The Sleep Sessions

On today's episode, Allison shares her heartbreaking, yet inspirational story that starts with a postpartum hemorrhage resulting in an emergency hysterectomy following the birth of her first son. Due to the events that occurred, Allison became unable to carry and birth another child and was forced the grieve her dream of doing so. She shares about this grieving process, breastfeeding, returning to work after her maternity leave, and struggling to connect with other women who were having "normal" motherhood experiences. Though she experienced tremendous trauma, Allison's story has a happy ending thanks to her sister stepping in to be a surrogate and carry her second son. 

On today’s episode, Ali Levine shares about her traumatic first birth experience that ultimately led to her journey with postpartum depression and challenges with breastfeeding. Luckily, she has a strong support system and was able to overcome these hardships. Ali recently gave birth to her second baby girl via a successful VBAC and found having her placenta encapsulated really helped her through the postpartum period this time around. 

About Ali Levine: Born and raised in New York, Ali has worked for some of the biggest names in the Fashion Industry. Ali relocated to Los Angeles, California and became a household name as a celebrity stylist. Ali recently appeared with her husband on Bravo's hit show, "Stripped." Ali makes regular appearances on local to National television promoting herself as a brand becoming an on- camera expert. After Ali's 1st birth of her daughter Amelia Rei, Ali transitioned to mompreneur and mommy influencer across the board. Belonging to sought after mommy groups her fashion sense plus real life day to day inspires many who follow her and cover her. Now she is a mama of two girls and sharing it all!! Ali has a well known podcast called Striptd Down with Ali Levine, all about motherhood, real, raw and everything in between!! You can find her @alilevinedesign.

Sleep consultant, Dr. Sarah Mitchell shares about her experiences with undiagnosed gestational diabetes, attachment parenting, and postpartum anxiety.

From Ottowa, Ontario, Sarah and her husband now live in the San Francisco Bay area with her 9 year old son and 7 year old daughter. With 8 years of university healthcare research, Sarah thought she’d be prepared to deal with her son’s sleeping habits as a newborn. She began to struggle with unexpected sleeping issues and became obsessed with researching, studying and talking to experts about implementing solutions.

Main points:

1:58 Planned on natural approaches

2:14 Undiagnosed gestational diabetes

3:23 Signs of gestational diabetes

4:26 Sleep problems

5:43 Birth incision healing

6:18 Postpartum anxiety

7:00 Sleeping and Maternity leave in Canaday

8:26 Sleeping pressure in Canada vs. United States

8:47 Sleeping approaches based on family demands

10:50 Path to good sleep

12:24 Have a plan in place that you feel comfortable with

12:32 Mental shift

14:24 Starting sleep routine

17:29 Sleeping through the night and Feeding habits

19:41 Second child

21:06 Sleep and impact on relationships in life: tension with husband

Tips and Resources:

Therapy

Self-care

Sleep Summary by age

Bringing up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman

Be sure to subscribe to The Sleep Sessions wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along on Instagram at @thesleepsessions.

On today’s episode, Cassie Young from The Bert Show gets open & honest about her struggles with postpartum depression and anxiety. She also shares her birth story and new mother experience including a failed epidural multiple times, breastfeeding, going back to work after maternity leave, and mental health struggles & seeking professional health.

Cassie lives with her husband and 8 month old baby. Although they live away from many of their family members, they are taking life day by day while raising their child. Working for such a small company, Cassie is grateful to be employed at a firm that believes in a paid maternity leave.

Main points:

2:46 Maternity leave and employers

7:15 Birth experience: induced labor, 4 x local anesthetic, failed epidurals, silent baby after birth, bleeding heavily, breakthrough cry

12:51 Physical recovery

14:52 Natural practices

16:37 Bringing her home: fear of hurting baby, nightmares

23:08 Mental health: postpartum depression, anxiety

27:20 Working through mental health

29:58 Relationships in life

Tips and Resources:

Sleep training

Moms on Call swaddling technique

Taking Cara Babies

Be sure to subscribe to The Sleep Sessions wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along on Instagram at @thesleepsessions.

On today's episode, Savannah shares about her experience as a single, young mom to her beautiful baby girl, Charlotte. After an unplanned pregnancy with an unsupportive partner, Savannah impressively decided to move forward with raising her daughter all on her own. Her birth story started at 32 weeks when she went into pre-term labor which required her to be on bed rest for the remaining 8 weeks of her pregnancy.

After coming home, Savannah noticed that her daughter had a tongue tie and a dairy intolerance that made breastfeeding very difficult. They also faced some sleep challenges and are still working through them now that Charlotte is 1-year-old. Savannah's family initially had some negative feelings towards her pregnancy but eventually came around and are now a very strong support system for her and her daughter.

Be sure to subscribe to The Sleep Sessions wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along on Instagram at @thesleepsessions. 

Today’s Guest is TV Host & Entertainment Reporter, Stuart Brazell. Stuart is currently 38 weeks pregnant with her second baby and shares about how her first birth experience didn’t go as planned, requiring a vacuum and an episiotomy, leading to a very challenging physical recovery. Although she didn’t feel like herself for months after her son was born, she was able to successfully breastfeed for 18 months.

Stuart lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband Robbie and 2 year old son.

Main points:

3:45 First Birth Experience: pitocin, membrane-swipe, epidural, vacuum, high-blood pressure

8:50 Physical Recovery

10:06 Breastfeeding: 18 months, good experience, working while breastfeeding

10:40 Sleeping: night nurse, abroad trip

Methods: bath and book routine, patience

14:24 Balancing Work and Mom life

16:58 Being Pregnant while Parenting Another

19:55 Acid Reflux: gripe water, diet, breastfeeding

22:57 Travelling with a Newborn

24:23 Having a Child and Relationships

Tips and Resources:

Take advantage of the online communities of moms

Be sure to subscribe to The Sleep Sessions wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along on Instagram at @thesleepsessions.

Colleen and her husband were planning on an unmedicated hospital birth, but were shocked when their son flipped into a breech position at 37 weeks gestation. While this resulted in an unplanned C-section, Colleen still had a very positive birth experience.

Colleen, her husband Patrick and soon to be one year old Rory are an animal loving family as owners to their dog Scout and horse Matt

Main points:

Birth Story (1:53)

Positive C-section experience (4:15)

Preeclampsia post C-section (5:16)

C-section advice (7:38)

Going home from hospital (9:17)

Breastfeeding jaundice and switching to formula(11:22)

Sleeping (14:33)

Going back to work (16:14)

Nightime routine (18:31)

New baby and relationships in life (22:48)

Tips and Resources:

Find time for yourself

Love to dream swaddle

Mayen Abdominal massage post c-section

Be sure to subscribe to The Sleep Sessions wherever you listen to podcasts and follow along on Instagram at @thesleepsessions.

As a fitness icon and mother of two, Miranda Alcaraz has had to learn how to navigate major changes to her body & mind all while growing her business and community, Street Parking.

On today’s episode, Miranda Alcaraz shares about her two unmedicated births, switching to a home birth just weeks before her due date due to Covid, a surprise first pregnancy that changed her perspective on motherhood entirely, and how “owning it” impacted her career for the better.

She also talks about her breastfeeding journey, struggles with body image, sleep challenges, and how she learned to love motherhood more than she could have ever imagined.