Doula Talk: Postpartum, Babies and the Battle for Sleep
Doula Talk is a podcast for parents navigating the real, often messy middle of postpartum and early parenthood. Hosted by Doula Deb, a birth, postpartum, and sleep doula with over 15 years of experience, this show offers compassionate guidance, honest conversation, and practical support for the first year and beyond. We talk about postpartum recovery, newborn care, sleep, nervous system regulation, and the emotional load that so many parents carry quietly. This isn’t about quick fixes or perfect routines. It’s about understanding what’s happening beneath the surface and building steady, supportive foundations that help both parents and babies feel more regulated over time. Through solo episodes and thoughtful conversations with trusted experts, Doula Talk helps you make sense of sleep struggles, feeding questions, recovery, and the constant mental load of early parenthood, without shame, pressure, or panic. If you’re pregnant, newly postpartum, or deep in the exhaustion of caring for a baby, this is a place to slow down, feel less alone, and remember that you’re not doing this wrong.
Episodes
In this episode of Doula Talk, Doula Deb Jimenez tackles one of the most common places parents get stuck: making a sleep decision without spiraling into panic.
Deb walks through why baby sleep decisions feel so emotionally loaded, and why parents are often reacting to exhaustion rather than responding to an actual pattern. She shares the five-question framework she uses with her own clients to figure out what's actua...
In this episode of Doula Talk, Doula Deb Jimenez tackles the obsession so many parents have with getting the schedule exactly right, down to the minute.
Deb shares a conversation with a mom who spent three hours debating a fifteen-minute difference in wake windows, and uses it to make a bigger point: a schedule can support sleep, but it can't create it. Before routines, babies need regulation, meaning they need to fe...
Why do so many parents wait until they’re completely exhausted before asking for support?
In this episode of Doula Talk, Deb talks about the pressure parents feel to “figure it out” on their own, the overwhelm that comes from conflicting advice online, and why more information doesn’t always create more clarity.
She also explains what personalized support actually looks like: not judgment, not ...
Is your baby really fighting sleep—or are they trying to tell you something?
In this episode of Doula Talk, Deb breaks down why bedtime battles, short naps, crying, rolling around, or that sudden burst of energy before bed may have less to do with a baby “refusing” sleep and more to do with timing, development, overstimulation, feeding, or changing sleep needs.
You’ll learn how to recognize the...
Pregnancy changes your body. But what if it also changed the way you see yourself?
In this episode, Deb sits down with underwater maternity photographer and artist Caroline White for a conversation that goes far beyond photography. Together, they explore the beauty, vulnerability, and transformation of pregnancy and why this season deserves to be honored rather than hidden.
What starts as a discussion about breathtaki...
Becoming a parent isn’t supposed to be a solo journey, but for many families today, that’s exactly what it feels like.
In this episode, I’m talking about the “missing village” and why so many new parents feel overwhelmed, isolated, and like they’re somehow failing when, in reality, they’re simply trying to do one of life’s biggest jobs without the support humans were de...
Why does early parenthood suddenly make even tiny decisions feel impossible?
In this episode of Doula Talk, Deb dives into the neuroscience behind postpartum brain fog, decision fatigue, mental overload, and why so many parents feel emotionally exhausted, overstimulated, and stuck second-guessing themselves.
From sleep deprivation and the invisible mental load of parenting to the overwhelm of too much information and ...
In this episode of Doula Talk, Deb sits down with Dr. Estelle Giraud, founder and CEO of Trellis, to talk about the massive gaps in postpartum healthcare and why so many women are left feeling exhausted, dismissed, and unsupported after birth.
Together, they unpack what is actually happening in the body during postpartum recovery, including hormone shifts, nutrient depletion, nervous system dysregulation, inflammatio...
Postpartum is full of decisions that can feel impossibly heavy. Breastfeeding or formula? Tongue tie release or wait? Go back to work or stay home longer? Sleep support now or later?
In this episode, Deb talks about why decision-making in early parenthood can feel so overwhelming and how to reconnect with your intuition without ignoring research, support, or real-life challenges. Using her RAINBOW method, she walks p...
The first year after having a baby can put pressure on even the healthiest relationships, not because families are failing, but because postpartum recovery, sleep deprivation, work stress, hormones, and nonstop caregiving are a lot for human nervous systems.
In this honest and practical episode of Doula Talk: Postpartum, Babies, and the Battle for Sleep, Doula Deb shares 10 realistic tips for partners navigating the ...
Whether you're knee-deep in diapers or wondering if your toddler will ever nap again, one thing’s for sure: you’ve probably put yourself dead last on the priority list. In this episode, I’m sharing real-talk strategies to help you make space for self-care that actually works, even in the chaos of new parenthood.
This isn’t about bubble baths or “just go take a nap” advice. It&rsquo...
In this episode of Doula Talk: Postpartum, Babies, and the Battle for Sleep, Deb sits down with public health researcher Dr. Amanda Reiman to explore a topic that many parents are already navigating quietly, but rarely feel safe talking about openly.
Cannabis.
For families moving through pregnancy, postpartum recovery, and early parenthood, the messaging has often been clear and rigid: just say no. But behind the scen...
If feeding feels harder than it should right now, this episode offers a grounded, practical shift in perspective.
Deb, a birth, postpartum, and sleep doula, explains why most feeding advice isn’t wrong, it’s just often given out of order. Tools like schedules, wake windows, and spacing feeds can help, but only when a family’s system is ready for that level of structure. Otherwise, they tend to add p...
If feeding your baby feels stressful, emotional, or overwhelming, this episode is for you.
Many parents are told that feeding struggles mean something is wrong with the bottle, the formula, the schedule, or their technique. But in practice, feeding challenges rarely exist in isolation.
In this episode, Deb gently reframes feeding stress as a whole-system issue, not a personal failure. Drawing on over 15 years of exper...
What if nothing is wrong… but everything still feels hard?
In this episode of Doula Talk, Deb gently explores the often-overlooked reality of the fourth trimester. Those first three months after birth can be beautiful, but also exhausting, disorienting, and full of questions no one quite prepares you for.
This episode helps shift families out of panic and into understanding, covering:
- Why frequent night waki...
Many families reach a moment in early postpartum when things finally start to feel familiar, and then suddenly shift again. Sleep looks different. Feeding feels harder. The rhythm they were beginning to understand feels less clear.
In this episode, Deb, a birth, postpartum, and sleep doula, explains why these shifts are not setbacks, but a normal part of newborn development. She explores how growth spurts, illness, a...
In this conversation, Deb discusses the complexities of the newborn phase, emphasizing the unpredictability of sleep and feeding patterns. She encourages parents to focus on understanding their baby's rhythms rather than adhering to strict schedules. By recognizing sleepy cues and the dynamic nature of newborn development, parents can reduce stress and foster a more responsive caregiving approach. Deb highlights the...
Ever wondered whether a tongue tie release is really the fix everyone says it is — or why some babies seem to struggle even after the procedure? In this week’s episode of Doula Talk, Deb is joined by Carissa Guiley, a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC, to unpack the truth about therapeutic readiness and why slowing down before a frenectomy can make all the difference.
Together, they explore how nervou...
In this heartfelt and insightful episode of Doula Talk: Postpartum, Babies, and the Battle for Sleep, Deb speaks directly to exhausted, overwhelmed parents caught in the cycle of sleep deprivation. With warmth, honesty, and just the right dose of real talk, Deb breaks down what’s really happening when your baby sleeps—and why quality rest is non-negotiable for their growth, development, and emotional reg...
Ever wondered if your baby’s weird noises, twitchy movements, or late-night fussing are totally normal—or something to panic about? In this week’s episode of Doula Talk: Postpartum, Babies, and the Battle for Sleep, Deb is joined by Dr. Kailey Buller, a double board-certified physician in family and emergency medicine (and mom of two), to demystify what’s normal, what’s not, and when it...
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