In this episode, Amanda Alappat, a homebirth mama, certified doula, coach, seasoned yoga teacher, joins me to discuss:

• (04:30) how birthing is a pivotal experience that could color motherhood
• (06:50) the importance of knowing our options
• (07:40) considerations+support needed for optimal conditions preconception, during pregnancy, postpartum
• (19:20) Amanda's home birth story
• (28:00) physiologic birth
• (31:40) Amanda's surprising and empowering first home birth
• (38:00) RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) parenting
• (44:00) how we could help empower women by reclaiming birth, knowing all our options

and more.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Amanda Alappat https://www.amandaalappat.com/
• Amanda Alappat https://www.instagram.com/amanda_alappat/
• RIE Parenting https://www.rie.org/about/ries-basic-principles/

Join the conversation:

• follow earlycareforeverykid.org
• connect instagram.com/earlycareforeverykid
• subscribe earlycareforeverykid.captivate.fm/listen
• transcript https://share.descript.com/view/VoOs1pT07lw

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Transcript

AI-generated transcript below. Please excuse any typos or errors.

Danielle An

Wherever you are, however, your day or night's been going. I hope you feel as inspired as I am after this episode with Amanda Alappat, to take a moment, to see how we feel in our bodies and take charge of how we mother, our children and ourselves.

This is early care for every kid, a podcast for people who want to make learning, living, and loving more harmonious for everyone. I'm your host, Danielle An each week, I interview fellow parents, educators, advocates, and community leaders who care for and work with young children and families. I share their experiences, insights, and specific, actionable tips on how you could help make the world work better for everyone.

Amanda Alappat is on a mission to support and elevate women. She is a home birth mama seasoned yoga teacher and a veteran personal trainer who was once a competitive champion boxer. Amanda has two small children and an artist husband. She splits her time between New York city, their retreat, home and art gallery in the Poconos in Pennsylvania and Costa Rica.

The destination of their upcoming family retreats. Amanda believes strongly in both physiologic birth and mothering, and is the practitioner of RIE a respectful approach to parenting. She loves growing her own food. Unschooling her daughter breastfeeding her son, hosting women's circles and retreats all while cultivating sisterhood and community.

Welcome to our conversation with Amanda Alappat. I'm so grateful to have you today because you are on a mission. You are a woman, a force on a mission to support and elevate women and womanhood and motherhood, sisterhood, community rewilding. Could you please tell me how you came into this space of birthing and rewilding motherhood?

What does that mean?

Amanda Alappat

Okay, so I'll give you the summary. I got into the fitness industry 20 years ago, and that is before Instagram and before social media. And so I was one of the only women in the industry and as such, I...

Rev. Susan Nason, parent educator and founder of the Parent Whisperer NY, joins me to discuss:

• (07:15) Why parents need to develop communication skills
• (10:20) How to establish trust and boundaries 
• (13:50) Why it’s crucial to acknowledge feelings sooner than later 
• (22:32) “Loved people love.”
• (30:00) Kids seeking attention or connection?
• (32:51) The most foundational (and often simple) thing parents could do to nurture kids’ sense of self-worth (role play) + what happens for us when we do that
• (34:35) How we might better connect with strangers  

and more.

Susan is a mother, grandmother, and educator helping parents create loving cycles and lasting connections with their children.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Parent Whisperer NY ​​http://theparentwhispererny.com/
• Contact Rev. Susan Nason rev.susannason@gmail.com
• “How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk” https://amzn.to/3mbxtcF 
• “Siblings Without Rivalry” https://amzn.to/3mdFmOy
• 5-min Loving Kindness Metta Meditation https://youtu.be/Y-z4HqdTQFw

* Affiliate Disclaimer: I may earn a small commission when you make a qualifying purchase at the amazon.com links above at no additional cost to you. Thanks. 

Join the conversation: 

• follow earlycareforeverykid.org
• connect instagram.com/earlycareforeverykid
• subscribe earlycareforeverykid.captivate.fm/listen

In this episode of early care for every kid, we discuss:

• (00:50) How I reconciled not getting it all done sometimes
• (02:23) How you can feel good about giving yourself space/care
• (06:29) Questions to ask yourself when deciding what’s important now

Join the conversation:

• follow earlycareforeverykid.org
• connect instagram.com/earlycareforeverykid
• subscribe earlycareforeverykid.captivate.fm/listen
• transcript https://share.descript.com/view/pD1r4VazjBa

Transcript:

AI-generated transcript below. Please excuse any typos or errors.

Danielle An (00:00)

In this episode, I want to talk about giving ourselves more space without the guilt to take care of ourselves first, especially because we are caregivers to very little children who are always watching. This is early care for every kid, a podcast for people who want to make learning, living, and loving more harmonious for everyone.

I'm your host, Danielle An each week, I interview fellow parents, educators, advocates, and community leaders. The care for and work with young children and families. I share their experiences, insights, and specific, actionable tips on how you could help make the world work better for everyone. Welcome to our conversation.

Danielle An (00:50)

Hi I was away last week and despite wanting to be disciplined and consistent about podcast episodes, I myself also just take the week without giving any advance notice. I felt a little guilty and frustrated and frankly was very cranky and myself to be skipping an episode. But I do want to talk about how I've come to feel okay about it all 

After taking an unplanned last minute road trip to visit my in-laws for the first time since the pandemic, I wasn't quite sure I was going to be able to record and release this episode or any episode, but I take a moment to think about is that really important right now for me this week, especially cause I wasn't feeling very well. I decided that it's okay. Let's skip a week and come back the week after. So here we are. 

And it just reminded me to maybe encourage you to give ourselves, give yourself some more space. Without guilt to intentionally take care of ourselves first and recharge as needed. So that would, we could be at a healthier, more regulated space where we are feeling generous and happy to share what we do and do it with joy and gladness.

So when we are with our kids, we're not erupting at them. Something really minute. 

Danielle An (02:23)

I want to talk about the mindset shift as I decided, okay, this week I will skip an episode because it might demonstrate a little bit about what a lot of caregivers, a lot of mothers do, especially when it comes to personal work and family lives.

We set ourselves up for failure a lot of times, because there are too many things that need to get done that don't. Fit on our plate neatly. And we are not meant to do all the things on our own without any support, even before the coronavirus and during a pandemic. And. As we are perhaps slowly getting to a safer place and still a tenuous place where there's still a lot of uncertainty.

There's a lot of clarity how we are not individually meant to do it all alone, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and all the stacks, all the nursing or pumping and the bottle washing and feeding or a sanitizing that needs to happen. And just keeping the house. Clean enough or making a...