Spoil Your Baby Ep 34 – Navigating Sleep with a Newborn & Toddler

Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of adding another baby to your family and wondering how everyone will ever sleep? We’ve got you covered!

In this episode of the Spoil Your Baby podcast, we connect with Rachel Shepard-Ota, the founder of Hey Sleepy Baby. Rachel shares her personal journey into the world of baby sleep, which began after a “horribly traumatic experience” with sleep training her first child. This pivotal moment led her to extensively research and discover attachment-focused sleep certifications, initially for her own benefit as she was on maternity leave with her second baby during COVID. What started as a personal quest and a potential “side hustle” quickly blossomed into Hey Sleepy Baby, a platform that took off, allowing her to leave her decade-long career as a special education teacher. Rachel is now dedicated to changing the narrative around infant sleep, moving away from sleep training as the default, especially in the US where lack of parental support adds extra pressure. Through her work, she aims to normalize sleep and support parents, offering alternatives and guidance to families seeking gentle, attachment-focused approaches.

Key Takeaways

● Remove the pressure to space children closely: Allow breathing room between babies to recover from tough sleep or deprivation
● Prepare for toddler regression: Have a flexible plan for how you’ll tackle sleep in the night, as toddlers may regress with a new baby
● A two-year-old is still a baby: Avoid putting too much pressure on older children; they are still tiny and need support
● Implement a “divide and conquer” strategy: If two parents are present, one can take the toddler and the other the newborn for nighttime support
● Embrace flexibility: There’s no single “right” solution in parenting, and acknowledging that everything is a phase helps manage expectations

Resources

● Guest’s Instagram: @heysleepybaby
● Guest’s Website: https://heysleepybaby.com/
● Guest Bio: Rachel Shepard-Ota is the founder of Hey Sleepy Baby, established in 2020. She was a special education teacher for about a decade before dedicating herself to attachment-focused baby sleep after a challenging experience with sleep training her first child.

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