Anyone with children will know that the biggest topic of conversation anyone’s having is about one thing and one thing only - sleep. 

“The main issues I come across are parents who come to me are usually pretty exhausted, they're in the depths of sleep deprivation, and they've usually tried pretty much everything.”

Rebecca Hill is a certified Sleep Sense™ Consultant with a Postgraduate clinical background as an Anesthesia Associate for the NHS, and founder and owner of Sleepytime - Sleep Solution Consultancy, giving parents the competence and tools they need to help their little one fall asleep and stay asleep.

“I think in most cases, [parents] realise that 99% of the time their baby can't settle by themselves and they've just got into a bit of a cycle with trying to help them fall asleep but in doing that, it just kind of roller coasters the problem along so it compounds things.”

In this insightful episode, Rebecca shares her sage sleep advice with listeners to help anyone struggling with a lack of sleep. Because it’s not just babies who suffer when they don’t sleep. Sleep deprivation plays a huge role in postnatal depression and in mental health in general. 

So if you’re not getting the requisite sleep you need because a tiny terrorist is stealing the wee small hours from you, then download and listen to Rebecca and discover a good night’s sleep. 

On today’s podcast:

• Difference between genders for sleep 
• Infant sleep vs childhood sleep
• The importance of day naps 
• The science of crying 
• The truth about solid food before bed

Links:

• https://sleepytimesleep.com/
• https://sleepsense.net/our-team/rebecca-hill/

Why are people not breathing as well as they could? From sitting hunched over in front of a computer, to not knowing how to breathe properly, to living with stress and anxiety, over 90% of us are using less than 50% of our breathing capacity.

“Some people think breath work or meditation, they're just not for me, I'm not a calm person, I'm not chilled out, I have a lot of energy, my mind is always racing, I can't sit still. What they miss is understanding that these practices help you learn to do those things.”

In today’s incredibly beneficial episode we discuss the power of breath work and talk about how it can really change your life for the better with the founder of The Freedom School, and Baby2Body expert, Amrita Das. 

Amrita is a well being expert who helps people thrive through resilience and mindset coaching programmes. She's trained in breath work, meditation, yoga, and currently training in somatic stress release.

We all know that stress and fertility don’t go well together - a study in 2017 found that people who completed a 20 breathwork training session over 8 weeks had significantly lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than those who didn’t do the breath work. 

Download and listen to this episode and learn to breathe better. 

On today’s podcast:

• How breathing can help reduce stress
• Stress and fertility don’t go together
• The breathing techniques that everyone can do
• Breathing techniques for pregnancy
• Breath work and pain management
• The positive impact of breath work on mental health

Links:

• The Freedom School

A woman's diet and nutrition before, during and after pregnancy is extremely important. It plays a critical role in the baby's overall development - not getting enough essential vitamins and minerals can sometimes have devastating effects on the mother and the baby. 

But just what is good nutrition and what are the essential nutrients women need at these keys stages in life? And do we really need to be taking supplements?

Melissa Snover is founder and CEO of Nourished, a customised nutrition product - a personalised 3D printed nutritional vitamin gummy which delivers a bespoke combination of supplements to each consumer. 

“Instead of trying to make a million different product combinations [I wanted] to allow the consumer to create their very own product.”

As an avid believer in supplementation and nutrition as medicine, Melissa realised that this space was badly in need of a shake up, and so created Nourished.

“[We] combine up to seven different elements that are completely unique for any individual person and create a unique product every five minutes.”

On today’s podcast:

• The bespoke nature of Nourished
• Why one prenatal vitamin doesn’t suit everybody
• The importance of B vitamins when trying to conceive
• The impact of Vitamin D on fertility
• Best practice for taking supplements

Links:

• https://get-nourished.com/

With so much to think about during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum, we all too often overlook our dental health. Here to talk about all things oral health before, during and after pregnancy is Linda Greenwall from Hampstead Healthcare. 

“In the olden days they used to say for every pregnancy you lost a tooth, because of the situation with mothers’ oral health being so poor.”

But times have changed and we know now that when you're thinking of getting pregnant you should get your oral health sorted out, because your dental health is representative of your overall general health.

“The mouth is a mirror of how your health is through the rest of your body and it's really key to be able to get that in order. We now know there's so many links between our health and our general health, especially during pregnancy. For example, babies who are born too early can be related to problems in oral health for mothers.”

In this fascinating discussion on oral health and the importance of it for a healthy pregnancy, Linda discusses the impact pregnancy hormones can have on our mouths, in particular the high instances of gingivitis during pregnancy and the implications it can have on your dental health if left unchecked. 

To learn what you can do to mitigate any issues with your dental health during pregnancy, don’t miss this incredibly insightful episode. 

On today’s podcast:

• The link between dental health and our overall health
• Why we need to learn to brush our teeth effectively
• Morning sickness and teeth enamel
• Why you need fluoride in your toothpaste
• The tooth kit as recommended by a dentist

Links:

• https://www.lindagreenwall.co.uk/

“I think about the three pillars almost like a stool. You've got your nutrition, your mental health, and then your physical fitness. And if one of those pieces, one of those legs of the stool isn’t there, you're going to topple over.”

So much of pregnancy and motherhood is about trying to take care of our physical health and well being. But brain health and the mental well being of mums to be, new mums, and especially mums who are old hat at child rearing, is of paramount importance. 

“Your brain needs four things to thrive: nutrition, hydration, sleep, and oxygen. If you've got those things perfectly balanced you can go into the mind and focus on the million different things that will impact mental health.”

Dan Murray-Serter is the host of number one UK business podcast, Secret Leaders, as well as co-founder of the number one brain health and mental wellness brand, Heights. 

“Our job as a company is to introduce the importance of putting your brain first and focusing on the nutritional impact and nutritional side of what will happen if you feed your brain the nutrients it needs.” 

This episode is a truly fascinating insight into the importance of feeding your brain and the impact a healthy brain has, not just on your mental health, but on your whole well being. When you put your brain first, the rest of your body will respond positively.

On today’s podcast:

• Dan’s journey to Heights
• The importance of exercise and nutrition for brain health
• The best exercise for mental health
• Neuroplasticity - you can be anything you want to be
• Gratitude journaling and the psychology of positivity 
• Synaptic pruning and baby brain 
• Three tips for better brain health
• The vital vitamins and nutrients for preconception 

Links:

• Patrick Holford - Optimum Nutrition For The Mind
• Secret Leaders
• Heights
• Dan Murray-Serter

If you'd like to try Your Heights - Dan Murray's brain wellness supplement then use code baby2body to receive £10 off a quarterly subscription - visit www.yourheights.com.

“A lot of people focus on the baby so much that they really just forget themselves. And they forget that actually they've gone through something quite transformational, physically and emotionally and mentally.”

If you’ve had children you’ll understand why Connie Simmonds is on a mission to help women who are struggling with their weight and body image post-pregnancy. Connie is a distinguished health and beauty blogger and author of the book Healthy Forever: The Happiest Weight Loss Book Ever. 

Connie uses her Instagram platform to share her personal journey with weight gain, weight loss and body image in the wake of her pregnancy and postpartum. Because these issues can have a real impact on a woman’s health and well being. 

“If you feel positive about those changes, that's obviously going to have a [positive] knock on effect with everything else in your life. If you feel negative in the shell that you're in, that's gonna then have a negative knock on effect with everything else in your life.”

It’s incredibly natural to put on weight during pregnancy, the American Institute of Medicine recommends that the average woman gain between one and four pounds by the end of the first trimester, and one to two pounds per week for the rest of the pregnancy, totaling between 25-35 pounds of weight gain. 

But women are conditioned from a young age to fear weight gain, so it’s a huge undertaking to get your head around. For anyone struggling at the moment, this is a really insightful episode, raw, honest and open.

On today’s podcast:

• The significance of pregnancy on body image 
• Pregnancy is a different experience for every woman
• Unrealistic expectations of weight gain during pregnancy
• The importance of understanding the science of pregnancy
• Connie’s recommended tools for coping 
• The impact of social media on mental health

Links:

• Healthy Forever: The Happiest Weight Loss Book Ever!
• Instagram - @conniesimmonds

You are what you eat. We all know this phrase, but the truth is, what we eat doesn’t just impact us, it affects our children too. Maternal diet doesn’t simply start and end with pregnancy. Its importance stretches from before preconception right the way through to ante-natal and beyond into later life. 

In this inaugural episode with Dr Karen Morton we explore at what stage women should consider their lifestyle and diet when trying to conceive. 

“It's for your whole life, from before you were even conceived right the way through to your dying day. The concept of we are what we eat is undoubtedly true, but we are also what our mothers ate. And that's really the whole concept of optimising the intrauterine environment, before, during, and then forever after.”

But one of the biggest things influencing all of our diets is sugar. We don’t eat well on the sugar front. In fact, there are over 1 million people living in the UK with undiagnosed type-2 diabetes right now. And some of these people are women of reproductive age who may not have actual type-2 diabetes just yet, but they’re on the path to developing it. 

“The really interesting thing about carbohydrate intake is that it's not the absolute amounts that you eat, but it's the combinations of food that are so interesting.”

So before you even start trying to get pregnant, look at your nutrition. 

This episode provides a really good introduction for how beneficial a healthy well balanced diet is at all stages of life, but particularly before and during pregnancy.

On today’s podcast:

• Maternal diet and the epigenetic effect of that
• Common nutritional deficiencies women should be aware of
• The influence of natural disasters on the genetics of unborn babies
• How to deal with morning sickness
• The risk factors for developing gestational diabetes
• Why you should exercise after eating

Introducing The Body Brief, launching October 2020.

For more information, visit https://baby2body.com