Evolutionary Parenting Podcast

As we kick off Season 2 of the podcast, we're going to dive into the research on an area that often brings fear to new parents - rightfully - that of SIDS or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Most people will be aware of best sleep practices promoted by professionals - put your baby to sleep on their back, no extra items in the sleeping area, and no matter what you do, never sleep with your baby. But how well do these recommendations stand up to the actual research? What do we really know versus what we're being told? Joining me (again) is one of my favourite people and one who is out there changing the way we think about our advice for SIDS through research and advocacy - Dr. Helen Ball. Through her work at Durham University's Parent-Infant Sleep Centre, she has been helping professionals and families better understand the risks around SIDS and how we can best support families with evidence-based information. If you think you know the evidence behind sleep recommendations, you may need to think again. Dr. Helen Ball: https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/h-l-ball/ Parent-Infant Sleep Centre: https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/durham-infancy-sleep-centre/ BASIS: https://www.basisonline.org.uk/ SIDS and Infant Sleep Webinars for Professionals (or Parents): https://www.basisonline.org.uk/hcp-infant-sleep-webinars/ **March 28 is a virtual (or in-person) conference through the Parent-Infant Sleep Centre. Speakers include Dr. James McKenna and Kristin Tully!!! Get more information and register (I have!) here: https://www.dur.ac.uk/conference.booking/details/?id=1736

I would first like to welcome you to the final episode of this season. I am thankful to all of you who listen and give me hope that there are still those people out there who respect and love science as much as I do and who find the work of researchers who rarely get to be in the spotlight as fascinating as I do. This final episode – also the last in the fathering series, but I promise there will be more focus on fathers going forward – tackles the issues of co-parenting, the role of biological paternity, dads as “babysitters”, and more through research on a very unique population - Mountain Gorillas. I am joined by Dr. Stacy Rosenbaum, whose name you may remember if you listened to my interview with Dr. Lee Gettler, as she discusses her work and how we can think about this work as we tackle the human questions and issues surrounding fathering and parenting in general. Plus, there’s a whole story on sharks too! Thank you all again for listening and enjoy your final episode of the season. Dr. Stacy Rosenbaum: https://lsa.umich.edu/anthro/people/faculty/biological-faculty/rosenbas.html Shark Story: https://people.com/celebrity/video-great-white-shark-rescue-cape-cod/ Relevant articles: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513821000465 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-33380-4 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-anthro-102218-011216 https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=4497059527531484752&hl=en&oi=scholarr

When we look at research, especially in the realm of development, we tend to focus on things like resilience, struggles families face, and so on. This is particularly true when we look at the research on parenting in families of colour - the focus starts with what's wrong and how we can fix it. It was under this guise that I approached Dr. Erika Bocknek as she had done research on resilience in Black Fathers that was - I thought - interesting. What we talked about ended up being quite different with a much larger focus on the inherent racism that exists in the research questions and assumptions themselves, especially when we look at Black Fathers. I hope that you will all find this as eye-opening and important a conversation as I did because we need to recognize these problems before we can start to fix them. Dr. Erika Bocknek: https://wayne.edu/people/an5012 Research: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/imhj.21950 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.22168 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-51027-5_7 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.21836

This week we continue our conversation with Dr. Lee Gettler, discussing his research which has advanced our knowledge on fathering across cultures and from different lenses. Here is for all the fathers out there. Dr. Lee Gettler: https://anthropology.nd.edu/people/faculty/lee-gettler/ Relevant Research (just skimming the surface): https://www.pnas.org/content/108/39/16194.short https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.22121 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70958-3 https://pure.mpg.de/pubman/faces/ViewItemOverviewPage.jsp?itemId=item_3281046 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.23342

Let's be honest - when we talk about parenting, we're often talking about mothering. Most of the research on raising kids is based on mothers. Mothers in WEIRD cultures (and by weird, I mean the acronym - Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, and Democratic countries). But of course, humans are in a small group of animals where the fathers play a large role in how children are raised. This means we need to broaden our work, our discussions, and our mindsets around parenting if we're going to truly understand parenting. As such, this is the beginning of my Fatherhood series where I will be welcoming researchers who have focused on fathers in their work. There are more than you'd think and this is just the beginning of what I hope to cover. And starting us off is the researcher who comes to most minds when we think of research on fathering - Dr. Lee Gettler. This is the beginning of a two-part interview covering just a small part of his research which has advanced our knowledge on fathering across cultures and from different lenses. Here is for all the fathers out there. Dr. Lee Gettler: https://anthropology.nd.edu/people/faculty/lee-gettler/ Relevant Research (just skimming the surface): https://www.pnas.org/content/108/39/16194.short https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.22121 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70958-3 https://pure.mpg.de/pubman/faces/ViewItemOverviewPage.jsp?itemId=item_3281046 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajhb.23342

We are almost two years into a global pandemic and many families have struggled to find a new normal. Some people seem to have found a new normal that exceeds life pre-pandemic, but many face ongoing difficulties. Parents are in a unique position because they are not only facing this pandemic from a personal perspective, but also as those trying to navigate their children's social and emotional well-being. How people are faring is a topic of great interest for researchers and joining me today to talk about how these changes are affecting parents is the head of the Lancet's Covid Mental Health and Well-Being Task Force, Dr. Lara Aknin. As a researcher who primarily studies what makes us happy, she's in a unique position to help us better understand what's going on and how we can all feel better. Dr. Lara Aknin: https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/about/people/profiles/laknin.html Lancet's Covid-19 Commission: https://covid19commission.org/ Relevant Articles: https://psyarxiv.com/zw93g/ https://psyarxiv.com/vdw2e/ https://www.nber.org/papers/w29092 https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(20)31927-9/fulltext

Stress is a hot topic today with many people worrying about the degree of stress they face daily. We know stress in our adult lives is a problem, but I often hear people speak about stress as if it's only an adult problem. Sadly children can face many stressors - some of them quite large - early in life and this can have profound and nuanced impacts on their development, especially how they respond to stress in the future. Joining me today is Dr. Brie Reid, a researcher focusing on the effects of exposure to early life stressors - and the removal of these stressors - and that impacts the development of our stress and other physiological outcomes, including new findings that might bring hope to many. Dr. Brie Reid: https://www.briemreid.com/about Dr. Reid on Twitter: https://twitter.com/briemreid?lang=en Articles of Interest: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/48/23984.short https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/abs/challenges-in-researching-the-immune-pathways-between-early-life-adversity-and-psychopathology/1E51BFF08BB16A4786661B4214DA7C86 https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085013

One of the more terrifying events for any parent is seeing their child born and rushed off to the NICU. Though we might talk about how it's so much better compared to losing our children - and there's no doubt that's the case - the typical experience for families in the NICU isn't one that we would wish on anyone. Some of the best NICUs in terms of medical care are those least equipped to deal with the psychological and bonding needs of new families. Parents can be left with little time with their baby, no room for them to stay, and advice that counters their instincts to care for the newest member of their family. Sharing a blend of her own experience in this regard, the science around neurological and general development for preterm or low birth weight babies, and an understanding of the needs of families today, Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum joins me to help families who have either already experienced this event and need help processing, are in the midst of this experience, or don't know if it's something they may face. Her compassion and knowledge are unsurpassed in this and I believe this is something that is invaluable for all families to hear. Dr. Greer Kirshenbaum: https://www.nurtureneuro.com/about How to Support a NICU baby at home (download): https://evolutionaryparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Nurture-for-the-NICU-.pdf Hand to Hold: https://handtohold.org/nicu-family-support/ NICU resources from Mt Sinai Hospital (Canada): https://www.mountsinai.on.ca/care/nicu/support-and-resources/resources-for-parents-with-pre-term-babies

Too often we look at parenting practices and our judgment of them in absolute terms. I know I myself have been guilty of this. Sometimes it's warranted, but sometimes the judgments and the repercussions become a way that we disenfranchise and marginalize already marginalized groups in our society. When we think about the experiences of families facing involvement from government systems - many of which are founded on principles that are racist in nature - we can start to understand how the systems mean to support children may end up doing the opposite. This week I am joined by Dr. Paul Adjei, a scholar focusing on social justice, racism, critical race theory, and more, as we discuss the parenting experiences of marginalized families in Canada - and by extension other Western nations - today. This is a conversation that may be uncomfortable for some and I can say it certainly led me to think about things I had held as absolute truths in ways I hadn't before. If nothing else, it should challenge us to think harder about how we think of parenting. Dr. Paul Adjei: https://www.mun.ca/socialwork/about/people/faculty/pbanaheneadjei.php Relevant Articles: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190740918303761 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15548732.2017.1401575

Welcome back to Week 2 with Dr. James McKenna as we continue our conversation into SIDS, colic, breathing, and how our closeness to our babies can protect them. Please see below for the summary from Part 1: I want to mention some things that parents of young babies have to think about. They often think about: * Where their baby sleeps * Why their baby cries (or cries so much) * Worry about SIDS * How much their baby sleeps * Their baby's brain development * How to feed their baby (and how to get support for it) * Wondering when our babies will speak Of course there is so much more, but I mention these in particular because they may all be related to something we definitely don't think about: How our babies breathe. If you're confused, don't worry because this week is the first of two episodes covering these topics - and more - with the incredible Dr. James McKenna. Over two weeks, James shares so much wisdom about our babies, parenting, and this both older and newer line of research he's looking at linking so many of these parenting issues to that most basic physiological function of breathing. Dr. James McKenna: https://cosleeping.nd.edu/mckenna-biography/ The Mother-Infant Sleep Laboratory: https://cosleeping.nd.edu/ Some Relevant Articles: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1783392943 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1526054205000230 https://dro.dur.ac.uk/28335/ https://europepmc.org/article/med/26295452

I want to mention some things that parents of young babies have to think about. They often think about: * Where their baby sleeps * Why their baby cries (or cries so much) * Worry about SIDS * How much their baby sleeps * Their baby's brain development * How to feed their baby (and how to get support for it) * Wondering when our babies will speak Of course there is so much more, but I mention these in particular because they may all be related to something we definitely don't think about: How our babies breathe. If you're confused, don't worry because this week is the first of two episodes covering these topics - and more - with the incredible Dr. James McKenna. Over two weeks, James shares so much wisdom about our babies, parenting, and this both older and newer line of research he's looking at linking so many of these parenting issues to that most basic physiological function of breathing. Dr. James McKenna: https://cosleeping.nd.edu/mckenna-biography/ The Mother-Infant Sleep Laboratory: https://cosleeping.nd.edu/ Some Relevant Articles: https://www.proquest.com/docview/1783392943 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1526054205000230 https://dro.dur.ac.uk/28335/ https://europepmc.org/article/med/26295452

We all want our kids to be able to regulate themselves, don't we? It feels like one of the main goals of parenting is how we are able to help get our kids to the stage where they can handle big emotions, frustrations, and the minor struggles on their own. Like most things that are developmental in nature, parents can play a key role in how this happens. This week we explore the issue of how parents can help their child's emotion regulation development with renowned researcher Dr. Lisa Gatzke-Kopp. From parenting in infancy to the synchrony between parent and child, the insights she has gleaned from years of research are not to be missed. Dr. Lisa Gatzke-Kopp: https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/lisa-gatzke-kopp The Penn State Prevention Science Research Center: https://www.prevention.psu.edu/ The Family Life Project: https://flp.fpg.unc.edu/ Relevant Articles: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/imhj.21913 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/dev.21905 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-24186-001

Babywearing is still somewhat fringe in our society, despite being exactly how babies have been kept close to parents for most of human history. I mean, it's not like we had strollers back in the stone age. When people utilize babywearing today, most do so for convenience. After all, if you've tried navigating strollers on public transit, you know the nightmare. But is there more to it? Attachment parenting advocates keeping babies close to build attachment and foster bonds, but does it really do that? This week I had a chance to talk to the one researcher who is bringing babywearing back to the lab to help us answer these very questions. Dr. Lela Rankin Williams of Arizona State University is the first researcher in decades to look at how babywearing may influence the relationship between baby and caregiver. If you've thought it's just a fad, I hope Dr. Williams can help change your mind. Dr. Lela Rankin Williams: https://cals.arizona.edu/fcs/faculty/affiliate/lela_williams Relevant Articles: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S016363831930181X https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/icd.2169 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190740919311260 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/anc/2021/00000021/00000001/art00009 https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/anc/2020/00000020/00000006/art00010 Center for Babywearing Studies: https://www.cbws.org/

When you think back to your birth, do you recall it fondly? The way they say you're supposed to feel about this momentous moment? Or do you try to block it out? Cry about it? Feel like it was an event you don't even want to remember? For too many families, birth isn't a peaceful event or even a happy one, but something that brings longer lasting traumas for all. Though many tend to think that if baby is healthy, there's no reason for this, unfortunately a healthy baby does not mean there was no trauma. This week I am honoured to have spoken with Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett, the leader in research on birth trauma about how it happens, what it can look like, the various effects of it afterwards on the family, but also what others can do to help heal and how we can reduce the frequency of such trauma going forward. It doesn't matter who you are or your own experience, this is an issue that is vital for all of us to understand and work to change. Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett: https://www.kathleenkendall-tackett.com/ Breastfeeding Doesn't Need to Suck: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/cu/NWqSl5o Mailing List for Kathy: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/WqxRlCF Facebook (The Book): https://www.facebook.com/BFdoesntneedtosuck Relevant Articles from Our Discussion: https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/10/3/101 https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/5/2/51.abstract https://www.proquest.com/docview/1694535127?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrcl/5/2/56.abstract https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-05116-1_10

When we get pregnant and are expecting our first child, most people don't see this as a time to worry that their mental health is going to go downhill. We're supposed to be happy or even thrilled about this new stage in our lives. But for many families, pregnancy is the beginning of what can be some serious mental health struggles. Perinatal depression, anxiety, and more are all common occurrences, yet ones we don't really talk about in our society. We don't warn families and many will struggle without support or even awareness of what is going on. This week I spoke to clinical psychologist and perinatal mental health specialist Dr. Annie Rohr about her own journey through perinatal mental health struggles and this issue more broadly. Whether you have struggled or not, all of us need to be aware of what to look for and how to help. Show notes: Dr. Annie Rohr: https://drannierohr.com/ Post Partum International: https://www.postpartum.net/ Mom Genes Research Project: https://www.momgenesfightppd.org/ Dr. Rohr's Books*: A Promise: A Vow of Love for Baby and a Message of Hope for Mom - https://amzn.to/3iBv7S6 Finding the Warm and Fuzzies - https://amzn.to/3iCrYRU (*Amazon Affiliate link)