From Chaos to Calm: Simple Sleep Strategies for New Parents
Featuring Kaili Ets
With Lauren Zatezalo, OT student, and Melissa O'Neal, OTR/L
In part two of our sleep series, we continue the conversation with occupational therapist and mom Kaili Ets to provide practical tools and strategies for better sleep. Building on our discussion about the nervous system's role in sleep, this episode dives into ways to support regulation for both babies and parents. Kaili shares simple, realistic approaches you can begin using right away to create a more connected and restful sleep experience. If you're looking for supportive, nervous-system-informed strategies, this episode is full of practical takeaways.
About Kaili Ets
Guest bio coming soon.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
- Three specific sleep strategies that an occupational therapist would recommend for new parents. These are not for the baby, but for the parent.
- Why the 'sleep when the baby sleeps' advice fails most new parents and what to do instead.
- How to think about rest as an occupation, something that requires intentional design, not just good intentions.
- What Kaili did in her own postpartum period that worked, and what she wished she had known from an OT perspective.
- The difference between sleep hygiene for a typical adult and sleep hygiene for someone in active postpartum sleep deprivation.
Show Notes and Resources
National Sleep Foundation (sleepfoundation.org). Postpartum Support International (postpartum.net).
From This Episode
Transcript excerpt coming soon.
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