Latest / Motherhood: Aligned and Assigned / EP. 47: Why Your Child Isn’t Sleeping (And What Sleep Is Actually Doing for Their Body)
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to Motherhood Aligned and Assigned, where we help guide
- 0:04mothers from symptoms to solutions.
- 0:07We are Dr. Serena Kaufman and Dr. Veronica Schultz
- 0:10nervous system specialist, helping families discover the missing
- 0:13link in their wellness journey
- 0:14Join us as we translate complex health challenges into simple, actionable
- 0:19solutions for you and your children.
- 0:21your family deserves to thrive.
- 0:23Not just survive.
- 0:26When
- 0:26When it comes to sleep, most parents have tried everything.
- 0:30In fact, I just saw a post on a mom group on Facebook that she says, Lord, help me.
- 0:36I've tried everything.
- 0:38And there are like 50 comments of that.
- 0:40People suggesting more things like earlier bedtimes, blackout curtains,
- 0:44melatonin, white noise machines.
- 0:47No one
- 0:47one said chiropractic, but we'll get back to that.
- 0:49Mm-hmm.
- 0:50Did you.
- 0:51Uh.
- 0:52No, because I read her, no, because I read, I read her stuff.
- 0:57I was like, actually, you might need to like have a routine.
- 1:01And
- 1:02And she, with what she, it didn't sound like her baby
- 1:04was a perfect storm situation.
- 1:06Like the quality of sleep was fine and she was just,
- 1:10I
- 1:10I don't know, we get into lots of opinions here, but it was a positive
- 1:15feedback loop of, reinforcing behavior
- 1:18It sounds like mom needs to get under care.
- 1:20He, well, that does just show, I mean, and we sidetracked, but if you ever have
- 1:23a comment from one of us on your Facebook post, we actually like thoughtfully decide
- 1:27if we should reach out to you or not.
- 1:29It's
- 1:29I have like only like hit send on like 50%.
- 1:33Yeah.
- 1:34So
- 1:34like if we, if we message you, if you get a comment from us.
- 1:37It's 'cause we like really think we can
- 1:39I really, and I probably spent 20 minutes, probably spent 20
- 1:42minutes drafting that message.
- 1:44Oh.
- 1:44no.
- 1:46Anyways.
- 1:47Anyways,
- 1:48tried all these things and still their child is awake for hours.
- 1:52They're exhausted, but they're wired.
- 1:55And Is that your reality right now?
- 1:57Like if you're hearing this.
- 1:59You're, I mean, we just, I just threw this moment on the bus.
- 2:02Maybe you're hearing that, but you're not feeling at bedtime.
- 2:05There's some signs of like, is this.
- 2:08Their nervous system is stressed or is this, let's change some
- 2:11habits and see if that changes.
- 2:13Right?
- 2:13Mm-hmm.
- 2:15But a lot of times you are not feeling at bedtime.
- 2:17Your child is not being difficult.
- 2:20What you're seeing is a nervous system that is stuck in fine or flight.
- 2:24Right?
- 2:24And so, and no routine or supplement or perfect sleep environment is
- 2:29gonna be able to override a nervous system that is physiologically
- 2:32locked in fight or flight mode.
- 2:34Okay?
- 2:35So
- 2:36this episode is for parents who are exhausted from sleepless nights,
- 2:40families who've tried everything.
- 2:42Kids who are tired that you know, they're tired, but they won't settle.
- 2:46And parents who know that something deeper is going on.
- 2:50So if you ever thought, why won't my child just sleep?
- 2:54This episode is for you.
- 2:56Yes.
- 2:56And then what we're gonna break down this episode, for those of you who kind of
- 2:59wanna snapshot where we're going, we're gonna talk about what sleep is actually
- 3:02doing for your child's brain and body.
- 3:04Why some, I mean, like, you know, it's important, but like,
- 3:06what is it actually doing?
- 3:07How The nervous system not routines, control sleep.
- 3:10And I'm even gonna throw in like, not even the circadian rhythm.
- 3:13Okay.
- 3:13We're gonna, we talk about that a lot.
- 3:15But like it, it's a newer system first before the rhythm.
- 3:18How the perfect storm disrupts sleep early in life and why?
- 3:21Traditional approaches usually start well, but then they plateau and you
- 3:25go back into what you kind of, it's like, oh, this might be working.
- 3:28And then you kind of go back to, oh, they're not sleepy again.
- 3:31And then what actually helps restore real deep sleep,
- 3:35I'm gonna start with something that hits hard.
- 3:36About 35% of children in the US aren't getting enough sleep.
- 3:40That's more than one in three kids walking into school already running on empty.
- 3:45Isn't that crazy?
- 3:45One in three kids.
- 3:47That's crazy.
- 3:47And we hear the same story every week.
- 3:49So I've done everything right and it's still not working.
- 3:51But the shift that we are maybe missing is that it's not in bedtime.
- 3:54It's not in routines.
- 3:55It's not in supplements, right?
- 3:58It starts in the nervous system.
- 3:59Yeah.
- 4:00And how many, I wonder how many of these.
- 4:03School age.
- 4:03Kids that aren't getting enough sleep, they were babies who had
- 4:06a lot of trouble with sleep.
- 4:08Right.
- 4:08It usually starts right out the gate.
- 4:11great sleepers don't usually turn into bad sleepers usually.
- 4:16Have you seen that very much?
- 4:18like
- 4:18very seldom, but they're usually bad poopers from the start.
- 4:22Right?
- 4:22There's usually some sort of thing that's been going on their whole life.
- 4:26The only time I see a good sleeper turned into a not great sleeper is
- 4:29when they're, they're backed up.
- 4:31Hmm.
- 4:31Okay.
- 4:32Right before we started this call, we were talking about what comes first, poop
- 4:35or sleep in the in phases of healing.
- 4:38So we'll get back into that conversations we have casually.
- 4:45These are the
- 4:46are the things we talk about for funsies.
- 4:49Let's talk about what sleep is actually doing because,
- 4:52and
- 4:52what we were talking about is that in healing, I feel like often if I can
- 4:57help someone start getting high quality sleep, everything else is falling
- 5:02into place and Dr. Veronica's like, Hmm, if I can get people eliminating.
- 5:07Then they
- 5:07they get asleep and then everything starts falling into place, but
- 5:10it's rest and digest, right?
- 5:12Both of these things are, are happening and they're, in the grand scheme of
- 5:15things, they're probably happening.
- 5:17In the same time, like in the same timeframe,
- 5:20Very closely
- 5:21right?
- 5:21So sleep is, it's, we think of it as rest, just casually, but sleep is
- 5:26actually one of the most active healing states in your child's body, right?
- 5:30So while your child is sleeping, their brain is organizing and storing learning.
- 5:35Growth hormone surges.
- 5:37So kids, when you like pick your babies up, you're like, I swear you
- 5:40grew overnight because they did.
- 5:42That's when their child is growing.
- 5:43Yeah.
- 5:44The immune system builds infection fighting cells.
- 5:47For example, the year that Duke was born and I bought this
- 5:51practice, I wasn't sleeping.
- 5:53I was sick so much more, and this year we were sick.
- 5:58Like
- 5:59twice, but like half.
- 6:00Like I was like, oh, my body's fighting something and I've
- 6:03been sleeping this year.
- 6:04Just like personal case study there.
- 6:06Mm-hmm.
- 6:07Right.
- 6:07That happened to me too.
- 6:08Mm-hmm.
- 6:09Emotions when we're sleeping, they're processed and regulated, will crazy.
- 6:13And the body repairs and restores.
- 6:16So when a child isn't sleeping well, you'll just see tiredness.
- 6:20You're seeing more sickness, more meltdowns, more learning struggles,
- 6:23more emotional dysregulation, because the body never got the reset it needed.
- 6:29Mm-hmm.
- 6:29Mm-hmm.
- 6:30So you're like a factory set to start each and every day.
- 6:33Yeah.
- 6:33Yeah.
- 6:34here is where we're gonna kinda just dive into the new system and how it controls.
- 6:38Sleep.
- 6:39So we already talked about like we know it's not the routines.
- 6:41We know it's not the supplements.
- 6:42It's a little bit deeper than that.
- 6:44And so we always use the car analogy when it comes to your nervous system.
- 6:48If you've been on this podcast, you've heard it before, but just
- 6:50as a reminder, your gas pedal is your sympathetics, right?
- 6:52Your stress, your alertness.
- 6:54I always like to, well then we talk about the brake pedal, right?
- 6:56So your brake pedal, I'm getting ahead of myself.
- 6:58Your brake pedals, your parasympathetic rust, sleep healing.
- 7:00I love the car analogy because not only can you get that good visual
- 7:03of like gas pedal, brake pedal, but I also like to talk about
- 7:05like if you're always on the gas.
- 7:07Eventually you're gonna crash.
- 7:08Right?
- 7:09You gonna run out?
- 7:10Guess?
- 7:11Mm-hmm.
- 7:12And but we also wanna know, yeah, you'll run outta gas faster.
- 7:14Right?
- 7:15But also if you're always on the brake, you're not gonna go anywhere.
- 7:17Right?
- 7:17So it's not that either the gas or the brake pedal.
- 7:19I feel like lately in the office, I've been getting a lot
- 7:21of like, is that bad or good?
- 7:22Mm-hmm.
- 7:23it's
- 7:24like a gas pedal and a brake pedal are not bad or good.
- 7:26It is just, are we using them properly?
- 7:28It is what it is,
- 7:29Or people are afraid to be, people are like, they see themselves like way over
- 7:34on the brake pedal side and they're like, oh, that's good because you,
- 7:38the sympathetic nervous system's bad.
- 7:39It's like, no, balance is good to be able to, to have the ability to tap on
- 7:45the gas or the brake when you want to
- 7:47Yes, having that choice and when you need to, right?
- 7:50So sleep only happens when the break is working properly, right?
- 7:54So if you imagine, this is also a really great analogy.
- 7:57It literally just goes, the deeper you get into this analogy, the better it
- 8:00It is such a good
- 8:00if you put.
- 8:02Your foot on the gas pedal and then you put your foot on the brake pedal,
- 8:05you are probably gonna slow down, but you're not gonna stop all the way, right?
- 8:08So we need that lift off of the gas pedal for that break to work fully,
- 8:12and that basically that scenario is when we're sleeping, right?
- 8:15That's what sleep looks like, is you've taken your foot off the gas
- 8:18and then you're using the brake and you're parked for the night, right?
- 8:20So if your child's system.
- 8:21Stuck with the gas pedal pressed down, like what I just said.
- 8:24They're gonna feel tired, exhausted, and done, but still wired, right?
- 8:28They're spinning their tires and so like, totally not a car person,
- 8:33but like this works so well.
- 8:34this is often due to what we call subluxation or dysfunction or interference
- 8:38in the nervous system that prevents the brain and body from communicating properly
- 8:42so the body can't shift into sleep mode.
- 8:44Right.
- 8:45Brake pedal is on.
- 8:46We're pressing the gas pedal.
- 8:47We're trying to, but it's not working even when it def desperately needs that brake
- 8:51pedal to sleep and reset for the night.
- 8:54so
- 8:54sleep
- 8:55probably didn't get disrupted.
- 8:57Once you needed them to sleep, it probably, it didn't just start at bedtime.
- 9:01Right.
- 9:02There's probably stuff going on much earlier, like we've been talking about
- 9:06when Dr. Veronica's, like usually if they were a good sleeper and
- 9:10then all of a sudden they weren't.
- 9:12Well, how has their digestion been?
- 9:13Because that's another part of their break pedal.
- 9:16How is the nursing their baby?
- 9:17Like all of the, like how is like upper digestion?
- 9:21Did they have reflux?
- 9:22Um, and spit up a lot, those kinds of things.
- 9:25And so what we call this buildup to.
- 9:29if your sleep is a nervous system thing, we call it the perfect storm.
- 9:34So often we see a story fold out of prenatal stress.
- 9:39So mom stressed when she was pregnant for there could be lots of reasons
- 9:43and just regular life these days, but cortisol crosses the placenta and
- 9:48so my mom stressed baby is getting those similar stress signals and also.
- 9:54If mom's nervous system is in fight or flight, baby is mirroring
- 9:58that as they're developing.
- 10:00So they're coming on out with a fight or flight nervous system,
- 10:03Mm-hmm.
- 10:04and then.
- 10:05There's often birth interventions or birth stress.
- 10:07So if,
- 10:08If,
- 10:09they were helped out either C-section forceps delivery or if birth was really,
- 10:14really long, mom pushed for a really long time, that can affect the upper neck.
- 10:19I can't point to my, that spot's ear, but, uh, that I can affect the upper neck,
- 10:23which can impact the vagus nerve and the vagus nerve is our master brake pedal.
- 10:29For our nervous system.
- 10:30And then this usually snowballs into a kiddo who's stressed.
- 10:35And so they're gonna be sick a lot.
- 10:37And so we have early antibiotic use regularly, which is gonna disrupt our gut.
- 10:43And our nerve system is connected to our gut, right?
- 10:45And then we get reflux and constipation in.
- 10:49Constantly sick, and these are ongoing stress signals in the body.
- 10:53Mm-hmm.
- 10:54All of these things make it really hard to tap into, eat, sleep,
- 10:58poop, and for babies, eat is like that nursing reflex reflex.
- 11:05Yeah, it's a, it's a sucking reflex, but yeah.
- 11:07Rooting, but it's, it's like everything, right?
- 11:10All of the process.
- 11:11It needs to suck and swallow and breathe at the same time.
- 11:13To digest it in their tummies, to digest it in their, small
- 11:17and large intestine, right?
- 11:18There can be digestion is like above and below
- 11:21and.
- 11:23I'm really careful about picking out the difference between sleep habits
- 11:28and a baby who's struggling, and that's where actually our scans come in.
- 11:32Mm-hmm.
- 11:33The scans, like I don't wanna pick apart a family's choices and lifestyle
- 11:38and in how they're sleeping, right?
- 11:40Like if you don't let your baby cry, don't let your baby cry.
- 11:43If you wanna co-sleep, co-sleep, if you want them in a crib by themselves
- 11:46in a different room, do your thing.
- 11:49But
- 11:49how is their nervous system?
- 11:51Let's get them scanned.
- 11:52That's gonna tell us what's going on and whether or not this is a
- 11:55nervous system issue, or if it's a habit issue and we change that up.
- 11:59That's like the bread and butter.
- 12:02I don't have to judge their parenting style.
- 12:03I can just look at the scans.
- 12:05It's like, oh, thank goodness.
- 12:06I'll just, is there like, let's do HRV heart rate variability and
- 12:10see is there a nervous system?
- 12:12Are they in dysautonomia where the nervous system is stuck in stress mode
- 12:16because their scans are telling us that
- 12:20sometimes I
- 12:20I forget that I have that tool that can tell me and I don't have to stress about
- 12:24coming off
- 12:24off as judgy.
- 12:26Yeah, well, but I also think it's.
- 12:28Because
- 12:29Because like you said, it's gonna work for every family.
- 12:30When I find, when you don't have the choice, right, it's like a
- 12:33mom who it's like getting to know what they want to happen, right?
- 12:37If the mom's coming in, it's like, I really don't wanna sleep with my baby, but
- 12:40that's the only way they're gonna sleep.
- 12:41I'm like, okay, well there's something going on, right?
- 12:43Because I feel like babies are so adaptable usually, like when the,
- 12:45when the nervous system is, is good.
- 12:48Is function good, is good.
- 12:50Maybe that's why people are asking me if things are good or bad, right?
- 12:53When the nervous system is functioning optimally, your baby should adapt
- 12:57to whatever environment you give it, like pretty quickly, right?
- 13:00So if I have a mom who's coming in, being like, my baby just will not
- 13:04sleep unless I'm holding them, I'm like, and you want to put them down.
- 13:08Like if you're not okay with that and your baby's not getting on
- 13:11board with what you want, and chances are it's a nervous system
- 13:13Yep.
- 13:14I have a mom that's doing that right now.
- 13:16I have a, I, I have lots of moms actually.
- 13:18They're like, I would love to lay them down, but they
- 13:21will only sleep on my chest.
- 13:23Yes.
- 13:23And then their mom's not gonna go to sleep, right?
- 13:25So that's them.
- 13:26That's baby needing co-regulation to sleep, right?
- 13:31So it's like, let's check mom out, mom, how's your nervous system doing?
- 13:35But also, I'm 100% with you on the adaptability, right?
- 13:38Our babies
- 13:40should
- 13:41get on board with like our lifestyle and what serves mom best in her sleep.
- 13:47That's how
- 13:47how my kids were.
- 13:48Like, they were adaptable to say, okay, we're sleeping in the
- 13:50crib now because I need to sleep.
- 13:52And they were like, okay, cool.
- 13:55We'll do that.
- 13:55It's time to do that.
- 13:57yeah, that was an excellent point.
- 14:00Yeah,
- 14:00I'm like stuck in that for a minute,
- 14:02Just let that land a little bit.
- 14:03Marinate.
- 14:05so what happens when sleep is chronically off?
- 14:07So there's gonna be some things that gets a little, get a little bit misinterpreted.
- 14:10So a sleep deprived child doesn't always look calm and sleepy, right?
- 14:13Sometimes you might think that you would, if they're not getting
- 14:16enough sleep, they're going to like eventually just crash.
- 14:18But what actually happens is the opposite.
- 14:21Because they're stuck in the gas pedal.
- 14:23Right?
- 14:23So when you know the nervous system, this makes sense.
- 14:25When we don't know it, it's like, why haven't they crashed yet?
- 14:28And it's because the reason why they're not sleeping is the same reason why
- 14:31they're having all these other things.
- 14:32Right?
- 14:33So a child who looks, who is sleep deprived often looks hyperactive, often
- 14:38looks impulsive, emotional, dysregulated.
- 14:40Right.
- 14:41They, they, the logical parts of their brain are basically shut off.
- 14:44'cause you can only think logically.
- 14:46yeah.
- 14:46Raging Bull.
- 14:47Yeah, exactly.
- 14:49Where I like to think like if you're running.
- 14:51For your life from a barrier, you're not gonna think about like, what's for dinner?
- 14:54Right?
- 14:54Like that's just not a thing.
- 14:56And so they're in this like impulsive, just like everything's a big
- 15:01deal, literally in survival mode.
- 15:03And so that's why a lot of kids who are also not sleeping
- 15:06eventually go into these labels.
- 15:08Like when they get into like those toddler years and even
- 15:11preschool, you know, preschool.
- 15:12Then it's like, does this person have a behavioral issue?
- 15:14Is this anxiety?
- 15:15Is this a DH adhd?
- 15:17And it could look like that and it could present like that, but
- 15:19really they're just exhausted.
- 15:21We had, uh, this exact scenario was happening with, I think she,
- 15:24she's about to turn four this month actually, or in April.
- 15:27and that was a huge thing.
- 15:28They thought she was socially anxious.
- 15:30And I think there's maybe a little bit, a little bit of that in there, right?
- 15:32There's personality, there's these
- 15:34That's that age group
- 15:35yeah, exactly right.
- 15:36Like that's developmentally appropriate.
- 15:38But the way she was displaying this was just these huge outbursts, this very
- 15:43like defiant quote unquote, behavior.
- 15:46But she also hadn't slept in seven days.
- 15:47And I was like, like I was telling mom.
- 15:50How do you feel when you're tired?
- 15:52Right?
- 15:53Like these kiddos who, and she also wasn't pooping, right?
- 15:55So she's backed up, she's not sleeping and she's just a hot mess.
- 16:00Express all the time.
- 16:01But like you would also be too, right?
- 16:02If your stomach was always hurting and you were not sleeping right?
- 16:05So they're just exhausted and the cycle kind of compounds on itself, right?
- 16:10Because it's like they're not sleeping, so they have more illness.
- 16:13They get sick more often, then they're taking antibiotics now.
- 16:16Their gut is all messed up.
- 16:17This is exactly what she was going through.
- 16:19then her nervous system keeps getting worse.
- 16:21Behavior's, heightened impulsiveness, hyperactivity.
- 16:24She eventually got to the point where she would just literally scream.
- 16:26Mom said, literally described it.
- 16:28She was like all night long.
- 16:29She just would not stop screaming.
- 16:30There's like nothing that we could do to get her to stop screaming.
- 16:34And it's like.
- 16:35She literally was telling you on the outside what her
- 16:37body was doing on the inside.
- 16:39And so we do this cycle until it is broken.
- 16:42And for her especially, she was actually a mom who is a functional medicine mom.
- 16:45And so she was doing all the gut things.
- 16:47They were eating all the right things.
- 16:49They were doing all the, she was very well versed in routine and
- 16:52structure and like what, you know, the developing brain goes through.
- 16:56But it wasn't until she got chiropractic care that it finally was the thing
- 16:59that snapped her out of that.
- 17:01And now sleeping is one of her.
- 17:02She comes in and if she has other things going on.
- 17:04We know at least sleep is going well for her.
- 17:07And so that she's gonna get back on track.
- 17:08And then when her sleep gets disrupted, we know she needs a couple more
- 17:10extra adjustments and she goes back to where she, where she is now.
- 17:14Um,
- 17:14I wanna know more about
- 17:15was,
- 17:16this.
- 17:16This is so exciting, Dr. Veronica.
- 17:18So she's not screaming head night anymore.
- 17:21Nope.
- 17:22She's now taking a, like, comical amount of melatonin.
- 17:25I think it's, she's like, at this point it feels like a placebo because she
- 17:29still, she was taking a ton of melatonin.
- 17:31It wasn't working at all.
- 17:32and now she's taking, she, she described it as like the tip of the dropper.
- 17:36Like before it was like a fold dose and now it's like just a drop.
- 17:39because
- 17:40like the
- 17:40the 4-year-old wants it,
- 17:42like,
- 17:42I think so.
- 17:43yeah.
- 17:43My 4-year-old would be like that too.
- 17:44She's like, mom,
- 17:45I need to take my, yeah.
- 17:47Right.
- 17:48And so she's
- 17:48the routines.
- 17:50exactly.
- 17:50Yeah.
- 17:50And they're a good, they're a family that's really built on some pretty strong
- 17:53routines, so like that makes sense.
- 17:55she's like, yeah, she was, she's like, almost laugh when I gave
- 17:58it to her because it's like, yeah, it's so, such a small dose.
- 18:01but yeah, she, she basically weaned off of, almost, fully off of her melatonin.
- 18:05She's no longer screaming ever at night.
- 18:08yeah.
- 18:09And she's able to kind of get through sleep and then also her behavior.
- 18:12Like 180, a hundred percent.
- 18:14Because she was also someone who wasn't listening who was very impulsive, all
- 18:17the things, and her poor mom was like, she was just tired this whole time.
- 18:22When she went into this, she basically slept for like a week straight.
- 18:25She was like taking naps again.
- 18:26And she was like, you know, and then now she's kind of in a good rhythm
- 18:29of like, she just sleeps through throughout the night and yeah.
- 18:32So it was really fun case.
- 18:33that's life changing.
- 18:35Yeah.
- 18:36Oh my gosh.
- 18:37Can we just sit in that for a second?
- 18:39Like, that's the kind of stuff we get to do.
- 18:41It is like this.
- 18:42Like what path was she on of not sleeping
- 18:46like
- 18:47and what path was mom on of her not sleeping?
- 18:50And what do you do?
- 18:51Like if she's tried everything?
- 18:54Mm-hmm.
- 18:55everything else.
- 18:55All the functional medicine stuff.
- 18:57Yeah.
- 18:57If you don't sleep like everything else falls apart.
- 19:00Right.
- 19:01Wow.
- 19:03Good
- 19:03job Dr. Veronica, and good job to her little body for adapting and healing.
- 19:07She was,
- 19:07was, and I think that's what she was almost like so easy.
- 19:10Like it also, 'cause mom had such a good foundation that she had built her on that.
- 19:14I, I guess I don't, yeah.
- 19:15Thanks for sitting that with me.
- 19:16'cause I was just like, yeah, it was an easy case, but like seriously.
- 19:19And it's crazy to think about because, dad still kind of, they wanna, well.
- 19:22You know, getting into the weeds of it, but it's like, it's kind of
- 19:25determined how many kids they wanna have because they're so worried about it.
- 19:28Right.
- 19:29And so it just is it, it really is.
- 19:31I mean, now that we've taken a second to think back, like it is a big deal.
- 19:33'cause it really changes the trajectory of a family's life when you have those tools,
- 19:37I just had a family, so they brought in their little boy.
- 19:41because they, she kind of realized, she's like, I think his nervous system.
- 19:44is
- 19:44Off
- 19:44Off because off he's always struggled with sleep.
- 19:47And since he's been under care, like then she got under care, she's
- 19:51like, well that was incredible.
- 19:52'cause now he's sleeping.
- 19:53Now his digestion's great and he rarely gets sick.
- 19:57And when she first came into the office, she's like, I think we're done.
- 20:00This was so hard.
- 20:01It was so hard.
- 20:02And I don't think we'll have more kids.
- 20:04And now they're gonna try for a second.
- 20:06Oh, that's so
- 20:07I know.
- 20:08I was like, wow.
- 20:09Like this can grow families.
- 20:12Right?
- 20:13and
- 20:13I'm sitting with her now in this, phase where she's like,
- 20:16what am I, what am I doing?
- 20:18Is this crazy?
- 20:19'cause that was so hard and I don't know if I can do that again.
- 20:22And like pregnancy was hard and postpartum, it's like, look
- 20:25like you and your son are in a completely different place.
- 20:29'cause now what we get to do is we get to like your next pregnancy
- 20:33is gonna be set up for success in that this baby is mirroring.
- 20:38A really balanced nervous system in you and birth is set up for success
- 20:43and that it's gonna be so much easier.
- 20:44One, it's your second birth, like chances are it's gonna be easier, but also you're
- 20:49not entering birth in fight or flight.
- 20:51And Yep.
- 20:53And so we have those things.
- 20:55And then you also have chiropractic at your fingertips.
- 20:58If this baby is struggling too, which they probably won't be like, let's
- 21:02just take that and like, it's probably gonna be night and day different.
- 21:06Yeah.
- 21:07Yeah.
- 21:07So exciting.
- 21:08Like this is big stuff.
- 21:10Yeah, I mean, literally the, the choice of growing your family or not,
- 21:14it's like that, that should be that.
- 21:16Again, we go back to, you should have a say in that we obviously, you know,
- 21:20support any family with however many kids they want, but if you're only making
- 21:24that decision because of how hard it was, like there's other options and you
- 21:28have tools now to help support whatever decision you and your family want to do.
- 21:32Yeah, that's such a cool story.
- 21:33Mm-hmm.
- 21:34Look at chiropractic, go,
- 21:36wow,
- 21:37okay, so this is the hopeful part, right?
- 21:39Like when we address the nervous system, sleep is often the
- 21:44first thing to improve or poop.
- 21:45Whoever you're coming to, if you come to my office, usually sleep, apparently,
- 21:48if you go to Doctor Veronica, it's poop.
- 21:51Take your pick.
- 21:52No, they're gonna come like one right after the other, right?
- 21:54Because it's rest digest, right?
- 21:56And so neurologically focused chiropractic care works by removing interference.
- 22:01From the body.
- 22:01We call that subluxation or taking away subluxation or the stickiness in your
- 22:06system and restoring that communication between your brain and body, right?
- 22:09That brain body connection gets to be restored.
- 22:13That allows your vagus nerve also to be restored, so it's good tone.
- 22:17So it's talking to your gut and immune system with a lot of tone and vitality,
- 22:23and it's talking to your brain.
- 22:24It's just your brake pedals on, right?
- 22:27Like replaced all the brake pads.
- 22:30I don't know what else goes into making brakes work.
- 22:32But
- 22:34squeaky
- 22:34clean and like can contact the wheel.
- 22:38Nope, the rotors Haha.
- 22:41With quality braking action.
- 22:44Okay.
- 22:45We start
- 22:46before you had like worn out, worn out brake pads, warped
- 22:50rotors, all these things.
- 22:51This has happened to me.
- 22:52This is how I know.
- 22:53Okay.
- 22:54Oh no.
- 22:55this
- 22:55helps the body right shift into this rest and digest mode.
- 22:58And the beautiful thing is we don't have to guess on whether this is in
- 23:03habits issue or a nervous system issue.
- 23:05We have our insight scans to tell us to measure stress patterns, identify where
- 23:10the system is stuck, and then we get to also track our progress objectively
- 23:15instead of subjectively, right?
- 23:17'cause healing isn't linear, it's gonna go.
- 23:19it's gonna come in ebbs and flows, but we get to track
- 23:23overall progress every 12 visits.
- 23:25I think in all of our offices you do every 12 visits for scans, right?
- 23:28Yeah.
- 23:29Every six to 12, depending on if you're intensive.
- 23:31Nice.
- 23:32Oh yeah.
- 23:32So
- 23:33It will.
- 23:33'cause sometimes our babies can't tell us what's going on.
- 23:36Right.
- 23:36Like I, and when we're in a sleep deprived state, we can't keep track of
- 23:40like how often they're waking up and how often they're pooping, all these things.
- 23:43And so, we don't have to rely on our babies or our kids subjectively telling
- 23:48us that, yes, I got wonderful sleep last night and I had a great bowel movement.
- 23:52It's like, okay, the scans are showing us.
- 23:55Yeah,
- 23:55Yeah,
- 23:56my 4-year-old would actually, but
- 23:59That's
- 24:00actually tells me, she's like, mom, I never sleep.
- 24:03I only sleep half the night and sometimes I don't sleep at all.
- 24:07It's like, girl, you have passed out.
- 24:08Literally Nevaeh said, I'll never sleep again.
- 24:11And I was like, okay, girlfriend
- 24:12she's like,
- 24:16I know.
- 24:16They think it's
- 24:17weakness.
- 24:18Literally
- 24:20Ugh.
- 24:21or like laying in bed for 10 minutes.
- 24:23She's like, it was hours.
- 24:27we just all have the same 4-year-old.
- 24:29Yeah, they're universal.
- 24:31Oh my goodness.
- 24:32Okay.
- 24:32And this is parent cells over and over.
- 24:34When we're starting care, even adults, sleep was the
- 24:38first thing to change, right?
- 24:39It's easier to settle and get down per bed.
- 24:42They start sleeping in longer chunks, and then they, age appropriate, they
- 24:45start sleeping through the night and they start sleeping past 5:00 AM.
- 24:49That's a huge one for us too.
- 24:51In, in my practice, it's like they'll sleep, but it's really hard to settle.
- 24:55And then she wakes up at 5:00 AM and that's not enough sleep for her.
- 24:58And so sleep can longer chunks for more the, the appropriate times for their age.
- 25:04Right.
- 25:05And then comes better digestion,
- 25:08you
- 25:08know, chicken or egg, fewer illnesses, improved behavior
- 25:12because they're rested, right?
- 25:14And they have that emotional regulation.
- 25:16and then just more resilience overall too.
- 25:18Mm-hmm.
- 25:20Amen.
- 25:21Hmm.
- 25:21So if you are struggling, if you're a parent who resonated with
- 25:24everything that we said, poop or sleep, but especially sleep, right?
- 25:28Go ahead and check out the links in our show notes below.
- 25:32You can either find information about Dr. Serena and Vessel Chiropractic, or you
- 25:36can find information about with me, Dr.
- 25:38Veronica at Haven Health Chiropractic.
- 25:40Dr. Serena's in Idaho, Boise, Idaho.
- 25:43Uh, Dr. Veronica is in Ankeny, Iowa.
- 25:45And if you are in anywhere else and you still wanna get this kind of, care
- 25:49customized, neurologically supported care, uh, you can also check out the
- 25:53PX docs directory in the show notes as well, where you can find a PX doc
- 25:57near you, or you can send us a DM and we can help you find your person.
- 26:01will
- 26:01I will pray out.
- 26:02Okay?
- 26:03Dear Lord, thank you for this incredible nervous system that you've given us.
- 26:09Thank you for our ability to be adaptable.
- 26:13And to change with the changing environment of this world.
- 26:17And then thank you for chiropractic as a tool to help us keep the adaptability
- 26:22that you designed us to have.
- 26:24I'm
- 26:24I'll keep it at that actually, Lord in boldness.
- 26:27Please bring families who are struggling with sleep to root cause, providers like
- 26:33neurologically focused chiropractic care.
- 26:35Please help these families find.
- 26:37People who will help them restore balance to their nervous system so they can
- 26:41adapt and thrive the way you design them.
- 26:44In your name I pray, amen.
- 26:45Amen.
- 26:46Thank you for joining us on Motherhood Aligned and Assigned.
- 26:49We hope today's episode helped you connect the dots in your family's health journey.
- 26:53Remember, this is where nervous system health meets motherhood wisdom.
- 26:57Until next time, we're Dr. Veronica Shilts.
- 27:00Serena Kaman supporting you as you nurture your family's wellbeing?
- 27:04Because when you're aligned, everyone thrives.
- 27:07Everyone,
- 27:08Everyone.