Ep. 1

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[00:00:00] If you've ever found yourself sobbing in the dark at 2:00 AM wondering why your baby won't sleep, and why this feels so much harder than you thought it would. This episode is for you. Today's guest has been there. We're talking about what it's really like to go from confident and capable to completely unraveling in early motherhood and how she found her way back.

Oh, and she just happens to be the sleep expert that thousands of moms turn to for help Now.

No one tells you how disorienting those first few months can be.

Like one minute you're pregnant and you're so excited, you feel super prepared, and the next you're staring at a baby who just won't sleep. You're wondering what you're doing wrong and where that version of you who used to feel confident went.

That kind of unraveling is [00:01:00] exactly what today's guest went through.

Rachael Shepherd Ohta is a mom of three host of the podcast No One Told Us and founder of Hey sleepy Baby, where hundreds of thousands of parents go for gentle attachment, focus, sleep support. But before all of that, Rachael was a first time mom feeling completely thrown,

navigating a high needs baby, postpartum anxiety, and the slow, disorienting shift in who she thought she was.

In this episode, we talk about her messy emotional road into motherhood, how her identity changed, how she rebuilt her confidence, and yes, how sleep struggles became a turning point in all of it. But this isn't just about sleep. It's about what happens when the version of motherhood you imagine doesn't match the one you're living and how you find yourself in the middle of it.

Krissy: Rachael, thank you so much for being here with me today.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Thank you so much for having me.

Krissy: I am so excited to get to know you as a mom because I know you are the most, one of the realest people on Instagram where you just wanna [00:02:00] show everybody that we are not alone, that there's nobody out here that's special in getting it real. So let's get into it with, who were you before you became a mom?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): gosh. It's

Krissy: Great. '

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): cause I

my immediate response to that is, oh, I was a teacher and that's like, that's not who I was. It's just.

Krissy: Right.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I

um, which is so interesting. Answering that question is always so funny. Um, but yeah, I just a little bit about my background, I guess. I grew up on the east coast.

I am born and raised in Connecticut and then out here right after grad school. I live in San Francisco now. Um, and met my husband who's from here and. We love to travel and you know, we did a lot of that before we had kids. And, um, my husband's a social worker. I was a teacher like I mentioned,

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): You know, we kind of just have always been in, uh, the business of like people, right? And kids in particular, at least for me. Um, and I always wanted to have kids. I have always

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I[00:03:00]

babysit and stuff like that. And, um, so yeah, so after getting married, we actually had kids very, very quickly. Um, and yeah, just it's like hard to remember who you are before.

Krissy: Isn't it? Isn't it like you go through this whole thing?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): know. Um, yeah. 'cause it's been like, my oldest is almost eight, so

Krissy: Yeah. Right. And your whole identity changes. You become, you have all these new interests and all these new pieces and some of the old ones Sure. But a lot of things got let go. So tell me about your transition to motherhood.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Yeah, it was tough. Um,

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I always

had always worked with kids and with families, and a thought that I was super prepared.

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): a

just loved babies. And my first was super high needs,

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): very

very sensitive. I had

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and it was just really hard.

It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be. And that really kind of like [00:04:00] My confidence then on top of everything, 'cause I this idea of how I would be and it was so different. Um, so yeah, it was, it was definitely a tricky transition even, you know, I am someone that has lots of resources and I had lots of

Krissy: Yes.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and still hard

Krissy: As a social worker, as a special educator, you are so used to being a problem solver. At least, at least a step taker, right? You at least know what steps to take to help people to resolve those problems. So having your first child be like, whoa, wait a minute. This is not what I expected at all. That must have been just like earth shattering.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Yeah, it really was. And I was kind of the first of most of my

Krissy: Hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): a baby too. So I really

like examples or friends to look to, to say like, is this normal? Did you feel like this too? Um, and like I mentioned, my first was born eight years ago, so even social media was very different.

You didn't have all of these pages now that exist to kind of [00:05:00] normalize these things for moms and share, you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And um, yeah. So it was just very isolating too. I felt very, very alone.

Krissy: Right. And I know you talk a lot about how you felt like you were doing everything wrong. That we were hearing that. So I'd love to hear your experience battling that feeling like just nothing was going right and you must be the problem.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I mean, so like I mentioned, my son was very quote unquote

and um, we

Krissy: that means, right?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): is like, not even really a

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): but we had a lot of issues with feeding. Um, he had a tongue tie and so breastfeeding was really difficult.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): had a

sleep. Um.

what kind of kickstarted my journey into what I'm doing now.

Um, but yeah, like, I mean, that's pretty much all babies are doing, right? They're sleeping and eating. So if

Krissy: Right.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): are

difficult, then you kind of

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): not doing anything right. Like, this is just so much harder than I thought I was going to be. Um, yeah. [00:06:00] And I think, you know, your relationship changes, your friendships change.

Like all of these things just happen all at once and it just can feel like a lot.

Krissy: right.

you go back to work after having your first

I

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): in October and so I took maternity leave like through the holiday season and then went back, I believe it was, he was four months at the time, four and a half maybe. Um, and so yeah, I went back at that point and had to do the whole like, pumping thing and just was so sad.

I remember so clearly, um, just sitting, rocking him to sleep the night before I went back and just. Sobbing. Just absolutely. I was inconsolable. I couldn't stop crying. I was just so upset. It felt so early to go back. And

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): four

than a lot of people get. Um, so luckily my husband got actually a way better paternity leave package than.

Krissy: Wow. That's unusual,

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Yeah, I mean, I was a teacher, so like we don't technically get anything.

Krissy: Yeah. Just your sick days.[00:07:00]

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): so I was like, you know, that's bottom of the barrel.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): worked for the city of San Francisco, which actually had a pretty generous policy. So he

the following four months,

Krissy: Wow.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): us through to summer break.

So then I was able to be home again for the summer vacation from teaching. And then, um, he started daycare that following fall when I had to go back for the following school year.

Krissy: Okay, great. So that's so tough because you're already feeling like you can't feed him. You're already feeling like he's not happy and he is not sleeping, and now you have to wake up and get to work and do all the things. Was pumping at least easier for you.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): pumping was a

easier. And actually once we got all of his feeding stuff figured out, we actually had a great

Krissy: Oh, good.

Good.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): of combo feeding with breastfeeding and, um. And pumping. So yeah, that was at least good. It just took us a long time to figure it out.

We figured out that he had a tongue tie, which needed to be addressed. And then he also had a cow's milk protein allergy. So I had

Krissy: Oh, geez.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): um, which was horrible 'cause [00:08:00] I'm Italian and I

Krissy: Yeah.

The things we do.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): that was really hard. That was like my biggest sacrifice so far in motherhood.

Um,

so once we got all of that figured out, by the time I was going back to work, feeding was actually going much better.

Krissy: Great.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): yeah, so, so that, that at least was one piece that kind of fell into place at the right time. That's

Krissy: That's great. So did you learn really quickly about the tongue tie or was this something that you had to really advocate and dig into

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): So all of my kids have had tongue ties and um, since he

Krissy: naturally? I

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): even

of it before. Didn't I had literally never heard of it. And feeding was really painful. Like I was just crying, like white knuckling. I. Every time he would latch. And I was like, this can't be, because I had taken a breastfeeding class, so I was like, this can't be

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): it's, I, I know it's maybe uncomfortable at first, but like, it's not supposed to be excruciating pain. Um, and he also, like I said, seemed very unhappy, [00:09:00] um, right after feeding. So I called a lactation consultant, actually the one that I had taken the breastfeeding class from, which is something I recommend now to all new

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): take a breastfeeding class, but like, get that person's number. In your phone

Krissy: Yes,

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): wanna be looking up lactation consultants in your area when it's an emergency. When you like actually need

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): now, you

that person already on speed dial. So anyway, so I called her and she came and she, know, weighed him, did an exam, like, looked at us feeding all of that stuff. And then she looked at his mouth and she was like, he has a tongue tie. And I was like, what's that?

Krissy: Right.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): And you know, IB CLCs can't formally diagnose. They just

Krissy: Sure.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): sent us to a pediatric dentist and then we kind of went from there with the revision. And it's been a very long journey from him, for him. Um.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): you

we, it wasn't done properly, unfortunately.

Krissy: Oh

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): the price now with lots of orthodontia and

Krissy: yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): the

Krissy: [00:10:00] Oh my

gosh.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): that's a

Um,

Krissy: No kidding.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): our, our two next kids, with our girls, it was much more successful

Krissy: Good.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): was all

But, um, but yeah, that's just like one of those things that you'd never think you're going to have to deal with. It's just like not something even on your radar before you have a kid.

Krissy: Right. And it just adds up. It all adds up. Now, we all know it's no secret that sleep was an issue for you

you first had your, your baby. So can you tell us a little bit about your individual sleep journey or I guess his, it's not yours. Your sleep journey was different, but, but yes.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): so funny now because I know. That his sleep was actually quite normal. Um, and you know, he would wake up a couple times a night, he'd want a feeding, he'd go back to sleep. And that was very normal. But the messages that I was getting from my pediatrician, from, you know, people that would just ask how he was

Krissy: Yep.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and I

oh yeah, we were up a couple times last night.

And they'd look at me like, with [00:11:00] such. Pity and horror, I'd be like, oh, I guess that's a bad thing. I guess

Krissy: Right.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Um,

I got said that I should sleep train and I was

about going back to work

Krissy: Yes.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): else. You know, we had had like our little rhythm and he would take contact naps with me and I would put him down sometimes

Krissy: Yep.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): had kind of

it out and I was just really nervous that. My husband wouldn't be able to do it, or, you know, my

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): wouldn't be able to

it, or daycare wouldn't be able to do it, and so I've just felt this immense pressure to get him to sleep independently. Um, so I did try sleep training. I bought like one, you know, one of those very popular sleep training, um, programs online that I found.

Again, not through Instagram, 'cause that wasn't really a thing. I think I

Krissy: Okay.

Yep.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): it to me or

and my pediatrician recommended it and everything. And it was just like such a traumatizing experience for us. I

Krissy: Right,

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): of

the success stories with

Krissy: right.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): was like three nights, little crying, no big deal, [00:12:00] and then it was done. That was not the case

Krissy: Right. Same. Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): all. And now I know that that was just because my son has a sensitive temperament and

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): just the worst thing imaginable that we could have done. Um, and yeah, so it was really difficult. We've tried it, we've tried it a bunch of different times. It never, we worked, it just caused us so much stress and so we eventually called it and he was, you know, like nine months.

We had just finished our last attempt and I finally was like, you know what, he's only waking twice a night. I feed him, he goes back to sleep. Like, I can deal with that. It's not a big deal. Like let's

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): let's just stop this. I can't take it anymore.

he started sleeping through the night on his own and he self weaned when he was one,

Krissy: Amazing.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): And I was

Krissy: Wow.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): they really do just figure it out when they're ready. Um, and so, yeah, so then when I was pregnant with my second, I was desperately se seeking answers from a different. Point of

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): because I was

I just can't go through [00:13:00] that again, but I also really don't wanna be tired anymore.

Like, that was really brutal. Um, so yeah. So that kind of started, started all of it.

Krissy: Started all of it. Now I understand what you're saying with my child was also he, my kids don't need sleep. They just don't, like my husband doesn't either. They are up all night and wake up early. Like, this is just how we live. And, uh, I learned that pretty quickly because your child's gonna tell you what they need.

So if you're listening to this thinking like, wait a minute, should I not have sleep trained? Is this bad? Like, if it worked for you, great, fine. There's like no judgment whatsoever because. If it wasn't gonna work for your child, you would know it. You would feel it in your gut. Like literally your nervous system would be broken and you would stop and you would find something different for them.

So, but the problem is not knowing what that something different is and knowing that you're able to make that choice and that everything's going to be okay. So you went from the situation where you were terrified. Of getting off of a nap schedule, getting off of all of [00:14:00] the, not waking up at the right time, not sleeping at the right time.

I mean, I was there too. And, but now you like go out to dinner or you go out to friends, like you do things and, and the baby sleeps and naps. When or if they do. So can you talk to us how you cut to that mindset?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I mean, I think after you have your first, it's, it's such a shame that you don't get to have the point of view that you get with

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): kids with your first, because with your first, it just feels like. is so intensified. You feel like this is my life forever now. Nothing is ever gonna change.

Nothing's ever gonna get better. Nothing's ever gonna get easier. so it's really easy to kind of flip out about small things. Um, and they don't feel small when you're sleep deprived it, it does feel. and very intense. So I don't wanna minimize that ever. Um, but I think just once you get through it and you get to the other side and you see, okay, this actually is just a phase, this is like a couple tough months and I will get through it and survive. It's easier to just hold [00:15:00] that so much more lightly when it's your second. So I just wish you could have that perspective with your first, um, to know that like, really everything is a phase. It does pass even the really, really hard things. Go away eventually. Um, and you will get to a spot that's a, a little bit easier and more manageable. Um. But yeah, I just with, and then with your second, the other thing is you don't have as much control. Like I think with your first, you think that you're gonna have so much control, and some people

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and for some people that's just in their personality, that they really feel like they need that like strict nap schedule and. Bedtime and um, and they need their evening to themselves and all of that stuff. They just hold it like really tightly. And then with your second, you just have to let it all go. Like

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): to let at

go because now you, you've got not just your own needs to balance, but too little people.

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): yeah, you just don't have the [00:16:00] time to be like thinking about nap schedules all day and wake windows and all of that. Like, it just kind of, it very quickly. Becomes unimportant,

Krissy: Oh Yeah,

Yeah. And hopefully it does for everyone because I mean, it's, it's a tough position to be in no matter what you're in. Um, but also to be holding onto this guilt and this anxiety is a lot. I wanna hear about your transition to baby number two, because you've already talked about how your first.

Child has a unique temperament and it's a little tricky to navigate here sometimes. So how was that transition to having a second child?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Well, I think our transition to our second was very colored by the fact that she was born in 2020. Um, so it was just a very difficult isolating time to be postpartum. If

Krissy: Mm-hmm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): had

year, you know, it was. a lot. but overall she was a much chiller baby. Like

Krissy: Okay.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): you

I actually loved waking up with her at night.

It sounds. insane to

Krissy: [00:17:00] No.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): actually really enjoyed like her, you know, waking up, grabbing her for a feed, listening to my audio book or my podcast snuggling with her having just like that quiet time, just her

actually really enjoyed it.

Krissy: I can relate. Yeah. No.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and then, you know, I also just. But at that point I was doing my first sleep certification,

Krissy: Mm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): And so I was learning so much about not just sleep, but like attachment and neuroscience and um, and all of that. So I was really just. Learning so much applicable information that was

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): at the time, in real time, which was really, really cool.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): lot of, a lot of good to it too. But overall, I just learned how much personality and temperament really does play a role, um, in everything. Not just sleep,

Krissy: it though? Oh my gosh, yeah. The, the difference that a personality, you have no idea what human you're [00:18:00] inviting into your life forever,

and it just changes everything.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): true.

Krissy: So you, I, I can relate so much to the first baby, especially when the temperament is trickier. You're like afraid to make eye contact with them in the middle of the night.

Nevermind like, turn on even the red light and then the second baby, you're like, my baby was born in November, so I was watching Hallmark Christmas movies in the middle of the night. Like that was the best. Like totally loved it. And we just rolled with it. We just made it happen. Um, how was it for your oldest becoming a sibling?

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): It was actually okay. I was

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): about it, and it was kind of funny. So they're like two and a half, a little more than two and a half years

Krissy: Okay.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): so he was, yeah. So he had turned two at October and she was born like that late, late January or actually, yeah, so they're like two years, nine months apart. And first he was kind of just indifferent. Like

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): she was there. didn't really add [00:19:00] much to his life. Um,

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): bother him either. So at first they kind of just coexisted and I was like, fine with that. I

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): him. Um, I wasn't gonna, you know. Force it. then she started to move and mess with his stuff.

And then their relationship got a little more contentious.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): And luckily she was like a bruiser of a baby, so like she could handle it. But um, yeah, it was really tough there for a few months and then turned again, like it's always changing. Um, when she turned two and she could. Communicate with him and talk to him and understand what he was saying to her and she could play a little bit more.

Then they became best friends and they still are, like, they have so much fun together. They love each other so much. Um, of course they fight, they're siblings, but they share a room, like they just love being with each other. Um, so I would say the transition overall was great. Um. But it, [00:20:00] you know, there were definitely moments where he was smacking her

Krissy: Oh yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): that she

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): or whatever.

I think that's all just so normal,

Krissy: I hope it's normal because my house is like WrestleMania right now. Unbelievable. But it wasn't enough. Whatever it was. Wasn't enough to stop you because you went one more. Right. So tell us about your transition to three.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): yeah. And we went for a little bit more of an age

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): two and three, so. Uh, we didn't actually even really start to think about having a third until my youngest at the time, my second was two.

Krissy: Mm.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and you know, we were very lucky to get pregnant very quickly after, um, we decided to start trying.

So, you know, it just kind of happened. And so there's almost a three year gap between two and three, and there's an exactly five year gap between. in three, and that has been so nice. Like that was

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): an

I'm all for the big age gaps. Like I know people are worried about it and you can't always control it, [00:21:00] if you can, years is a beautiful. Beautiful age gap because our oldest two were in school. The

Krissy: Okay. Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): so it was

Krissy: Yep.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): hours

it still gave me time to just

Krissy: Yep.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): and new baby. And, um, and that was all really, really nice. Um, and now it's kind of like the third I, the third just, you know, is. The chillest And

Krissy: You're here for the ride.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): just along for the ride. She's like, so fun. Um, and then my middle has turned into kind of like a floater, so she'll play with the older because they're, you know, the big kids and they have a lot of similar interests and then she'll also play with the baby. Um, so she kind of just the middle one, just kind of like bops back and forth. So it's really, it's really cute and really nice now. Um, but yeah, we went for the third. I mean, I've talked about this on my podcast too, like

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): of

decision. Again, I. Mentioned we have of support. I don't think

it.

We live in the city, so it's very expensive and all of [00:22:00] that stuff.

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): but we're very blessed to have my in-laws, um, who help us a lot. And I don't

Krissy: Great.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): if we didn't have that extra support.

Krissy: That

makes a huge difference to have people that can give you that relief and that reprieve so you can do things for you. Now, can you tell us a little bit about your, how your relationship has survived throughout all of this? 'cause that's a big part of who we are.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Yeah, I've talked about this on my podcast too. And, um, I'm very open about this and my husband is too. Um, you know, after our first, a lot of people say that they really, really struggle after a baby, just. Full stop. It doesn't matter which baby after our first, we actually felt very bonded. Um, we really didn't, I mean, we would like get snippy with each other if we were tired or something, but our relationship really didn't take that much of a hit after our first, because again, we still had a support system.

We were able to give each

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): And it really, we just really loved like being a new [00:23:00] little family together. And then with our second, uh, it, we really, is something I tell parents too, like we really leaned into the divide and conquer mindset where I.

I was with new baby, he was with my toddler.

Like he fully took on my toddler's bedtime. He would take him out of the house so that I could rest with the newborn. He, really just became, like ships in the night. Um, just kind of splitting up everything because we thought that that was easier. And what ended up it worked, quote unquote. But what ended up happening was we became really, really disconnected.

Krissy: okay.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): through that disconnection, any little, you know, annoyance or resentment just feels so much more magnified

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): are

Um, and so, yeah, our relationship really, really. a lot in that year of COVID and those couple of years, um, after our daughter was born and then we got into therapy,

Krissy: Yeah.

Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): we got into therapy when we were pregnant with our third because we [00:24:00] really wanted to be proactive and, um, and work on ourselves before we had a new baby so that that wouldn't happen again. And after our third was born, like. Again, we've of course gone through

Krissy: Oh, sure.

Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): normal marriage.

But overall, we've been in such a better place.

Krissy: But you have the tools Yeah. To, to get through it. So that's pretty incredible. You are

inspiring to like, go ahead for the third, if you're on the fence, like it sounds like you've had a great experience with it and talk about, uh, yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I'm your girl 'cause I will talk you into having a third. Like without question, it's been the best.

Krissy: That's awesome. Now I wanna hear just a little bit about how you feel about yourself as a mom, as a person in this phase of your life with three very needy little ones under your care.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I feel I'm at like, you know, kind of a high point in my career,[00:25:00]

my kids are all like older and independent. Like I've recently stopped breastfeeding. I have. body back a little bit for the first time in eight years,

Krissy: Yeah.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I really do feel like this is kind of like a turning point for me as Rachael, and that's exciting and that's really

Krissy: Yeah. Wow. Well, it's been so lovely to get to know you as a person and as a mom, and hear your journey and your wisdom. I hope that you'll come back for the next episode so we can learn more about your expertise in mine sleep, because we need a level head in this conversation.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): I would love to

Krissy: So tell us about the supports that you offer families and where they can find you.

Rachael Shepard-Ohta (she/her): so I'm on social media at Hey, sleepy Baby. My website is also just, hey sleepy baby.com. I've got lots of free info on there, so free guides. You can download tons of blog posts with tons of great information. I also have a podcast called No One Told Us, where I have experts that come on and talk about all different things, not just [00:26:00] sleep. Um, and we offer courses and workshops as well. So if you're going through something like to move on from co-sleeping, wanting to get your child in their own bed, you're dealing with bedtime battles and you don't know why or what to do. I have courses on that. And then I also have consultations, so I have a whole team of Inc.

Credible practitioners that will help you if you are really just stuck and want some handholding and want someone to tell you exactly what to do. And to also just give you like the support and kind of like what we were just saying, like just someone to talk to and vent to, and someone to reassure you that it's gonna be okay, that you're normal, that you'll get through it. Um, so yeah. So all of that is available at my website too.

Krissy: And your resources are so powerful. I, I took your sleep temperament or I just temperament workshop when my first was little and that was life changing. It really changed so much. And, um, I think I have a floor bed guide that I did at one point, a crib guide. So very, very realistic. Like you can open up the guide.

It's not gonna be like 50 pages that you have to weed through. It gives you exactly what you [00:27:00] need, when you need it, where you need it. So check out those resources. Rachael is such a a gift. Thank you so much for being here with me today.

you. Thank you so much for having me. ​

In the next episode, Rachael's back and we're talking about something so many moms carry the guilt and shame that shows up when sleep isn't going well. She's breaking down why it's not your fault, what's actually normal, and how to stop feeling like you're doing everything wrong. If you've ever cried at 2:00 AM I am wondering what you're missing.

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