The Baby Calmer | Website
The Baby Calmer
Phone: +61 420 942 256
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25.01.2022 My lovely client and her two year old made me a beautiful, healthy birthday cake, and some homemade granola. So blessed
25.01.2022 The Safe and Sound Protocol is now available ... I will be posting more on this amazing therapeutic tool in the coming weeks.
24.01.2022 SPECIAL OFFER: Monday Mentoring with The Baby Calmer Bring any personal, prenatal - postnatal, or parenting challenge or concern to your mentoring session.... $90 for 1 x 90 minute session OR $295 for 4 x 90 minute sessions (full, non-refundable, pre-payment required) Sessions are available: Monday 25th November 2019 Monday 2nd December 2019 Monday 9th December 2019 Monday 16th December 2019 ... via telephone, zoom or skype only. Enquire via email: [email protected]
24.01.2022 I have just returned from a long weekend in Melbourne. I attended the Many Lives, Many Masters 3 day workshop, facilitated by Dr. Brian Weiss. Dr. Weiss is acknowledged as the leading expert in the field of past-life therapy. For over thirty years, he has used meditation and regression techniques with thousands of patients and workshop attendees, to help them release attachments and experience more tranquillity. It was a very interesting workshop, and I am hoping to one day attend his professional training at the Omega Institute in New York. Meanwhile, I will be able to incorporate all of my learnings into my current work, if any of my clients were to share an interest in exploring their past lives.
23.01.2022 There could not be enough space on paper to express in writing what healing miracles we have experienced on our journey with Anne Thistleton, The Baby Calmer. Anne comes highly qualified and holds a wealth of knowledge, that goes without saying. What really sets her apart is her absolute immersion in holding space and allowing a field of healing to emerge from the subconscious, no matter what arises. Not only for us as individuals but as a family collective. ... My child and I have been gifted a second chance at our relationship. It is what I like to call a rewritten path where we have literally been able to start from the beginning and heal our birth trauma at the very core - thanks to Annes expertise. Nothing in this world is more valuable to me. Because of that I will forever feel blessed beyond words and recommend Anne to anyone. In my eyes, any baby or child that happens upon Annes help has been privy to a divine intervention. Anne has also been an instrumental support in guiding me through my own childhood trauma and how that was impacting my parenting. My only regret is that I didnt know about Anne before my daughters birth. She has seen us at our absolute worst and watched us rise and fall, then rise and fall again and again throughout our ongoing healing. She has accepted us in a way that can only be known internally and not expressed outwardly. If there is anything at all where you are asking if things could be better for your family, do yourself and your children a favour and contact Anne. Her help has been life changing for us both individually and as a family. J.S Brisbane
23.01.2022 Another AMAZING special offer ... take a look!
23.01.2022 Here is a sneak preview of the article I wrote for Nurture ~ Natural Parenting Magazine Issue 22!
23.01.2022 The right brain is indeed the playground, or at least, it connects us to it. Let children dwell in this most natural state through their unstructured play, and all its derivatives such as doodling, curiosity, wonder and imagination. People who have a healthy right brain can better use their left brain tools in positive ways. That is the purpose of the left-logical brain: to serve the right braindoing serves being. Being is the soil from which all our plans, details and actions must flower if we are to experience personal fulfillment and truly contribute to the world.
23.01.2022 "Stress is a demand on the organism, that is beyond the capacity of the organism to deal with. It has elements of uncertainty, lack of information, loss of control and loss of connection. The more isolated you are ... the more stressed you are (Gabor Mate)".
21.01.2022 Thanks so much The Milk Meg for this generous offer!
21.01.2022 As a pre, peri, postnatal, and attachment trauma therapist, and play therapist, Im always on the lookout for toys that can therapeutically support curiosity, story telling and healing - in relation to conception, life in the womb, and birth.
21.01.2022 It's The Baby Calmer's 11th Birthday ... and to celebrate, we are having a SUPER SLEEP SALE ... !!! From Friday 27th of September 2019 until Tuesday 23rd October 2019 ... all of The Baby Calmer's in-home, online or clinic sleep support services, with a duration of four hours or more, will be offered at a reduced rate of 50%! All enquiries are to made via messaging The Baby Calmer's Facebook page.
21.01.2022 How long did you wait to bath baby after birth? That first bath is pretty special, but delaying it as long as possible is recommended. Keep all the goodness on ...baby's skin and just wash baby down with a cloth around the nappy area and any areas where those little rolls are collecting excess milk. 12 hours is suggested here, but some mothers are waiting days or weeks before that first bath as studies show this is beneficial for breastfeeding and keeping all that goodness protecting baby's skin! See more
20.01.2022 Is it an emotional cry or a protest cry?! Sleep consultants and parenting experts who encourage parents to believe that they need to determine whether or not their baby's cry is an emotional cry or a protest cry, before deciding whether or not to respond, would never make such recommendations or claims if they had an appropriate education and / or understanding of the role and function of the amygdala, or the role and function of the nervous system, in relation to crying and ...stress. Babies cry to communicate. When babies cry, they are communicating that something is not right for them ... that their nervous system cannot cope with the level of stress they are currently facing. They are alerting their caregivers that they have reached their capacity for overwhelm. They are alerting their caregivers of their need for empathy, comfort and support ... and their need for nervous system regulation. They are 'literally' crying to connect and crying to survive!!! All crying in babies is elicited via the amygdala. The amygdala is the stress and fear centre of the brain. When a baby is crying, the amygdala is not saying 'oh, don't bother responding to this alarm'! The amygdala is saying 'the system is in overwhelm, and it needs immediate support'. When a baby's cry is not responded to, and the crying stops, it does not mean that a baby no longer needs help and support ... or that it was never needed. It does not mean that a baby has learned sleep skills! It means that a baby's survival instincts have been ignored, and that the baby's nervous system has been forced into shutdown. According to Dr Bryan Post, "so many books invest so much time defining these cries. What is that about? What is the purpose? What difference does it make the reason for the cry? These books present ideas about the purpose of a baby's cry as if it's brain were developed enough to have intention beyond survival. The cry is a cry to be soothed and comforted". How we respond to a baby's cry, ought leave a baby feeling safer, more comfortable, more secure, and more deeply seen and loved. A baby's cry is the call of distress! A baby's cry is the call of attachment! Crying is the SOS of every human being ... that we have exceeded our window of tolerance; and that we need to be in connection with our loving source. Controlled crying does not leave babies feeling safe, secure and loved. Controlled crying leaves babies feeling overwhelmed, highly stressed, traumatised. A controlled cried baby is NOT a sleeping baby. A controlled cried baby is in dorsal vagal shutdown. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise!
17.01.2022 Do babies need therapy? Babies will always show us the place that was difficult for them, and they need our support as they share their story with us. Watch as Matthew Appleton describes some of the ways that I might work with babies too!!!
15.01.2022 An overview of how Somatic Sleep Support helps parents support their infant, toddler or young childs sleep ...
15.01.2022 Shaping and Reshaping Our Relational Blueprints Attachment theory pioneer, John Bowlby (1907 1990), introduced the formal term ‘attachment’ to define the ...deep and enduring emotional bond that connects infants and their primary caregivers. Although bonding usually suggests a more instantaneous or at least shorter term process, attachment suggests a more complex, developmental process, which occurs over time. Bowlby believed that when infants form attachments with their primary caregivers, their unique bond provided an internal working model, or blueprint, of how their needs for safety and security can be met. Bowlby also believed that the early attachments, and attachment challenges that babies experience during the critical periods of development, can strongly influence the relational blueprints (patterns of attachment) they will encounter in later relationships with their parents and siblings, as well as their future friends, peers, partners and children. During the first few years of life, babies gradually develop the ability to display a complete range of attachment behaviours, such as protesting when their mother leaves, excitedly greeting them upon their return, steadfastly clinging to their primary caregivers when frightened, and curiously shadowing their caregiver’s every move, when able. These attachment behaviours are instinctual, and rooted in the biological fact that proximity to a primary caregiver, is essential to survival. This intimate physical and relational connection helps to create what Bowlby called a ‘Secure Base.’ Bowlby ultimately identified four distinct characteristics that are essential for an infant to form a healthy attachment with a parent or caregiver. These characteristics are: safe haven proximity maintenance separation distress and secure base Anne Thistleton | The Baby Calmer @oaka___ (on Instagram) Read the full article around this topic in Nurture's Issue 22! Subscribe today
14.01.2022 How a Caregivers Trauma Can Impact a Childs Development (Infographic) Want to learn more about healthy beginnings? Come to our Classwomb https://birth-psycho...logy-classwomb.teachable.com Infographic Source: https://www.nicabm.com/how-a-caregivers-trauma-can-impact-/ #parenting #mindfulparenting #holisticparenting #mindfulmama #mothering #fathering #consciousparenting #raisingkids #futuregenerations #sustainablefamily #family #mindfulfamily #birthpsychology
14.01.2022 The Defense Cascade and the Cumulative Effect of Controlled Crying on a Baby's Nervous System: The defense cascade is a sequence of responses that escalate as a function of defense during a traumatic event. The individual 'cascade of defense stages' a controlled cried baby has endured, will eventually repeat itself every time the original fear network is activated again. When a parasympathetically dominated 'shutdown' becomes the prominent response to separation from a caregi...Continue reading
13.01.2022 We all have a 'Window of Tolerance'. What do you notice about your own 'Window of Tolerance'? What do you notice about your baby, toddler or young child's "Window of Tolerance'?
12.01.2022 Some Friday musical inspiration for all the Mums out there ... you are strong, you are invincible, you are woman!!!
11.01.2022 Kangaroo Care for Koalas
11.01.2022 SOMATIC TOUCH ... The Baby Calmer and Anne Thistleton Counselling is now offering Somatic Touch to all clients. Somatic Touch is suitable for all age groups, including babies, toddlers, young children, teenagers, young adults and adults....Continue reading
09.01.2022 Please read this important information ... and avoid covering your prams!
09.01.2022 Happy Sleeptember!
09.01.2022 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: I have just returned from a week of professional development and training in Sydney. 53 Brainspotting Therapists, from Australia and New Zealand, gathered to learn about and experience the 3rd phase of the Brainspotting training, along with a master class, with the developer of the therapy ... Dr David Grand, who came from the USA especially for this amazing training. I cannot wait to continue to share this amazing modality with clients. Bra...inspotting is suitable as a treatment for all forms of trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder and physical trauma, anxiety disorders, anger issues, substance use disorder, chronic fatigue and chronic pain syndromes, impulse control disorders, all types of phobias, and sports performance anxiety issues. Brainspotting is a powerful, focused treatment method that works by identifying, processing and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Biolateral sound, which is deep, direct, and powerful yet focused and containing. Brainspotting functions as a neurobiological tool to support the clinical healing relationship. There is no replacement for a mature, nurturing therapeutic presence and the ability to engage another suffering human in a safe and trusting relationship where they feel heard, accepted, and understood. Brainspotting gives us a tool, within this clinical relationship, to neurobiologically locate, focus, process, and release experiences and symptoms that are typically out of reach of the conscious mind and its cognitive and language capacity. Brainspotting works with the deep brain and the body through its direct access to the autonomic and limbic systems within the bodys central nervous system. Brainspotting is accordingly a physiological tool/treatment which has profound psychological, emotional, and physical consequences. Brainspotting is based on the profound attunement of the therapist with the patient, finding a somatic cue and extinguishing it by down-regulating the amygdala. It isnt just PNS (Parasympathetic Nervous System) activation that is facilitated, it is homeostasis. -- Robert Scaer, MD, The Trauma Spectrum" https://brainspotting.com//interview-with-david-grand-reg/
09.01.2022 Beautiful, encouraging words from Debbie Jay at The Mama Circle with Debbie Jay.
09.01.2022 SOMATIC SLEEP SUPPORT ... How can Somatic Experiencing help parents support their infant, toddler or young child's sleep challenges? Somatic Experiencing can be well integrated with infant and early years sleep therapy, adding a richness and depth to the work, by providing a more primary focus on the physiological, emotional and cognitive aspects of a young child's challenging experience of sleep. In the SE (Somatic Experiencing) model, infant and early years sleep challenges... can be resolved by acknowledging and supporting nervous system dysregulation. In babies, toddlers and young children, nervous system dysregulation can occur as a result of everyday stressors, along with traumatic experiences such as pre and perinatal trauma, bonding disruption, or medical trauma. The primary focus of supporting infant and early years sleep issues with SE, is to restore the nervous system to a natural state of regulation. Safe sleep support, from an SE perspective, teaches parents how to watch, listen, slow down, notice, and explore their child's challenging sleep presentations. They can learn how to be curious, and how to help their baby or young child access what is happening inside, at the physiological and emotional level, and empathically and compassionately assist them to co-regulate and restore their system back to an organic level of functioning. This process also helps parents to grow in self-mastery, with the SE sleep therapist as merely the guide. By using SE to help support and repair infant and early years sleep issues, the techniques are presented at a pace that helps babies, toddlers and young children to avoid flooding, compensating or dissociating. An infant or young child's nervous system cannot cope with being rushed. Supporting a young nervous system requires lots of slowing down, pausing, allowing, emotion, sensation, bodily reaction, impulse, and defensive reaction to be felt and processed. Models such as cry it out and controlled crying work in the opposite way. They flood tiny, under-developed nervous systems with harmful and toxic doses of cortisol, leaving vulnerable babies in an unsafe, dissociated state known as dorsal vagal shutdown. Somatic sleep support can also be integrated within in a range of other therapeutic approaches such as: somatic touch, sandplay therapy, interactive drawing therapy, play therapy, filial therapy, clinical birth trauma therapy, brainspotting, infant and early years sleep therapy, craniosacral therapy and aromatherapy.
09.01.2022 Anne Thistleton: The Baby Calmer ...
09.01.2022 No SLEEP TRAINING offered (that's my guarantee!) ... just SAFE, , SOMATIC-BASED, EMOTION-FOCUSED, TRAUMA INFORMED, THERAPEUTICALLY SOUND, ATTACHMENT THEORY and RESEARCH VALIDATED, SLEEP SUPPORT for you and your baby, toddler or young child ... Any practitioner with an appropriate understanding of the workings of the mother-infant attachment and bonding process, the neuropsychobiology of infant development and the impact of early trauma, would never recommend any form of slee...Continue reading
08.01.2022 How sleep training and sleep consultants contribute to BETRAYAL TRAUMA in babies: A baby or young child's autonomic nervous system is programmed to identify allies. Their ANS recognises mother as all-important for biological survival. Father, siblings, grandparents and other caregivers ... including trusted professionals ... are also essential resources. Although the infant and early years ANS is programmed to expect protection and nurturing from these allies, when a threat c...omes from one of these supposed allies, the ANS response becomes more problematic. Unexpected threat or pain from an ally is a form of betrayal trauma, which often sets the stage for lifelong complications. When there is intense fear and urgency in a baby's environment, such as what a baby would experience during sleep training ie controlled crying, responsive settling, timed retreats, gradual withdrawal, gradual retreats, comfort settling, shuffles, etc ... instead of trust and relaxation, the ANS begins its stress response sequences. Babies will naturally turn to the social branch of the ANS as their first stress response strategy. In this state, a baby will search for the expected comfort and protection of their mother, or other significant and available allies. When this comfort and protection is intermittent, or non existent, babies then devolve to their second stress response option, the sympathetic branch. This manifests as agitation, darting eye movements or urgent crying. But babies have few resources for sympathetic, since the muscles are not yet fully developed; and a baby cannot fight or flee. So a third and final card must now be played; the parasympathetic stress response. This strategy is about imobilisation ... 'playing possum' ... in the hope that the threat will pass. Sleep consultants refer to this stage of the controlled crying process as 'sleep'! But these babies are far from sleeping. Not only have they experienced betrayal trauma; they are now stuck in the most primitive ANS state, and are prime targets for long lasting ANS disturbances over their lifetime (adapted from John Chitty, 2016)
08.01.2022 Happy Fathers Day ...
07.01.2022 HOW IS THE BABY CALMER DIFFERENT? Regardless of what some sleep 'experts' may argue, there really is no 'magic' solution to solving a baby, toddler or young child's sleep issues. The Baby Calmer can confidently share with you that the majority of sleep solutions that are currently being peddled by largely unqualified or highly under qualified 'baby whisperers / baby trainers / sleep consultants' are not only harmful to the physical and emotional development and well-being of ...Continue reading
05.01.2022 Trauma and the Science Behind Somatic Experiencing: Trauma may begin as acute stress from a perceived life-threat or as the end product of cumulative stress. Both types of stress can seriously impair a person's ability to function with resilience and ease. Trauma may result from a wide variety of stressors such as accidents, invasive medical procedures, sexual or physical assault, emotional abuse, neglect, war, natural disasters, loss, birth trauma, or the corrosive stressor...s of ongoing fear and conflict. SE teaches that trauma is not caused by the event itself, but rather develops through the failure of the body, psyche, and nervous system to process adverse events. In his studies, Dr. Levine found that prey animals in the wild are rarely traumatized despite routine threats to their lives. Yet human beings are readily traumatized. Since humans and other animals possess nearly identical brain- and body-based survival mechanisms, Dr. Levine worked to identify what was interfering with the human threat-recovery process, and to develop tools for restoring people's innate capacity to rebound following overwhelming experiences. All mammals automatically regulate survival responses from the primitive, non-verbal brain, mediated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Under threat, massive amounts of energy are mobilized in readiness for self-defense via the fight, flight, and freeze responses. Once safe, animals spontaneously "discharge" this excess energy through involuntary movements including shaking, trembling, and deep spontaneous breaths. This discharge process resets the ANS, restoring equilibrium. Although humans are similarly designed to rebound from high-intensity survival states, we also have the problematic ability to neo-cortically override the natural discharge of excess survival energy. Through rationalizations, judgments, shame, enculturation, and fear of our bodily sensations, we may disrupt our innate capacity to self-regulate, functionally "recycling" disabling terror and helplessness. When the nervous system does not reset after an overwhelming experience, sleep, cardiac, digestion, respiration, and immune system function can be seriously disturbed. Unresolved physiological distress can also lead to an array of other physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. Anne Thistleton is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and offers Somatic Experiencing sessions at both her clinic and via online sessions.
03.01.2022 Such a WOW moment in a therapy session this morning!!! Attunement, in a therapeutic relationship refers to the therapist being able to attune to ones self and also to the client. When working with clients, a somatically trained therapist attempts to focus on connecting with what their client might be feeling like, and allowing their state of mind (and body) to be influenced by the client. This alignment, allows the therapist to have an experience - as close as possible -... to what their clients world is like, in that moment. You can imagine mine and my clients shock and surprise when I invited my client to choose two coloured pencils to represent two opposing sensations. So that I could demonstrate the task that I thought might be helpful for my client, I randomly chose two colours from my crayon container, then held up the crayons to air draw the pattern she had communicated earlier. All of sudden, my client gasped and giggled with glee. She excitedly held up her selected colours, which she already had in her hands, revealing that she had chosen the EXACT SAME colours as me. Ordinarily, this would be quite a significant shock and surprise. What made it even more jaw dropping ... is that fact that this session was being held online, and I am in Brisbane, Australia, and the client was in Wellington, New Zealand!!!
03.01.2022 MONDAY MENTORING with The Baby Calmer: super special offer of just $75 for 75 minutes (phone or online sessions - zoom or skype - only). Monday Mentoring with The Baby Calmer is specifically designed to support individuals, couples or parents who: * are seeking individual or relationship counselling that is trauma informed, somatic based, emotion focused and client centred.... * are feeling overwhelmed by the plethora of conflicting parenting information available * are seeking trauma informed, safe, research based, emotion-focused support, information and guidance * would benefit from an empathic, compassionate, and supportive listening ear * are in need of support to help guide them towards the most developmentally appropriate, immediately tangible options that will make a difference to their own parenting concerns or their baby, toddler or young child's presenting issues. Monday Mentoring with The Baby Calmer is a safe, confidential and supportive space for parents to express and explore their frustrations and struggles with someone who can understand and empathise with their difficulties, put them at ease, and begin to offer some immediate and useful information, guidance, strategies, reassurance, trauma informed and somatic based mentoring, counselling and / or support ... that responds to their specific issues or concerns ... regarding themselves, their relationship or their newborn, toddler or young child. Monday Mentoring with The Baby Calmer is available: Monday 24th February 2020 Monday 9th March 2020 Monday 23rd March 2020 Monday 6th April 2020 Monday 20th April 2020 Session times available are: 8.00 am; 9.30 am; 11.00 am; 12.30 pm; 2.00 pm; 3.30 pm; 5.00 pm; 6.30 pm; 8.00 pm; 9.30 pm ... Brisbane, Australia time zone. Bookings via email only - [email protected]
