The Responsive Family Sleep Podcast
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by conflicting sleep information; frustrated by sleep advice that felt wrong; or searched for a truly gentle, responsive alternative to sleep training, then you are in the right place. In each episode I’ll be answering your most pressing baby and toddler sleep questions, dispelling common sleep myths, deepening your understanding of biologically normal sleep, and encouraging you to trust your intuition. And because sleep is rarely just about sleep, you may just find some responsive parenting, lactation, or self-care tips sprinkled in along the way.
I’m your host, Kim Hawley, MA, MPH, IBCLC Holistic Sleep Coach, Lactation Consultant, Peaceful Parenting Educator, and mom. My specialty is truly holistic, developmental, attachment focused sleep support – no hidden sleep training here!
Episodes
119 episodes
Let’s Talk Nursing Limits
Your toddler nurses 1 million times a night (or at least it feels like it)! Your little won’t unlatch for hours on end. There are many reasons why you might want to set some limits around your toddler’s nursing around sleep or otherwise, but ho...
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Episode 118
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14:17
Supporting Your Little’s Sleep When They Are Sick With Pediatrician Dr. J
It’s germ season, and babies, toddlers, and young kids get sick a lot! In this episode, I’m talking with pediatrician Dr. J about supporting sleep when your little is sick. We chat about:What to expect from sleep when your little is...
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Episode 117
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34:48
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How to Help Your Little Build Familiarity With a New Sleep Space
Switching sleep spaces can be stressful for both parents and babies. Whether you are moving your little from their bassinet to their crib, crib to big kid bed, bedsharing to floor bed, it can be a big transition. In this episode I’m sharing way...
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Episode 116
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10:28
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Helping Your Partner Be More Involved in Supporting Sleep
Parent preference is a really normal thing, and it’s a common struggle around sleep. Sometimes it’s developmental and sometimes it comes from doing what works for so long that we just don’t have experience doing something else anymore. In this ...
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Episode 115
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15:37
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Building Your Sleep Soothing Toolbox With Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is a common strategy I use with many families when they want to make a change with sleep or have more flexibility. In this episode I’m sharing:What is habit stacking (or layering sleep associations)?When and ...
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Episode 114
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10:32
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How Do I Get My Baby’s Sleep to Be More Predictable?
Sleep predictability is a common struggle for many families. And the important thing to note is that not all babies are going to have the same level of predictability in their sleep patterns. In this episode I’m talking you through the things w...
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Episode 113
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13:48
Troubleshooting Daycare Nap Struggles
For most babies and toddlers, there naps have an impact on their nighttime sleep quality. So what happens when your child is in daycare, and you aren’t in control of their naps? This is a common situation for many of the families I support. In ...
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Episode 112
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12:40
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What’s Your Baby’s (And Your) Chronotype?
Are you a morning or evening person? What about your baby or toddler? We all have tendencies in our circadian rhythm, and this episode dives into those tendencies or chronotypes. I talk about the general trends in chronotypes, some impacts of m...
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Episode 111
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14:25
The Dos and Don’ts of Black Out Curtains
Black out curtains are a popular tool for helping people of all ages get better sleep. In this episode I’m talking you through when to use black out curtains and some of the unintended impacts I see with my clients. I discuss:Why to...
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10:48
Nap Trapped Again? Tips for Contact Naps
Are you regularly nap trapped? Whether you know your little routinely needs contact naps to get good sleep or you just find yourself caught in a phase where it’s happening a lot, being nap trapped by a contact nap can be frustrating. In this ep...
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Episode 109
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11:47
From the Archives: Tips and Tricks for Enjoying Bedsharing With Tiffany From Cosleepy
Welcome to the last of the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. ...
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Episode 108
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55:43
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From the Archives: How Sleep Training Culture Shapes Your Sleep Expectations (Even When You Don’t Want to Sleep Train)
Welcome to the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. Sleep...
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Episode 107
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17:18
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From the Archives: Nurturing Your Parent Brain With Rocio From Newborn Parents
Welcome to the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. There...
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Episode 106
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22:49
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From the Archives: Let's Talk Sleep and Lactation
Welcome to the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. Sleep...
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Episode 105
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19:20
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From the archives: When will my baby (or toddler) sleep through the night?
Welcome to the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. When ...
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Episode 104
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13:00
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From the archives: Sleep and regulation with Lyndsey Hookway
Welcome to the summer from the archives series! We’re revisiting some much loved podcast episodes from the early months of the podcast. These are episode that are great to revisit at different points in your parenting journey. This ...
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Episode 103
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35:50
Why Is My Toddler Getting the Zoomies Right at Bedtime
You know they are tired, and suddenly they just start zooming around the house! Toddlers can be notorious for getting wild right when you want to calm them down for sleep. In this episode, I’m sharing some of the reasons why your toddler might ...
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Episode 102
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20:03
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Life With a Low Sleep Needs Baby or Toddler
There’s lots of talk about how much babies should sleep, but much of that conversation centers around averages, often the higher end of those averages. So what happens if your baby never seems to sleep as much as they are supposed to? You may h...
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Episode 101
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13:29
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Why Is My Baby or Toddler Waking So Early in the Morning?
Early morning waking is such a frustrating and tricky sleep challenge. IN this episode I talk through some of the causes of early waking. I share some realistic expectations around what is early waking, some seasonal patterns, and talk through ...
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Episode 100
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12:22
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Supporting Exhaustion and Overstimulation With Sara Sandland
So many new parents (moms especially) experience exhaustion and overstimulation in early parenting. Some struggle more in the baby year with the higher level of touch and sleep disruption. Some struggle more in the toddler years with the increa...
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Episode 99
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40:39
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Separation Anxiety or Normal Maternal Biology?
When is it parental separation anxiety and when is it simply normal biology? In a culture that values separation and independence, where is the line between a parent’s instinct that they and their baby aren’t ready to be separated around nightt...
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Episode 98
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21:33
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How Mom Guilt Can Be a Notification With Alysia Lyons
Mom guilt is such a huge challenge for so many new moms. In this episode, I’m joined by Alysia Lyons, mom, author, and coach, to talk about mom guilt. We talk about how mom guilt is a notification that your actions are out of alignment with you...
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Episode 97
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49:05
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Tips for Supporting Sleep Through Summer Travel
It’s summer travel season! So many parents worry about the impact of travel on sleep. In this episode I’m talking about some tips for common travel concerns. I talk about some mindset tips around how well your baby or toddler travels and ways t...
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Episode 96
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16:25
Does Introducing Solids Improve Baby Sleep?
Anyone with a baby somewhere around 4-6 months has probably heard the advice to start solids to help improve sleep. And yet, the reality of the impact of solid food on baby sleep doesn’t back up this common advice. In this episode I’m talking a...
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Episode 95
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9:34
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What to Do When Your Baby Won’t Transfer to the Crib
Transfers are hard! And yet the thought of putting your baby in the crib awake and them peacefully drifting off to sleep is laughably unrealistic. In this episode, I’m sharing my best transfer troubleshooting tips. I also share a few thoughts o...
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Episode 94
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13:28
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