Bedtime Tea with Paula McDowell

Today's interview is for all the data nerds! I had the pleasure of chatting with soon-to-be PhD in Child Development Jessica Guy (@infantsleepscientist), and Dr. Laura Gainche (@scienceforallwomen), who is a sleep physiology PhD. Jess and Laura have joined forces to create Your Science Team (@yourscienceteam) and bring holistic sleep coaches all the sleep science we need plus disentangle the mess that is infant sleep research. Both of these women are so knowledgeable and just an absolute pleasure to chat with! Give them a follow on Instagram and check out their services.

Welcome to Bedtime Tea with Paula!

In this debut episode, we're diving right in to a hot topic right now in the sleep world: the FDA's approval of the Snoo. You'll hear my thoughts on what this means and why some of the messaging coming from Happiest Baby is problematic. You will also hear from Dr Bonnie Sotto, a Pediatric Physical Therapist, who talks about what we should be looking out for in terms of physical development and extended swaddling. Find Dr Bonnie at @milestone_mama on Instagram or @milestonemama on Tiktok.
Follow me (Paula) on Instagram at @paulamoralesmcdowell and let me know what you want to hear about next!
Some articles referenced in this episode:

Christia Spears Brown is an author, researcher, and professor of Developmental Psychology. Her book 'Parenting Beyond Pink and Blue' was incredibly eye opening for me early in my parenting journey. Dr Brown goes through the research around gender differences in kids and concludes that there is very little actual differences between boys and girls, despite society telling us there is. 

Now Dr Brown is releasing a new book, Unravelling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why It's Time to Break the Cycle. Expanding past gender, Dr Brown explores biases around race, immigration, LGBTQ rights, and more.

Needless to say, this was a fantastic conversation and one I feel is really important for parents to have. We discussed gender biases, trans rights, how immigration policies affect kids, and more.

I had the honor of sitting down with Iris Chen, author of the book Untigering: Peaceful Parenting for the Deconstructing Tiger Parent. Iris has transformed her parenting from the authoritarian Tiger mom to becoming a peaceful parent and now an unschooling mom. We discussed what unschooling looks like in her family and how other parents can implement it, as well as how unschooling as a philosophy can be applied to our adult lives.

Such a beautiful conversation with the beautiful Nekole Amber!

I sat down with my friend Candace, also known as Sleepy Mama Says. Candace is an Epidemiologist and a sleep and wellbeing specialist like myself. In this episode, we discussed the many factors that go into making an informed decision for your family regarding your health.

Click here to download Candace's free guide to making informed decisions. 

I got to sit down with Hannah & Kelty of Upbringing! If you haven't listened to their podcast yet, it's a good one! 

We chatted control dynamics, parenting according to our values, our own parenting struggles, and more!

We had the honor of interviewing Dr. Traci Baxley, educator, coach, and author of Social Justice Parenting (out in bookstores this Fall!).

Samantha and Paula had the incredible honor to interview Dr Deborah Macnamara, developmentalist and author of the book 'Rest, Play, Grow'. We chatted toddlerhood, attachment, how kids grow up, and so much more. This is an episode you don't want to miss.

Many of us in the last year have found ourselves spending more time at home, more time working from home, and maybe even hustling a new side or full time business as well. All while parenting. Social media and online meetings and virtual classes have made this possible, but it's also made it really hard to draw a line between business and parenting and work and home life. Join two millennial moms running online businesses as they chat about just that and give you some tips along the way! 

This week we talk to Rocio Zunini, a neuroscientist whose goal is to inform and empower families to take advantage of neuroplasticity induced by parenting so that they can create a lifelong nurturing relationship with their babies. We discuss how our brain changes when we have children, why some of the 'science based' advise out there might not be best, and so much more!

This episode is a chat with Paula and Samantha about their backgrounds and histories! Learn where they come from, things that shape who they are today and also their parenting, and of COURSE, there is some social justice and positive change talk in there as well. 

In this episode, we talk to the lovely Lauren from Well Mama. She is a fellow Sleep & Wellbeing Specialist, Post Partum Doula, and Breastfeeding Counsellor. Although her resume is impressive, in this episode we dive into Lauren's childhood, as she grew up unschooled. If you've been curious about unschooling you're going to love this episode!

Join us for an inspiring interview with Bek and Emerson- two parents on a journey to parent through the lens of gender creative and compassionate parenting. We'll talk gender norms, the expectations we put on our children, reparenting ourselves through parenting our children, and what it means to be a compassionate and open parent. 

Suggested resources:

Listen to a chat with Paula and Samantha- the hosts of The Way We Parent Podcast- and get to know your two new parent friends. Hear the why behind The Way We Parent, what our vision is for this podcast, and what you can expect with future episodes. Dive into a chat about toddler emotions and how to handle them, social policies around maternity leave, societal parenting norms, and more. Because Samantha and Paula have strong opinions and are not afraid to use them!