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In this podcast, we are chatting all about travel systems Bella Baby expert Sharon Cummins. We discuss what you need to look out for when deciding on ‘the one’ and the do’s and don’ts of finding the right travel system for you, your family and your lifestyle. This is a really useful ‘how to’ for new parents.   We talk through the mechanics of a travel system – what is it? What is included typically? The all-important lifestyle consultation; why it is essential to assess your lifestyle to find the right travel system to best suit your needs and to fit in with where you live and how you explore your world. Lead-times and your guide when to place your order. Why is a carrycot so important for your baby’s health and development? What about future-proofing your travel system to double up your pushchair? Making life easier, with deposits and payment plans. Sharon’s one top tip when you pick up your travel system to master your travel systems mechanics!   For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

In this episode of Nine Months On, we chat about the toddler years and the very challenging topic of tantrums. We are joined by behavior specialist and Mum of 2, Dee Holland Hannon who has a Masters in applied behavior analysis and over ten years working with children, specializing in children with autism.   In this episode we discuss:   When do tantrums start? As early as 16 months in some cases and are generally triggered by frustration from the child who is struggling to communicate.   Quick wins to try to help your child with a temper tantrum: change of scene (moving to another room or environment), distraction, or simply ignoring the whole episode.   Finding the trigger that will set your child off can be your secret to taking the meltdowns down a notch. You may know immediately what will result in a major outburst. Accepting your child finds these situations difficult and acknowledging this is really important.   Knowing these triggers and either avoiding them happening or having a plan when they do can help diminish the stress this can cause everyone (within miles on the bad days!).   Dee shares her “First ; Then” approach that can help set boundaries and manage expectations, and most importantly avoid an escalation to level 10 tantrum!   The importance of your language as a parent, if you are constantly saying “No” your child can become immune to this. Keep important words important so they do not lose power.   We chat about various distraction techniques like the use of incentives (or bribery!). Offering a choice to your child (would you like the green cup or the yellow cup?) helps to build up confidence and independence and most importantly they are happy that they get what they want. And if all else fails; deep breaths. As difficult as that can be when you want to scream too!   Tantrums can be incredibly frustrating for everyone; the child, the parent, and siblings. If you are trying to manage how you react in a more effective way, you are on the right path because you care enough to make an effort. You’re never the only parent whose child has had a level 10 code red in the middle of a public place with an audience eyeballing you. We’ve all been there, so just keep breathing!   You can follow Dee on Instagram and read more on her blog “Thoughts, Tots and Tea”   For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

In this podcast, we are joined by Siobhan Berry, founder, and director of Mummycooks, Mum of 2 and author of the recipe book “Baby and Family; cook for the family, adapt for baby”. Siobhan chats to us about: During the weaning process the difficult phase of crossing over to Family food and how to avoid this by starting off with Family Food from the beginning. Neophobia and the developmental phases – your child’s fear of something New! We chat about fussy eaters and Siobhan shares tips to help. The psychology of food and how we approach feeding our kids Portion sizes – the key to getting it right! We cover both Baby Led weaning and purée options Gagging and choking – how to know the difference Seasonal calendar and how to make sure your child gets the most nutritious foods all year round When is Organic is not always the best option? For more from Siobhan, you can listen to our previous podcast where we discuss the first steps of weaning in more detail. You can shop the full Mummycooks range here, and contact Siobhan on her website. Siobhan runs intensive weaning classes where you can learn all you need to know about family food, baby led weaning, purées and lots more. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Episode 036: Mums and Tots Today we are chatting with the editor and publisher of Mums and Tots magazine Roberta von Meding, who is mum to Juliet, age 8, and Robyn, age 5. In this podcast we discuss: When Roberta became a first time Mum she struggled to relate to the images of motherhood represented in the media and maternity magazines available to her at the time, she made it her mission to give a real and honest vision of motherhood, and so Mums and Tots was born back in 2010. We chat about preeclampsia and how it affected Roberta’s two pregnancies. The psychological effect of an emergency C-Section. Tips for when a baby is breach! Roberta and her family travel the world as part of her role as editor of Mums and Tots, she shares super tips for traveling with little ones. You can follow Mums and Tots on Facebook, Instagram and read the latest issue here.

Today I am joined by Kathy Milliken who is Mum of 2, and has a huge passion for all things related to pregnancy, birth, babies & parenting and this is how her business ‘Bump Baby and Me’ was born. Kathy teaches a range of different pre/postnatal classes & workshops from Pregnancy Yoga to Baby Massage. She has also trained as a GentleBirth Instructor and Birth and Postpartum Doula and is currently training as a Cuidiú Breastfeeding counsellor. Kathy lives in Malahide, Co. Dublin with her husband Steve, their little girls Ayla (2.5yrs) & Robyn (9mths). In this episode, we chat all about the Fourth Trimester; the first 3 months of your newborn's life which are magical and challenging. Kathy shares her tips on how to help your little one transition to life outside the womb, and also to help Mum transition to the role of Motherhood. You can contact Kathy on 0866042885, via email on info@bumpbabyandme.ie on her website, Facebook and on Instagram. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Once you are back to work as a new Mum, it takes a while to find the balance. The anticipation of returning to work can be overwhelming (check out our dedicated podcast here on preparing for the return to work) but once you have found your new rhythm as a working Mum everything falls in to place eventually, however it is not easy! Today we chat to Alannah Coughlan, key account manager at Stokke. We share tips that help us manage the work/motherhood balance on a day to day basis. We discuss the challenges of being back in work mode but this time as a working Mum. How this new role is essentially a master class in prioritization and time management. Practical tips on getting yourself and your child prepped for your day to day. The benefits and time saving hack of meal planning and batch cooking. When your child is sick, what to do!!?! We chat to Alannah on preparing for her next role as a Mum of two! (Tune in to our previous podcast on growing your family here) For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Today we chat to Grace Mongey, also known as Faces by Grace; make-up artist, blogger and Mother of Sienna. Grace chats to us about motherhood, her breastfeeding journey, and the importance of maternal wellbeing. In this podcast we discuss: Graces parenting style. Learning to trust your maternal instinct. Tips for becoming independent and adjusting to life as a Mother. Getting out and about as a new Mum – overcoming the intimidation by planning ahead! Grace talks through her breastfeeding journey, and shares her tips that helped her and Sienna during this time. Building resilience as a woman and a mother. Mindfulness, worries, anxiety – Grace talks through her coping techniques to ensure she is a happy healthy Mum to Sienna For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Today we chat to Elaine Russell, who has over 20 year’s commercial and leadership experience having trained as a Chartered Accountant before moving to financial services and telecoms sectors and going on to become CEO of Tesco Mobile.  To support a better life balance for her two young girls, and to follow her passion of inspiring herself and others to be their best selves, Elaine decided to leave the corporate world and to retrain as an executive and leadership coach.  She is passionate about supporting women to rebuild their professional confidence, play to their strengths, and successfully integrate work into their lives. In this Podcast we discuss:   Identifying your strengths and playing to them (Marcus Buckingham) Re-building and re-establishing your confidence Professional confidence versus maternal confidence We chat about imposter syndrome The amazing concept of ‘returnships’ Tips for your CV and to focus on your achievements The importance of self belief and the drive to meet your full potential Practical tips on networking More about Women Returners: Women Returners is a consulting, coaching and network organisation which specialises in enabling the return to work of professional women after an extended career break. Women Returners partners with organizations to design, promote and deliver tailored returner initiatives, providing supported bridges back to mid to senior roles for talented and experienced professionals. We launched Women Returners in Ireland in 2017, and are building awareness among the Irish business community of returnships and of the strong business case for accessing the untapped talent pool of high-calibre women and men on career break. At the same time, we are expanding the Women Returners Professional Network into Ireland, providing advice and information to Irish women on career break, with the aim of connecting them with businesses interested in hiring them. You can connect with Elaine via email Elaine@womenreturners.com and read more on www.womenreturners.com For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

The saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ is at the heart of today’s podcast. We chat to Sinead O’Moore, Mum of Penny and head of content strategy for eumom all about building your community as a parent and having the best support networks in place for yourself and your family.   We discuss: How your community completely changes when you become a parent. Not only does your child benefit from this support but the parents are enriched by the solidarity of a strong community network. This network might be your local yoga class, your local pharmacist or your online community. Listening to the advice of the village elders, i.e. those who have seen it all before. Learning to quiet those doubting voices in your own mind. We chat about comparison culture and our inherent competitive nature as parents. How your online community is a wealth of support; but when it makes you feel bad, it’s time to take control! Protect and build your bubble of positivity and don’t listen to the negativity. Resilience and positivity – how to find ways to be more grateful.   For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support

Today’s topic came about when we identified our Nine Months On subscribers are from across the globe, many of them parenting in a country or town away from home. We chat to Sandra Karasinska who is Polish, married to Diego from Spain and raising their son Leon in Dublin, Ireland. We discuss: How being away from close friends and family presents so many challenges. Creating your own community when you are away from your home place. With this distance means lots of travel home to see loved ones, Sandra shares brilliant tips for travelling as a family. Sandra shares her tips to help with reflux, especially when travelling. The carrier that saved their sanity while travelling! The importance of balance and team work as parents when travelling. How raising your child with multiple languages helps them in countless ways, enhancing their parent’s cultural connection to home and developing their amazing little brains. Being away from home is lonely, and Sandra explains how she creates a welcoming environment in Bella Baby Dundrum where she is store manager. Browse the range of travel accessories from Bella Baby. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

In those precious first hours and days with your little newborn, our Nine Months On Mum's share their survival tips. Completely honest and just a little graphic, we chat about all birth and feeding choices, and our tips for all eventualities. This is all about taking care of yourself as a new Mum and giving yourself a chance to adjust to your new family dynamic. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

We met Lisa Mooney, class leader and general co-ordinator for Baby Sensory in the Republic of Ireland. Lisa spends lots of time with tiny babies on a weekly basis helping them reach their developmental milestones. Your baby’s language, physical, social and emotional development is aided in Baby Sensory classes. Lisa chats to us all about the key milestones and what we can do to help our little ones develop. In this podcast we discuss: What is Baby sensory? How can we heighten and aid your baby’s development to hit all the milestones? Why do we use that funny baby voice when talking to our little ones? Lisa explains the tuning of your babies ears and why we instinctively sing-song interact with them. Social development- new faces, voices, new surroundings help your little one build confidence. The social element for parents, why this is so important to get out and about with a fun class. Lisa explains how baby’s first sounds are aided by the sucking reflex, and why the common first word “Dada” is the easiest to say! Why Tummy Time is so important and Lisa’s tips to make it that bit easier The crawling stage, the fundamental development milestone that aids balance and coordination. Lisa’s brilliant tip to create ‘Treasure Boxes’ at home, with no cost, that will help develop all your babies senses with items from around the home. Toy safety – the one crucial tip about avoiding choking hazards.   To see the full timetable of Baby Sensory classes click here and check out the facebook page here or contact Lisa on 087 769 1934. Shop the Baby Sensory toy range here For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Parenthood brings a lot of emotions that are tricky to cope with and one of them is guilt. Guilt can manifest itself in many ways for parents; whether you feel guilty about working and needing childcare, neglecting your relationship and friendships while focusing on your children, ignoring the housework, neglecting yourself and your well being, the list goes on! We chat about what Mum guilt means to us and how we acknowledge and cope with it as best we can. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Practical tips on toilet training and all things nappies and potties from Mums Aoife, Evelyn and Sheila, who have toilet trained 8 little ones between them, with a 9th just about to start! Our Nine Months On Mums share tips, tricks and total honesty covering: How to know when is the right time to start – don’t rush into it! Tips on making toilet training fun What can go wrong and dealing with the not-so-fun times Useful products that can help The challenges of night time toilet training The importance of proper nutrition and hydration and how it affects toilet training Lots of great potty and toilet training products available from Bella Baby here For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

We chat to relationship coach and psychology lecturer Annie Lavin about Single Mums and the challenges of finding a partner to engage in a healthy relationship while parenting solo or co-parenting with an ex. We also recorded another podcast with Annie specifically about your evolving relationships with friends and in-laws after you become a parent, you can tune in HERE You can contact Annie on her website, by emailing annie@relationshipcoach.ie or on 087-7727838. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

We have gathered some inspirational and empowering moments from this season of Nine Months On in this uplifting podcast with a theme of honesty, positivity and solidarity. A little reminder to give yourself a break, take time to focus on the positive, and know we are all in it together. We chat to Naomi Clarke from The Style Fairy Blog about the importance of a positive relationship with your post partum body. Listen to Naomi’s full podcast here.   Courage, confidence and hard work are at the heart of Eimear Fahy’s advice for self employed mums. Tune in to Eimear’s full podcast here.   We discuss the challenges every mother faces in their new postpartum life with Becky Durnin from Dublin Family Doulas. You can hear more from Becky   The remarkably positive attitude of Kara Heriot from Mum Talks as she underwent IVF is a real inspiration. Listen to the full podcast with Kara here.   Career coach and HR expert Sarah Courtney shares her brilliant advice for working mums about focussing on the positive and not dwelling on the negative, and most importantly owning your choices. Hear the full podcast For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honoured if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Today’s podcast is with Eimear Varian Barry who is a Mother, fashion and lifestyle blogger, stylist, photographer, content creator, Instagrammer and creative director. Eimear has 2 beautiful daughters with baby number 3 on the way. Our host Aoife Carty caught up with Eimear about pregnancy, labour, the postnatal challenges every new mum faces, breastfeeding, fashion and LOTS more! Eimear’s infectious energy and charm is captured in this podcast that we recorded in Bella Baby Twickenham in London after she spent some time admiring one of her favourite Scandinavian brands Stokke. During our chat we discuss: How every individual’s lifestyle and requirements affect your shopping habits. The 3 B’s; Boobs, Bras and Breastfeeding! Maternity fashion – the brands we love and the one item Eimear wishes was bump-friendly! How instagram has made shopping a completely new experience. The importance of giving yourself a break, being patient and kind to yourself after you’ve had a baby. Eimear shares her one food hack that always makes her feel great. You can follow Eimear on Instagram and her gorgeous website. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

We are chatting to Sarah Courtney today, a Maternity and Career Coach with a 15 year career in Human Resources within Banking, Software and EdTech. Throughout that time Sarah focused on mentoring professionals to fulfil their leadership potential, empowering their career development and retaining them within the workplace.   Today’s topic is all about personal effectiveness and getting the best from you day whether you are on maternity leave, a working Mum or a stay at home Mum.   In this podcast we discuss: Clarifying your goals and the steps you need to take to achieve them. Time stealers! What are the things and habits that steal your valuable time on a daily basis? Sarah shares her tips on how to analyze and prioritize your day to day workload (at work or at home!) Make each day count! Tips and hacks to ensure the big jobs get done and allow time for the little jobs. The importance of resetting and focusing on the bigger picture in work, in life, with the aim of balance.   Learn more about Sarah’s work here   For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Today’s podcast is all about the mental overload we feel as parents. Having too much to do, lack of confidence and a lack of time can make us feel totally overwhelmed. Mums Aoife and Evelyn share their own experiences and tips to help lighten the load. We chat about: The pressure we feel on a daily basis and the importance of structure. Delegation really helps, and simply sharing your plans will also help you prioritise. Clarify what you really care about, whether that is a goal or something to accomplish in a day. We chat about confidence and resilience as mothers. The importance of self care! Taking the time to feel good about yourself (guilt free!) will boost your confidence and make you feel great. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.

Part of your aftercare following the birth of your baby is having a chat with your GP about contraception. At around the 6 week postnatal mark your GP will talk you through the various options available, and unless you have an idea of what you want to go for (if you chose to opt in of course) prepare for your head to be in a spin! In this podcast we chat to GP Dr. Emma Durkan about the options that are currently available. For more useful parenting podcasts click here and don’t forget to subscribe. We would be honored if you took a moment to rate and review Nine Months On! We greatly appreciate you joining us and we hope you have enjoyed this podcast! Thank you so much for your support.