expectations for infant and toddler sleep patterns

Carly emphasizes trusting your instincts as parents, responding to your baby's individual needs, and understanding that frequent night waking is often normal developmental behaviour rather than a problem to be fixed.

https://littlesparklers.org/

Michael shares his transformative journey from a challenging 2-year fertility struggle to an empowering home birth during COVID-19. He opens up about the emotional reality of new fatherhood, including his gradual bonding process and learning to navigate a sensitive baby's needs.

The conversation covers practical insights on supporting partners through pregnancy and birth, dealing with breastfeeding challenges like mastitis, and developing a collaborative parenting approach.

Michael offers honest advice about preparing emotionally for parenthood beyond just the birth itself, emphasizing teamwork, flexibility, and finding joy amidst the inevitable challenges of early parenting.

Suzy Hodgson has a background in child and family nursing with a master's and PhD in psychology. She has clinical and academic experience in the UK and in Aotearoa and enjoy collaborating with other researchers, practice partners and experts by experience. For the past 10 years Suzy has worked in an academic environment as a research assistant, lecturer and senior lecturer and currently as a senior research officer.

Suzy enjoys networking and meeting people who are passionate about the health and wellbeing of men, particularly new fathers.

Suzy is also a registered nurse and member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium and the International Family Nurse Association.