2 - Navigating Postpartum: Holistic Support and Sleep Strategies (Guest: Tracy Awere from The Sankofa Birth Experience)

In this episode of the Doula Talk Podcast, Doula Deb shares a conversation from a live Instagram session with Tracy, a doula and hypnobirthing expert based in the UK. They explore how Doula Deb supports families during their baby’s first year, with a focus on sleep challenges and postpartum recovery. Deb explains her holistic approach, which goes beyond just helping babies sleep—she supports the entire family, helping them navigate feeding, sleep routines, and the daily demands of life with a newborn.

Deb offers real-life examples of how she tailors her support to each family’s unique situation, addressing everything from newborn sleep patterns to managing stress and setting up simple systems at home.

This episode is filled with practical advice for expectant and new parents, as well as empowering insights on how to prepare for and navigate the postpartum period. Whether you’re struggling with sleep, feeling overwhelmed, or just looking for guidance on what to expect in those early months, this conversation is full of helpful strategies. Doula Deb also offers a free guide to help parents assess their baby’s sleep needs before considering full sleep coaching. Listen in to gain the knowledge and confidence to approach the first year of parenthood with more ease and support.

Exclusive Freebie: “10 Things to Do Before Sleep Coaching” to kickstart your journey toward better sleep.

Tracy Awere is the founder of The Sankofa Birth Experience and a holistic birth preparation specialist with over a decade of experience in empowering expectant mothers and their partners. Passionate about helping women have calm, confident, and positive birth experiences, Tracy combines her expertise as a certified hypnobirthing instructor, hypnotherapist, and pregnancy yoga teacher to offer a truly tailored approach. Her unique background allows her to create personalized hypnosis scripts and offer emotional and practical tools for labor. Tracy’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that expectant mothers already possess the inner strength and wisdom to navigate birth, and her holistic guidance nurtures that confidence.

https://www.sankofa-hypnobirthing.co.uk/

Thank you for listening! Tune in next time for more insights and support on your parenting journey.

Contact Information:
Doula Deb: www.DoulaDeb.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doula.deb/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/debdoula
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doula.deb
Twitter: https://twitter.com/doula_deb

Disclaimer:
The content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider for personalized advice and information.

Transcript

Hey, guys. Today, I am re-sharing a live Instagram session that I recorded earlier this year with Tracy, a fellow Doula and hypnobirthing expert in the UK. We interviewed each other to learn more about what we provide to our clients.

Later, I'm going to share my interview with Tracy, which is all about hypnobirthing because that one is so good. But today, I will be sharing the recording of my interview with her about how I support families in the first year. It would be helpful to learn more about what my support looks like for families when they're working with me. We dive deep into the kind of support I offer families in the first year of parenting, particularly though struggling with sleep and the many challenges that arise in the first year. Tracy asks all the right questions, allowing you to learn more about my role as a postpartum doula that goes beyond just helping babies sleep. It's about supporting the whole family. So many new parents come to me feeling really overwhelmed, unsure how to juggle new barn care, their own recovery, and the demands of daily life. 

Often, they've preferred birth, but the postpartum experience catches them off guard. My job is to help families survive this phase and thrive and find their rhythm, whether by addressing sleep issues, creating systems at home, or finding small, practical ways to reduce stress. In this episode, I share how to approach each family's unique situation because no two babies or postpartum journeys are exactly the same. We talk about everything from the connection between feeding and sleep to managing those tricky Newborn phases that leave everyone feeling out of sorts. I also touch on some simple yet powerful strategies for helping parents feel more confident and supported so that they can focus on what matters most: bonding with their baby and recovering from birth. I'm so passionate about walking alongside families in those early months in providing personalized care that meets their specific needs. When you have community experts around you and know who to ask those pesky questions in the middle of the night, your energy can be spent on bonding with your baby and recovering from your pregnancy, your labor, your birth, and not to mention the grueling schedule a Newborn requires. So whether you're preparing for a baby's arrival or already in the thick of postpartum life, I hope this replay gives you some tips and insights on tapping into that community resources and experience providers, even if virtual is only resource available to you, how that can help you feel more empowered and confident. And make sure you check out the end. And in the show notes, I have a special free B for you. So, let's dive in. 

Welcome, welcome. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. I'm very well. So lovely to be speaking for you again, but I'd love you to introduce yourself. Actually, I was explaining to the people who are watching at the moment that you are not here in London, UK, where I am, so you are in a different part of the world. So please just go ahead. Tell us where you are, your name. I've probably said your name 100 times. My name is Deb. My business name is Doula Deb. I live in Tacoma, Washington, in the U.S.A. in the Pacific Northwest. I primarily work with people in person. Right now I am opening up to doing virtual consultations, whether it's preparing for postpartum specifically or help being afterwards. 

So we often prepare for the birth and labor, and that's all important. But often, families come to me, and they're like, I did not prepare for oaks coming, and strong will fill, really like a fish out of water. I need to figure out what's going on. I don't know how to care for myself, and I also don't know how to manage all of these things while caring for your newborn. So, there's a lot going on postpartum. One of the things that I love to do is to help them prepare with that if they know that that is something that they want to do. Often, we do get hit with postpartum a little bit, but I like to dig a little deeper, especially for families who are without family in the area to provide the end person support. And so trying to figure out, like if I don't have that support or even just figuring out like that you don't have that support and what it really means to have a support after you have your baby. And then if we find some holes where it's like, oh no, we don't re never planned meals or maybe you have a dog and you didn't think, well, I'm gonna be on bed rest for a little bit so it's gonna be taking my dog for a while. So those are the things that I would help prepare you for. 

And then, on the other side, I get a lot of specialized questions like I have all of these things going on, and I don't know how to sort it all out and get the help that I need. As a postpartum Doula, that is what I typically do. A postpartum Doula is gonna be working in your home and come and visit you and talk you through all the things, maybe give you some household support. For the most part, a lot of what I've specialized in the last 15 years is helping the moms and dads who are having a hard time, like their babies, that can come in the form of my baby's doesn't sleep, like I haven't slept in like a month and my baby eats every two hours and they're crying the rest of the time. Typically, that's what people reach out to me for. And then we dig deeper. So, great, that sounds like so much that you offer because, like I was saying just before you came on, of course, we had this idea if there's going to be a new person or persons, if you're having twins or more joining the family. I think, especially if they are first-time parents, you have an idea, of course, that life will change; life will be quite different.You have prepared as much as you can, but sometimes you don't know what you don't know. And some things will be unknown until that little person gets here and you get to know their mad and individual on what their needs are. So you were saying that the most common thing is it, is it sleep support. Is that the most common area when, usually within the first three months, it's going to be, my baby doesn't sleep?And the thing is, typically, it's not going to be about the sleep, really. It's going to be more about all the other things that are happening in the house. So, um, if there's a sleep issue with a Newborn under 4 months, it's a lot of times it is going to be a feeding issue. And that could even be for bottle-fed babies, it could even be for formula-fed babies, or maybe we're having some difficulty with press-feeding.There are so many different things that could be going on. Then, the thing that I really assessed was consuming a full family. And so when someone says my baby doesn't sleep, we don't talk; we talk about sleep. I get the information. What do you mean by that? What do they actually sleep during the day? What are they actually sleeping at night?And I usually ask you to keep a lot, just a quick little 2 to a three-day snapshot of what is happening, and that includes feeding because, under three months, it really is so tied together of like what's going on with feeding ties into what's going on with sleeping. And so we can identify a lot of things that may have been missed. And mainly because, you know, with first-time parents, even third-time parents, each baby is so unique, and they have such unique medians, and we don't know what we're looking for as parents. Like, I don't know. They say a lot, and they say it's normal. Well, tell me what you mean by that. And because I have so much experience to be like, oh yeah, that is a lot. Now, let's go a little deeper. Are they showing these symptoms or, you know, maybe there's a reflux issue, or maybe the poop looks really gross. Yeah. And they don't know any different. So they don't know what they're looking at. And so I get a lot of poop pictures, I get a lot of those, I got messages and texts of like, does this look ok? And sometimes, you know, there is a huge range of normal for newborn poop, but with a lot of my work with my children, with all of my clients, a lot of times we can learn so much from that. There is some range of normal, but if we're seeing mucus and blood or we're having diarrhea because, like, how do we tell the difference between diarrhea like normal, newborn pee, yeah, yeah, of course, that we're taking prenatally or even afterward. Like, who has time to take a class on deciphering a diaper? Well, I do, I do. That's what they come to you for. It might be super interesting. What steps do we need to take to help your baby? That's just giving us a little clue or a little snapshot into like what's happening in their body. Yeah, I don't know. A couple of fixes, like maybe we add a probiotic and we check. Always check with your providers or your pediatricians before we add or change anything like that. But with my experience, I'm able to look in and say, let's try this, check with your pediatrician, and see what happens. Because sometimes that's all we need.You know, it's just like a little probiotic for a little while, and their poop gets better, their gas, their fussiness, their sleep gets better, and then that's all we have to do. Or we might do some education about what normal sleep looks like for new burns, and we reframe it in that this is a really short period, and it sounds pretty normal what's happening. And these are some things to support your baby more to get even better sleep. And it's a slow process. It's a little weight and sea.It's a little like there might be some postpartum new disorders going on because of the no sleep worrying about your baby. And so, you know, when I work with people, it's really slow. And maybe we have some boundary stuff to work through. Maybe one had a really traumatic burn, and we talk about that, and then I get some resources for her to work through, whether it's therapy or maybe some groups that we can find in the little area.I really tried to; when the baby is not sleeping, it's so much bigger. And so, getting more facets that I address with my families, sometimes it just takes one appointment, and we have a couple of things that we tweak. And in, you know, a few days, I'll get a text, and I'm like, oh, I was sleeping so much bigger. Well, I had no idea how to do these things. You know, just last week we were, I was talking to him with a mom I had been working with, who has a postpartum in Doula. And she's like, wow, this is just not going.Well, let's have an apply minute and see what's going on. Come to find now, you know, as new warrants. Holding your baby is awesome and bonding, but as they move toward four months, sometimes they don't go to that deep sleep.And that's just science around it, so I have different sleep stages.And so I was like, well, let's think about swaddling her up because she sleeps better at night with the swaddle separately. And I go, let's try it and see what happens. The next day, Beck's girl slept two hours for a fresh nap.The second bat should we had to break her up at three hours, and now she's, it was four days later, she's sleeping six hours at night. So, like, that's pretty like an instant. Oh, I'll see this always.Yeah, but that's not always the case. We might be just like slowly working for, you know, a month or so, and we look back, and we're like, wow, we had six wake UPS at night and like two naps a day of 30 minutes, and now we have one wake up at night, and we have a nice pace, and the feeding is getting better, and the poop is getting better. Mom likes to coat and get some rips. And so a lot can change in a short amount of time, but also this, this little progression. Yeah, yeah, I really love your holistic approach. So you said, you said a few times there about the fat that it's never just let's look at the baby, but looking at the family as well. What's happening in the family dynamic and also looking at the other elementary family apparent is saying to you, my baby doesn't sleep.Looking at what's going on with feeding and what's going on with, you know, other things within the, the family system, if you like, rather than just narrowing it down to this one thing, which could actually be a culmination of a number of things, isn't it?Yeah, yeah, and I think, you know, my approach is very different than normal sloop consultants. I wouldn't say I like using that word for what I do anymore.It was, it's such a narrow view of what you're helping people with. And I, just as a Doula, I'm like, I can't just help you with this one thing; we have to help you with all of it. This will feature that it's also, yes, you know, when mom is stressed out or done is really stressed out about sleep, and they're worried, it's not normal, or they're spinning up all the time, or they're just a fussy, really alert baby, stimulated easily.There are different things that I suggest for that baby versus a baby that, you know, is just really low-key. And we're like, okay, we're just going to get to guide them on a schedule a little, and we'll see if they take the rest on any.And then other babies like, you know, both my kids, they are brilliant, but they are very alert, and they were from the beginning, and so they would figure stuff out easily. But they had FOMO; you're like, why aren't you napping all day long, baby? Like, what am I missing? They just, life is going on while I'm sleeping, I can't please. I get to sleep and figure out what maybe I get; you don't get to choose that, which is amazing and beautiful but also really challenging because you are figuring out who this person is. They are too; they're trying to figure out who they are, you know, and they're all, their systems are trying to come online.And so with these really alert babies, we have to move forward to pull, mmm, sleep, and it's tough.The first 4 to 6 lenses, I'm gone. And then once we get them on a better path, they're more supportive, and then they're just going to be much happier babies and happier parents, and everybody is going to feel so much better. Sometimes, that means sleep training, but a lot of times, it doesn't have to go that way.It's just like finding what their biology is telling us, finding what support the parents need, and making sure the household runs.You like, so if I was talking to someone about, she's like, I'm just really not eating. Wow, ready? I'm like, okay, so let's find a couple of things that, excuse me, that we can prepare for the weekend and have your partner help you with that.And it's just grabbing up and like, let's try that, for we can see how we can get you more calories because she's breastfeeding, and that's super important.So, there are all the facets that I try to address, but also keep in mind we can only change so much at one type. So we have to take little bits and pieces. And maybe this week, we're working on meal planning and just getting your baby more sleep.We're not worried about how your baby goes to sleep. We're not worried about putting him alone in the cray. We're not worried about any of that. It's just I need your baby to sleep more during the day. Oh, just you, however that looks for you, and then we'll build on there.That actually sounds far more manageable, breaking it down into soft, smaller sections as opposed to saying we're going to deal with all of this stuff, maybe mum not getting enough nutrition or, you know, enough breaks and times to eat. We're going to deal with the fact that the baby might have diarrhea. We're going to deal with the fact that the baby doesn't sleep because then it just sees, feels like all of the things that might be causing, you know, stress in the family being attacked at once.Whereas breaking it down into smaller sections, maybe going off to the one that seems the most like, you know, let's deal with this first, the most significant, yeah, exactly, and go for that exactly. Basically, at the end of our appointment, like our goal that we're working on together is X, so with one family last week, it was, please reach out and get a weighted feed because shoes breastfeeding, and we, we had no idea.We don't know how much this baby's getting. And I've actually worried about overfeeding, not underfeeding. I want to narrow down where we're at with that, and then we'll work on it until then.Until then, he was struggling with reflux, so let's try some upright sleeves and see how that works for him. And then we'll see how it goes next week. And we'll go from it. So, it's like, I give you a couple of things to work on, then we'll check in next week and see where you're at because babies change so fast. In between appointments, I always offer people to call me, text me, and ask me spotted questions cause, you know, we get so much advice from Dr. Google. Yep. What is and isn't normal? It's also just knowing that as we're working on sleep, you know, we're working on feeding, and we're working on all these different things that there's like a Grace period that your baby's going to go through, and you're going to go through. We're going to focus on some stuff, but then after it all settles down, you're going to be able to let all of that go.We're not going to worry about week windows anymore. We're not going to worry about how long they're nappy because everything is settled down and their nervous system has, when you don't sleep, you know, just humans, we release cortisol. We don't work very well, do we? That's how moms feel all day long when we don't get sleeved. And that's how your babies feeling all day long when they don't get sleep.It sometimes takes a week or two for both of you to come down from overstimulation. So it just takes some time to come down from that, and we give it the time it needs. When we're ready for the next step, we take the next step to get better sleep. And so, I have these ten steps that I do before even considering sleep coaching. Often, once we get through those ten steps together, we don't need to do anything. Well, okay, we're happy where we are, or maybe we have a little bit of work to do, just going to get over the home.But a lot of times, we go through these stabs together, and they actually wake up like once, and I'm really in a happy place. I don't feel like I need to sleep train. I'm like, great. Yeah, the goal is to feel happy and comfortable with your baby and just tune it into their needs.Yeah. Amazing, amazing thing. What I'd love to hear is what it looks like to work with you. So you've given quite a few examples of the different ways in which families have been assisted. What's the journey that you take families or mothers and fathers on when they come to work with you? What does that look like? So the first thing they do is contact me. They can go on my link tree on my Instagram account. Typically, they're either going to give me a call, or we're going to work through it, asking some deeper questions about what's going on. We might have a couple of things to work through in that 15 minutes.If they decide to move forward with a full console, then they would fill out, I don't know, maybe 10- 15 minutes of just filling out the conforms. And it's a crucial step for me so that I can really get a good clear picture of what's going on. We meet, and we make a virtual appointment.If you're close to me in the Pacific Northwest, I'm happy to come to your home, but it's really convenient now. Yeah, and with all these tools, we work virtually, and I have lots of resources I will send you via email after our appointment.I will send you a summary email of what we talked about because a whole hour is spent learning about your baby and your family, and then we have your goals that we worked on that we're going to work on for the next week. I write it all out for you so that you don't have to remember anything.Sleep done. So there's already a lot to remember, isn't there? Okay, so I'll write it, although it gives you links to any products that I might suggest to you because sometimes there are oral issues, and maybe we need a new pacifier or a new bottle.So I'll send you links just straight to it. So you can go and try it, and then you can schedule your next appointment. So some people do it once a week, and other people are like, hey, this, this is going to give me a couple weeks to work on it. And I have a link to schedule your next appointment.And we will work at your pace. And so whatever you want to be working on, we do that. And then I might give you like, hey, I want you to try and work on this first because I think that will work itself out if we work on some of the other foundations.Oh, that's great. I love how it's really family-focused and on their terms and their timetable because, of course, they've reached out to you because they want assistance, but at the same time, you don't want another thing that feels like a chore on your to-do list.So that's really great. The only thing you need to do is fill out a form, and then we talk for an hour. Then, on that, it's up to you what you want to do from there. There are so many different philosophies on parenting, sleep strategies, and feeding strategies I will try to give you.This comes from the mindset that I try to give you: here are all the things that you can try.It sounds doable. What sounds like something that would fit your parenting style because some people are very, you know, attachment parenting, and they think that there's, well, if I'm an attachment parent, I can't sleep train, right? Okay, actually, that's not the case.We actually can do so much on the foundation so sleep that we don't have to sleep trade. But if one of the No. 1 goals is to keep that attachment with your child, then that's what we focus on, you know, because it's all important.Fantastic, fantastic. I love that you can work with people wherever they are in the world. As you're saying, that's the only plus side of what happened a few years ago. If that were now doing everything, well, a lot of things can be accessed remotely.

So, Deb, I know that you're really busy because you're so successful in helping families really get to where they want to get to. So, what's your availability? Are you booking clients at the moment? You have space to work with more people. Yeah, I probably have space for 2 or 3 more families to work on a weekly basis. They're such a struggle is real because, you know, sometimes I like to need a couple of extra weeks to work on things. So, it is a matter of reaching out and letting you know about your situation. And then I would give you an idea of what that would look like for that because everyone is so different. But what I have today for you guys is the ten things that you want to do before sleep coaching. So, typically, these are the things that I always do with families regardless of when they've reached out to me. And maybe they're baby six months or eight months or a few. No matter what, this is where I start. And so, I'd love to give you a free download of that. And if you want more information from there, like what that means, that ten steps kind of self-diagnose, but I definitely can, you can gauge where you are on those steps. And I do them in chronological order. I think that sounds like a real gem because you'd say it's earlier on that sometimes just looking at those steps helped a family to kind of figure things out for themselves. So that's a really generous, generous offering that you're giving. It's a great place to start. We're doing pretty darn well. Yeah, I like to start by just getting an idea of what your baby's doing. Yeah, cause sometimes it costs as a terrible, and then you write it out, and you're like, actually, they're only waking up once at night, so maybe I need more support during the day where, where you are. And then, and then we can assess from there what are some things that we can help support your baby or you to get better sleep for age-appropriate, you know, cause not on all babies anything under 4 months really is like just supporting them helping them get more sleep versus like having a regiment. Yeah. As from what you said there, if somebody's either preparing for the postpartum or they're in the postpartum and they're looking for ways to, you know, be supported, you know, some tips and whether it's just an initial consultation to talk through with you where they are or they want ongoing support. It sounds like this is so valuable that you offer. So, thank you so much for sharing it. Even really, they need to be amazing, amazing. Well, thank you so much for talking to us, our community, this evening. It's an evening for me. I know it's morning to you where you are. So, thank you so much for talking to us. So please, if you're watching this and you're in these all the services that Deb offers or, you know, anybody that is looking for postpot and dealer support, go ahead and follow Deb. The link is in her link tree, the top link to get that fantastic resource that she's offering the ten tips, or you can TM her hair and yes, or the best with your post pops and journeys. So thank you, everybody. Is that set for today? Okay?

As we wrap up today's episode, I hope you've come away with some powerful insights and to how vital postpartum support truly is for both you and your family. Tracy and I covered so much, from sleep struggles to holistic care, and how having the right support, even if it's not in person, can make a huge difference in your recovery. Looking back on my own experience, I can't express enough how finding the right support systems for my second postpartum period transformed my recovery and gave me the confidence to care for my baby without feeling overwhelmed. If you're feeling uncertain or struggling to balance everything in those early months, I want you to know that you do not have to do this alone. You have to join my 1st Year Support program. It is here to help you navigate the UPS and downs of postpartum life, offering you expert guidance and personalized support no matter where you live. Whether you have a local doula or not, having access to experienced providers can be a game changer for families while being, and you deserve to feel empowered and supported through every step of this journey. And let's be real: your brain does not work right during this period when you're sleep-deprived and you're recovering. So, I'm here to sort it all out for you. Remember, before you consider doing a full sleep consult, download the free guide that I mentioned earlier, which contains the ten steps to take before considering sleep coaching. It's the perfect tool to help you figure out where you are in your journey and what minor adjustments you can make to improve sleep for both you and your baby. You can find it by heading to the top link in my leak tree and sending me a message. Remember, support is out there, and it can completely change your experience. If this episode resonated with you and you know someone who could benefit from it, please share it, like it, comment, or go ahead and send me an email at info@douladeb.com. You're doing an amazing job, and you deserve all the support that you need.