Guilt is a common but wasted emotion. It often comes about from trying to be a perfect mother when perfection does not exist. When guilt pops up, check in with what your guilt is telling you.
6 Things That Are Just Not True About Baby Sleep
Baby Sleep Myth #1: Comparing Your Baby to Other Babies. It is almost impossible not to… especially when you’re sitting beside a fresh-faced mother of three who is telling you about how her newborn baby slept through the night again last night. But you should avoid comparing your baby to other babies or you’ll drive yourself mad.
When Things Get Physical: Hitting, Throwing, Kicking and Biting
Toddlers and preschoolers are still in the early stages of learning to communicate verbally. Add to that the fact that they have little-to-no impulse control and very immature social skills, and you’ve got a recipe for an instinctive physical response (i.e. hitting, kicking, biting, hair pulling, throwing things, etc.) to situations when they are frustrated, angry, excited, scared, or just tired and out-of-sorts.
Why Do I Yell at My Kids and How Do I Stop?
“Bring on all the good advice”… said no new mum ever!
Being pregnant for the first time is one of the most incredible experiences of a woman’s life. There is the sense of wonder at the way your body unfolds, making room for this unknown being who is about to become the centre of your universe. There is also the terror, punctuated by exhaustion and uncertainty.
Does Anxiety Get in the Way of You Being the Parent You Want to Be?...
A number of the parents I meet are frustrated (and possibly a little frightened) by their anxious responses to some of the day to day challenges of becoming a parent. They might find it difficult to respond with calmness to the sound of their waking baby, for fear of not knowing what they are going to do to re-settle their child. Or the parent may shout in response to their two-year-old child’s misbehaviour as they feel their frustration creep into anxious response.
Help – My Baby Will Only Sleep On Me!
One of the most common concerns I hear from new parents is that their baby will only sleep on them. On their chest, nursing or in a sling, they are happy but the moment they are gently placed down in their basket, they awaken crying and desperate to be picked up again. This is such a source of worry for a parent who loves their baby and wants to do things “right".
Foods that may help your breastmilk production
Are you offering unconditional love in your parent-child relationship?
Over the years as I have worked with, advised, laughed with, worried with, walked the journey with thousands of parents, I have found one thing missing in many parent-child relationships. It is the one thing everyone needs and the one thing most live their entire lifetime without. That unpracticed aspect is a relationship based on unconditional love.
How to manage well-meaning parenting advice from friends and family this Christmas
Minimise Post-traumatic Stress after Childbirth
The Emotional and Psychological Aspects of Breastfeeding
In Pursuit of Happiness
There is a lot that’s said about happiness. Money can’t buy it, others can’t create it for you, stuff doesn’t lead to it, and neither does isolation. So we meditate, eat right, exercise, pray (or not), try our best to make real and lasting relationships, have stable jobs, and try to be nice to the ones we love. But how do we know if we are really getting there?
The Motherhood Ideal
Many of us enter the world of motherhood with higher expectations than, as soon becomes evident, can possibly be achieved. Why shouldn’t new parents hope and plan for their ideal? A healthy pregnancy, with a glowing mother to be, a text book perfect labour that is not too long, drug free, with favourite tunes playing quietly in the background as you meet your new baby for the very first time.
12 Tips to Help a Great Mum be Greater
Stay true to yourself. You don’t have to give up your own passions and interests once you become a mum. It’s important that you find time for what YOU love to do. Reading, writing, exercising – make these a priority and find a way to incorporate them into your routine. Easier said than done, I know, but you should at least aim to keep doing what you love, even if you don’t get to do it as often as before.
Parenthood: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
Becoming a parent for the first time changes you. You are no longer responsible for only you, but have at least one other person completely reliant on you. This is often the time where it is easy to forget you are not only a mum or dad, but you also remain an individual with needs and aspirations of self.
