The Tiny Big Joys

Part 2 is the "so what can we actually do?" half.

Part 1 was about what's normal. This one is the practical side, with no cry-it-out and no rigid plan. Sleep consultant Lucy Bagwell walks through simple bedtime routines, day and night, nap transitions and every way there is to settle a baby. She also takes on the idea that feeding your baby to sleep is a "bad habit". Then come three real questions from parents: nursery naps for a toddler who's always been fed to sleep, the baby who sleeps in the cot until midnight and then wakes every hour, and the 8.5-month-old with false starts. She is clear that you're not mucking it up.

In this episode:

✔️ What working with a holistic sleep consultant actually looks like
✔️ A bedtime routine can be four simple steps, and no element is compulsory, not even the book
✔️ Day and night: why newborns don't need to nap in a blackout room
✔️ Sleep pressure explained, and why a big day of naps shows up at night
✔️ Signs your baby is ready for a nap transition, and why you cap before you drop
✔️ Never make a big change after one bad night
✔️ Listener question: longer first nap or longer second nap at 8.5 months?
✔️ Separation anxiety at bedtime: act like you're never leaving
✔️ How long a bedtime routine needs to be
✔️ Feeding to sleep: biologically normal, very effective, and not a bad habit
✔️ Night weaning, honestly, and why nobody should push you into it
✔️ Listener question: nursery naps for a 13-month-old who's always been fed to sleep
✔️ Listener question: in the cot until midnight, then hourly wakes
✔️ The red flags worth checking: mouth breathing, snoring, feeding discomfort, low iron

No fear, no pressure. Options to consider, not the way you have to do it.

About our guest: Lucy Bagwell is a certified gentle and holistic infant sleep consultant (Level 6 OCN), mum of two, and founder of Second Star to the Right Sleep. She supports families all over the world through one-to-one consultations, guides and webinars, with no cry-it-out, ever. Her approach looks at the whole child: red flags, feeding, temperament, development and what each family actually wants.

Missed Part 1? What normal baby sleep looks like, why babies wake, sleep regressions, high and low sleep needs and the "sleeping through the night" myth. Listen first if you can.

The Tiny Big Joys: Pregnancy & Birth — Questions from Parents Like You is out now on Amazon. Created by founder Paula, it brings together real experiences, expert guidance and some of the most loved conversations from the original podcast series — honest support without pressure, fear or overwhelming advice.

Join our newsletter community for a direct line to our team: share comments, suggest topics, and send questions for future guests. https://thetinybigjoys.kit.com/profile
If you found value in today's episode, the greatest compliment you can give us is a share. Send it to a friend who needs it, or post about it — your word-of-mouth is what allows us to keep creating content like this. Thank you!

www.thetinybigjoys.com | Instagram @thetinybigjoys
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 1 is the "is this normal?" half.

Before any tips or techniques, sleep consultant Lucy Bagwell goes back to the question underneath almost every sleep worry: is my baby actually sleeping badly, or is this just what babies are like? She covers the waking, the regressions, the "sleeping through the night" comparisons and the pressure to fix it all by six months, and she is clear about one thing: how your baby sleeps is not a measure of how well you are doing.

In this episode:

✔️ What "holistic" sleep support really means, and why how your baby falls asleep isn't the priority
✔️ What normal sleep looks like in the first year: up and down, changeable, and that's okay
✔️ 80% of six- to 18-month-olds wake up to three times a night
✔️ Why babies wake so much, and why needing comfort is a valid need
✔️ Sleep regressions reframed: a heightened need, not a step backwards
✔️ "You give support because they need it, not they need it because you gave it"
✔️ What "sleeping through the night" actually means in the studies
✔️ High and low sleep needs, and why the wake window chart might not fit your baby
✔️ Sleepy or just bored? The "one new thing" test
✔️ Listener question: a baby who wakes every one to three hours
✔️ Sensory seekers, sensitive sleepers and the bedtime chase that changed everything
✔️ Listener question: do naps matter if nights are good?
✔️ Overtiredness, undertiredness, and why we can stop being frightened of a tired baby
✔️ Listener question: what to actually be intentional about in the early months

No fear, no pressure. Options to consider, not the way you have to do it.

About our guest: Lucy Bagwell is a certified gentle and holistic infant sleep consultant (Level 6 OCN), mum of two, and founder of Second Star to the Right Sleep. Her fascination with sleep began with her own son, and today she supports families all over the world with no cry-it-out, ever. Her approach looks at the whole child: red flags, feeding, temperament, development and what each family actually wants.

Coming in Part 2: what you can actually do. Bedtime routines, day and night, nap transitions, settling and feeding to sleep, and whether "bad habits" even exist.

The Tiny Big Joys: Pregnancy & Birth — Questions from Parents Like You is out now on Amazon. Created by founder Paula, it brings together real experiences, expert guidance and some of the most loved conversations from the original podcast series — honest support without pressure, fear or overwhelming advice.

Join our newsletter community for a direct line to our team: share comments, suggest topics, and send questions for future guests. https://thetinybigjoys.kit.com/profile
If you found value in today's episode, the greatest compliment you can give us is a share. Send it to a friend who needs it, or post about it — your word-of-mouth is what allows us to keep creating content like this. Thank you!

www.thetinybigjoys.com | Instagram @thetinybigjoys
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 2 is the honest half.

Where Part 1 covered cord care and car seats, this one covers the things that are harder to ask about: the baby who wakes the second you put him down, the crying that peaks just when you thought things were settling, and the moment — home alone, exhausted — when you feel yourself about to break. Midwife Miranda Sykes gives an exact plan for that moment, and she is clear that it happens to everybody.

In this episode:

✔️ Why your baby sleeps on you — and why that's biology, not a bad habit
✔️ Wake windows: hugely popular, and no scientific evidence behind them
✔️ How to swaddle safely, and when to stop
✔️ The crying peak at four to six weeks, and when crying does need checking out
✔️ The step-by-step safety plan for an overwhelmed parent
✔️ Why the visitor conversation belongs at 36 weeks — and the one-hour trick
✔️ What a partner should actually say at 3am
✔️ Building a support network from scratch when your family is far away
✔️ Baby blues or something more? The two-week rule
✔️ Intrusive thoughts, and why almost every parent has them
✔️ Why not feeling instant love is more common than anyone admits
✔️ Grieving a birth that didn't go the way you hoped
✔️ Why recovery takes closer to a year than six weeks
✔️ Why the tracker apps might be doing more harm than good
No fear, no pressure. Options to consider, not the way you have to do it.

About our guest: Miranda Sykes has worked as an NHS midwife for over a decade — her NHS role is as a specialist midwife in mental health — and founded Midwife Miranda in 2021 to offer families a hybrid model of care alongside their NHS care. She added her lactation consultant qualification a couple of years ago. Much of her work, privately and within the NHS, is what she calls demystifying your newborn.

Missed Part 1? Skin to skin, cord care, what's normal and what needs a GP, the car seat myth and the hat myth — listen first if you can.

—

The Tiny Big Joys: Pregnancy & Birth — Questions from Parents Like You is out now on Amazon. Created by founder Paula, it brings together real experiences, expert guidance and some of the most loved conversations from the original podcast series — honest support without pressure, fear or overwhelming advice.

Join our newsletter community for a direct line to our team: share comments, suggest topics, and send questions for future guests. https://thetinybigjoys.kit.com/profile
If you found value in today's episode, the greatest compliment you can give us is a share. Send it to a friend who needs it, or post about it — your word-of-mouth is what allows us to keep creating content like this. Thank you!

www.thetinybigjoys.com | Instagram @thetinybigjoys
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Olivia sits down with Miranda Sykes, a London-based NHS and private midwife and lactation consultant, to answer the questions you sent in about those first few weeks at home with a newborn. Part 1 covers what to ask for before you leave hospital, what the first 24 hours at home really look like, and how much of what worries new parents is simply normal.

In this episode:

✔️ The one thing Miranda would prescribe every family going home
✔️ What to actually ask for on the postnatal ward — and why you should film the nappy change
✔️ Why your newborn is a wild Tamagotchi you cannot train, and what red baby and green baby mean
✔️ Cord care, the first bath, and how you'd know if a cord was infected
✔️ Cradle cap, baby acne and nappy rash — what's normal and what needs a GP
✔️ How to dress a newborn, and the two-finger check that beats every rule about layers
✔️ Why you don't legally need a car seat to leave the hospital
✔️ The truth about newborn hats — and why nobody quite knows where the policy came from
✔️ How often a newborn really feeds, and the maths that explains why it feels constant
✔️ Responsive feeding for breast and bottle, and how to read hunger and fullness cues

No fear, no pressure. Options to consider, not the way you have to do it.

About our guest: Miranda Sykes has worked as an NHS midwife for over a decade and founded Midwife Miranda in 2021 to offer families a hybrid model of care alongside their NHS care. She added her lactation consultant qualification a couple of years ago. Much of her work, privately and within the NHS, is what she calls demystifying your newborn.

Resources mentioned: The Lullaby Trust (safer sleep guidance) and UNICEF Baby Friendly's tool "How do I know my baby's getting enough?"

Part 2 — sleep, crying, visitors, partner support, mental health and recovery — is out on Tuesday 29th September.

The Tiny Big Joys: Pregnancy & Birth — Questions from Parents Like You is out now on Amazon. Created by founder Paula, it brings together real experiences, expert guidance and some of the most loved conversations from the original podcast series — honest support without pressure, fear or overwhelming advice.

Join our newsletter community for a direct line to our team: share comments, suggest topics, and send questions for future guests.

If you found value in today's episode, the greatest compliment you can give us is a share. Send it to a friend who needs it, or post about it — your word-of-mouth is what allows us to keep creating content like this. Thank you!

www.thetinybigjoys.com | Instagram @thetinybigjoys
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NEW SEASON ALERT: OUR FIRST EXPERT EPISODES DROP FROM 22 SEPTEMBER — THIS WEEK, THOUGH, IT'S JUST US.

Seats swapped. This week founder Paula turns the microphone on host Olivia — because before she starts asking our experts your questions, we thought you should know she's figuring out the very same things you are.

Olivia shares the first year she didn't see coming: a surprise pregnancy just weeks after getting engaged, the fear that motherhood would change her more than she was ready for, a birth that took a different route than planned, a breastfeeding start that hurt for nine weeks before it finally clicked, and a baby who woke every hour for four months. She also shares what turned out better than expected; the friendships, the joy of weaning, the confidence she never saw coming — and the best piece of advice she was given while pregnant.

In this episode, Paula and Olivia talk about:
— Expectations vs. reality: what Olivia imagined motherhood would be, and what it actually was
— "I wasn't scared of the baby. I was scared of the change in myself" — losing and finding yourself in the first year
— A painful breastfeeding start, the pride around formula, and the day it stopped hurting
— Making peace with a birth that didn't go to plan
— The sleep saga: hourly wakes, contact naps, gentle sleep training, and why she stopped asking "why me?"
— Co-sleeping, and a bedtime routine that burns energy instead of calming it
— The tiny things that turned out to be the big things: the first "bye-bye", the nursery pick-up cuddle
— Why Olivia joined The Tiny Big Joys — and how to handle everyone's advice: "say thank you, then take it away"

Whether you're pregnant, deep in the newborn fog, or a partner trying to understand what she's going through, this is the conversation that says: you're not doing it wrong.

No fear-based messaging. No one-size-fits-all answers. Just warm, honest conversation that leaves you feeling more capable — not more anxious.
The big shifts happen in the tiny moments of understanding. That's where the joy starts.

Throughout this season we'll be talking about the first year with your baby, bringing in experienced experts and asking the questions that matter to you. If there's something you'd love to ask one of our experts, send it to us — it might just make an episode.

Show notes, resources and the free Mum's Circle newsletter: thetinybigjoys.com

Follow The Tiny Big Joys on Instagram and wherever you listen to podcasts.

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider with any personal health concerns.

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