Sleep + Parenthood

In three years of podcasting, I've never shared my own views on sleep. This is not an accident. The reality is that I'm afraid to approach this divisive topic. I do have a lot of opinions on the topic, but today--I'm sharing the 7 most important things I've learned about sleep and parenthood in my own life.







Time Stamp:



* 1:01 // Episode disclaimer* 1:53 // Episode sponsor: Native * 2:50 // Simplify Food + Family Live Workshop* 4:10 // Listener spotlight with Renee* 5:40 // Let's talk sleep



7 Tips on Improving Sleep in Parenthood



* 7:58 // Setting goals and expectations * 10:28 // Martyrdom * 13:03 // Calm Confidence* 16:05 // Limit setting* 18:40 // Thinking outside the box* 21:32 // Accepting help* 25:04 // The extinction burst* 25:32 // Recap



Full Episode Transcription



Hi there. Welcome back. Today, we're talking all about sleep. You might be thinking this seems like a pretty basic topic, but I've been podcasting now for almost three years, it'll be three years in February, and I have never really shared my own feelings and insights about sleep, and that's not an accident. I'm actually terrified to talk about sleep. Sleep and parenthood is such a polarizing topic. We all need it, but there are a lot of differing viewpoints on it. Up until this point I've kind of felt like it's better to keep my mouth shut.



We're not talking about infant sleep today. We're going to be talking about toddlerhood and beyond. I want to invite you to disagree with me. Simple Families is a community. It's not a cult. So, I expect that all you out there listening are going to have different viewpoints than me, and I hope that you do. I hope that you're not blindly following any one person, place, or thing. As always, with any of these episodes or any of my content, I invite you to take what works for you and leave what doesn't. Before we get into today's episode, I am going to share a quick word from our sponsor and a little bit about what's going on in Simple Families right now.



The sponsor for today's episode is Native. My husband and I have both been using Native long before they even started sponsoring the podcast. Native is a natural deodorant. Now, if you're anything like me, you didn't come to natural deodorant very quickly. I tried a lot of options, a lot of things that didn't work, and went back and forth between natural and conventional for a long time, particularly when we lived in Texas and it was like 100 degrees half the year. Ultimately, my husband introduced me to Native, and I figured if it worked for him, it would probably work for me. Yes, it in fact does, all seasons of the year, not just in the winter, but even in the summer when it's especially hot. So, I invite you to try it out. For 20% off your first purchase go to nativedeodorant.com and use the promo code, simple, during checkout. Again, go to nativedeodorant.com and use the promo code, simple, during checkout for 20% off your first purchase.



So, what's going on on Simple Families right now? This week I am launching a live workshop called Simplifying Food + Family, and we are focused on lightening the load around feeding your kids. I don't know about you all, but food can be a really heavy burdensome thing in a home with kids, from the grocery shopping, to the meal planning, to the cooking, to the cleaning, to the actually getting the food into your kids' mouths. It can create a lot of stress and a lot of frustrations. So, in this live workshop, we're going to break it down into three main parts. So,