GentleBreastfeeding

09/11/2024

Very cool footage.
They nurse for at least 2yrs (same as primates!) and longer.

15/09/2024

Sleep consultants rely on fear and misinformation to sell their services… be wary.

Sales 101:sell your service in six easy steps!

1. Convince your prospect they have a problem (even if they don't)

2. Give them something for free (to establish trust and prompt the feeling they need to reciprocate)

3. Throughout the free information, continue to educate on the 'problem' they have and 'pitfalls' they may not be aware of (remember, fear sells!)

4. Explain you have the answer to their 'problem.'

5. Close the sale (link to the sales page, ask for commitment etc)

6. Level up: only 'solve' some of the problems you've told them they have, so they have to come back

How does this work for infant sleep?

I'm so glad you asked!

1. Convince parents they have a problem:

* Tell parents their babies need far more sleep than the research says (e.g. a three-month-old sleep schedule that aims for 17+ hours of sleep when this is the upper limit for average *citation below).

* Tell them that if their baby needs input from their sleep, it's a 'problem' and that they'll 'never learn to sleep independently.' (remember, fear sells exceptionally well when you threaten a child).

* Tell them their cognitive development will be impacted if they don't teach their child to sleep independently by nine months old. (I'm not kidding; this is currently being told to parents at a government-funded program in NSW)

2. Give parents free advice like:

* Feed, play, sleep (doesn't work for most)

* Drowsy but awake (doesn't work for most)

* Rigid sleep schedules (doesn't work for most)

3. Throughout the free information, keep educating about the 'problem':

* Sprinkle fear-mongering about 'associations' and don't forget 'cognitive development' and 'never learn to self soothe'.

* Back up your claims with 'science' and 'evidence-based' but don't bother to reference your information so they can't check (make sure they rely on YOU for the answers)

4. Explain that you have the answer! They can:

* Buy your sleep training program

* Attend your sleep school (this one is great because it also removes people from their safe spaces and community members, isolates them, and ensures the only people they can ask for support from are those you've hired to reiterate the 'problem' messaging)

* Engage you as a sleep consultant

5. Close the sale

* Bonus points if you sell it to a government so they can pay for your clients to do your program!

6. Level up (don’t miss these opportunities for more $$)

* If you're a sleep consultant, explain that there could be a regression and that you can help them overcome that in future. Think: transitioning to a toddler bed.

* If you're selling programs, limit the information by age (0-6 months, 12-18 months, etc.)

* If you're a government-funded service, create a referral pathway for families who need education in responding to their pre-primary aged kids' needs since you've convinced them to ignore them as babies and removed vital co regulation practice from their parenting toolkit...👍🏻

You, too, can create an entire industry out of babies sleeping..... like babies!

Don't let emerging neuroscience and developmental psychology evidence get in the way of a good sales pitch!
💵 💵 💵

If you're clever, you can cultivate ongoing income from one family!

Real talk, here are the sleep duration recommendations from The National Sleep Foundation's 18-member multidisciplinary expert panel put together to evaluate scientific literature concerning sleep duration recommendations:

Age:
* 0-3months - 14-17 hours (11-13 or 18 to 19 may be appropriate)
* 4-11 months - 12 to 15 hours (10 to 11 or 16 to 18 may be appropriate)
* 1-2 years - 11 to 14 hours (9 to 10 or 15 to 16 may be appropriate)
* 3-5 years - 10 to 13 hours (8-9 or 14 may be appropriate)

Yes. I am frustrated. How can you tell? 😅

Why?

Selling parents a problem to fund an entire industry of interventions that were only evidence-based before we had the equipment to measure sleep and see brains is unethical. Trying to convince the powers that be that we should create a framework for what the current evidence says is ideal for raising developing brains then measure any program to be funded against that... is exhausting.

Okay, rant over. Back to work.

Reference for sleep duration recommendations:

Hirshkowitz, Max et al. National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary, Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation, Volume 1, Issue 1, 40 - 43, Jan 2015 (accessed 13 Sept 2024)

14/09/2024

An amazing day with Jess from .familyhealth at the inaugural Sydney Breastfeeding Medical Forum. It’s wonderful to meet and be with like-minded people, sharing knowledge and networking! ❤️

08/09/2024

‘Responsive settling’ is really just repackaged/rebranded Cry it Out’… and it is damaging to babies and their parents.

✨Attention practitioners from sleep and settling intervention programs in Australia✨
Are you aware that after parents leave your service, they no longer feel they can answer their child’s cries without second guessing themselves?
You say you promote parenting confidence and self-efficacy but instead you have mums and dads lying in rooms away from their baby or toddler questioning whether they *should* go to their crying baby.

They’re wondering if they really need them this time or not.
They’re thinking, is this just them *protesting* or is something really up?
And they’re stalling and doubting themselves.

You see, you put that barrier there …
You made them think they don’t know their own child well enough that they need to second-guess their drive to go and provide comfort.
They are petrified of undoing the sleep training process they’ve already gone through …
You see who in their right mind would want to have re-live that trauma over again if they don’t have to and so they try to stick with the plan even through their uncertainty and doubts.
They avoid going to their child as much as they can.
By hook or by crook.
And it hurts them.
And it hurts their baby.
And it puts a wedge in their relationship.

Your program did this.
And I’m betting you’re doing it with a whole new round of parents this week and next.
I know because we see the consequences endlessly from the parents we support who feel broken by the process and out in the community from parents no longer confident to act on their child’s cry.

It’s time to look behind the scenes here.
Responsive settling sleep training is not improving parenting confidence and self efficacy in any real, meaningful way. There’s so much more to this story.

We can and should do better.
And I will keep banging on about this until we do.

Carly ❤️‍🩹✨

30/05/2024

It’s the same for Australia.

Babies don’t need fancy formulas with ‘extras’.

Insidious marketing and tactics by formula companies is standard practice for them.

Basic is better and whatever suits your own baby is enough without the hefty price tag. Elite formulas just mean formula companies make more from you, they aren’t ’better’ for babies.

"""Which brand of formula should I use?""

Lets imagine you're in a situation where you need, or want, to give your baby some formula.

You stand in the supermarket and are met with a sea of options. Red or blue? comfort? Soy? Organic?

And the prices! Do they reflect the quality of the milk?

Maybe you remember that the red brand sent you a soft toy in the post, so that memory sways you towards them just because they're the most familiar option in your exhausted and overwhelmed state.

Maybe someone told you the blue one is closest to breastmilk - and it's more expensive, so perhaps that's the best option to grab?

Stop. Breathe. lets run through some quick facts to help you.

In the UK, if an ingredient has been proven to be beneficial for babies, it MUST be in all standard formulas.

All of the other stuff that is unique to different brands is NOT proven to be necessary or especially beneficial in general.

So we can immediately dismiss the brand that's telling you they have a different type of omega whatever in it. Because if that was genuinely important, they'd all have it in.

Comfort milks don't do a whole lot either. Most issues we see with wriggly, grunty babies is either normal ""WTF is this digestive system thing?"" behaviour, or it might be due to overfeeding, a touch of reflux or any other list of common baby things that don't need you to spend extra money on milk to solve.

Soy milk is not recommended - and it isn't vegan. It will have fish oils in it. If your baby seems to have a dairy allergy, they may well have a soy allergy too. Your best bet here is to get a prescription milk from your GP.

Stage two milk is just clever marketing, because they are not allowed to advertise milk aimed at babies younger than 6 months. So they make and sell stage 2 which is slightly higher in some nutritional elements... things that babies will be eating in their solid food at 6 months anyway.

So, that leaves you with a slightly smaller sea of stage one milks...

My general recommendation?

Choose the cheapest one that you will be able to get your hands on at your nearest shop in an emergency.

Because when we strip away the marketing - we are left with cost and availability.

First Steps Nutrition Trust is a great resource for all things baby milk. I really recommend checking them out.

13/05/2024

Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate it ❤️ My baby isn’t such baby anymore 🥹 ❤️

06/04/2024

You can walk into any baby store and find 40+ baby seats, pods, bouncers, beds and toys to emulate the sound of the womb, breathing or a mother’s heartbeat to try and help soothe baby. When the primal instinct just wants us to hold our infants and keep them close to us 🥺