One of the most challenging aspects of the first few months of parenting a newborn is infant crying.

 Most parents I meet who have just had their first baby say that nothing could have prepared them for how the sound of their own baby crying would make them feel. They describe feelings of helplessness, fear and frustration when their babies cry.

 Our babies’ cries are designed by nature to sound distressing to us. This ensures we wake in the night to feed and care for them. But the view we hold about whether crying is normal, and what our role is when responding to crying affects how much the crying distresses us.

 For a variety of reasons, well before they even hold their own newborn, parents have often absorbed the message that when a baby cries it’s the parent’s job to work out what’s wrong … and fix it.

 This is probably the most unhelpful message we can give parents about crying because it makes parents feel more distressed when they are unable to stop their babies from cryin...

All kids struggle with transitions.

These can be the daily struggles of moving from the dinner table to the bath, or the bigger changes that impact our child's sense of security like a house move, daycare change, or the big one - welcoming a new baby into the family. 

The struggle that kids have with transitions and change points happens for a  for a variety of reasons, but know this:

It is so normal for it to be a daily battle getting kids into the car, out of the bath and all the rest. It is our children's job to struggle with these moments, the struggle is how they grow their brains. It is our job to be bigger, stronger, wise and kind - all the things they need to support them with transitions. 

Tips for daily transitions.

We all know that feeling. It's time to get in the car and your child is really enjoying some LEGO. You know what is coming when you tell them to stop doing what they enjoy and get in the car..... As hard as this is for parents our job isn't to stop these feel...

As published on The Parenthood - Genevieve explores how we set an effective boundary for our kids. 

"When we prioritise our kids’ freedom or happiness – but overlook our kids’ crucial need to feel like their parents are in charge and “at the wheel” – we are letting them down. Too much freedom, and a lack of limits actually makes  children feel the opposite of free. When this occurs enough they often express their discomfort through limit-pushing behaviour.

Boundaries are essential for children, and also for parents, who are overwhelmed and exhausted and wondering if it’s meant to be THIS hard. As an educator working with parents around creating a secure attachment with babies and kids, and as a mum of four beautiful boys, I believe that boundaries are one of the highest forms of love there is.

So how do you set a boundary?

Let’s say your child is at a boundary moment. They are swinging from the rafters, throwing a toy,  hitting or hurting. This isn’t working for you, it is hurting ...

Sometimes we parents get it wrong.

We yell or lose it.

We ‘dig in’ for the sake of being right, long beyond the point of being helpful.

We don’t respond with kindness in a moment that requires connection, because we had our own stuff going on.

.......

 One of the biggest myths about parenting is that there’s an ideal – that it’s even possible to be the parent that our child needs all of the time.

 Parenting is hard. It’s taxing, it’s physical, and it pushes your buttons in ways you never imagined before kids.

Some days – despite knowing the parent we want to be, we are a different parent – the parent we swore we’d never be.

If you think you are the only parent making these mistakes, you’re not. We all stuff it up.

And while there is no ‘undo’ in parenting, here are the words that create a ‘reset’.

“Let me try that again”

 

It takes courage to stop and ask for a do over, but it’s worth it, in both the short and long term, for the sake of your relationship. 

Eviden...

An article by Genevieve that was published on Inner West Mums October 2020.

"The addition of a new baby into a family is always a big change. Parents are learning how to feed, settle and read cues with increased demands on time and sleep, and a newborn is adjusting to life outside the womb.

When parents welcome a second or third baby it is usually less of a learning curve for the parents than it is for the toddler or older child. For young children, it is a big transition as they adjust to sharing their parents for the first time.

The key questions parents often wonder as they prepare for a second baby are:

How can I make sure my older child feels included?

How will I juggle the demands of two (or more) children at once?

What is the best way to facilitate the introduction?

The answers lie in the relationship between us – mum, dad, parents - and our older child. There are four key things that can make this transition for our toddler or older child relatively stress-free.

When we...

Before I conceived my first child, I had a picture of how my family might look. You imagine the sweet baby, the chubby toddler and calm family meals where everyone laughs. Don’t get me wrong – I fiercely adore being a mum to my four boys, but the reality is different, (and much, much noisier) to the preconceived notions I initially had.

From the moment we conceive a baby the expectations or ideas about how that might look and who they might be are in our heads and hearts.

 I vividly remember planning my family. I was going to have a boy and a girl who were best friends. I’d pick them up from school and make their afternoon tea from scratch, before talking about their day together, calming, without talking over the top of each other.

You can imagine my shock when I had two boys close together. One screamed relentlessly for 24 months, sick with allergies and reflux, and my toddler would run away from me, push kids off the top of the slide at the park and then bite anyone – even my clo...

When I had my first son 11 years ago I got a lot of advice from family, friends, professionals and even the lady at the post office about what to prepare for. 

There was advice about not buying a corduroy couch because the babies spit up would get stuck in the grooves (for the record this was good advice and I wish I had listened), advice about what pram to buy, and also lot’s of advice about the need to sleep.

 Before the baby……..

“Sleep now while you can because you will never, ever sleep again” many an experienced mum would chuckle.

After I had the baby……

“sleep when the baby sleeps, it’s the only way to survive ”.

Good advice, in theory. But the effect it had on me was that the minute my baby was asleep – and I wasn’t, I would worry. After all, this was what I needed to do to be a ‘good mum’. Sleep when he sleeps!

Fast forward to today, and I have survived the lack of sleep of four children (both theirs and mine) and am very lucky to work as an Obstetric Social Worker with ...

The fourth trimester – how to survive the first 12 weeks with a new baby

Working in a busy private hospital I get the pleasure of working with many new parents who are adjusting to the first few days of parenthood.

The experience is very different for everyone.

There are ups and downs, there is joy and there is pain. There can be trauma and healing, and a brand new set of worries to manage around “getting it right”.

It is good to know is that it’s normal if the post birth experience is a mixed one. The main thing is to ask for help and know that the intensity of the first few weeks and months does settle.

In the meantime, here are my top six tips for surviving the first twelve weeks.

 ………

One - Surrender to the fourth trimester

Your baby is here, but they would much rather be in the womb.

Everything you experience in the first few weeks is much more about your baby managing the sensory stimulation (sight, touch, sound) of the world than a reflection of your ability as a m...