The World According to Your Newborn, with Greer Kirshenbaum

With a very underdeveloped brain that is making over a million connection per second, newborns occupy a unique reality. What do you as a parent need to know in order to tap into their built in instruction manual? Greer Kirshenbaum has answers. Check it out.

What we talked about:

• The 3 general parts of a newborn’s brain
• Can you spoil your newborn?
• Stress, fear and dependency
• What is optimal responsiveness
• How to tap into your baby’s instruction manual
• Watch out for overstimulation!
• “Serve and return”
• One million connections per second!
• Use your baby as a guide
• What if you have “ruined them for life”?
• Modeling and mirroring
• Arousal and regulation
• Do you have unreasonable expectations?
• What happens when babies become inconsolable?
• What about setting bad habits?
• What is a “secure attachment”

Mentioned links and other related articles*:

• Dunstan Baby Language
• The Whole-Brain Child, by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
• Parenting Styles and Child Behavior
• Find a postpartum doula at doulamatch.net

Related podcasts:

• Elimination Communication, with Andrea Olson
• Postpartum Doulas, with Jackie Kelleher
• Understanding & Calming Your Baby, with Carrie Contey
• Your Anxious Mind During Pregnancy, with Parijat Deshpande
• Birth Trauma Myths, with Bianca Sprague and Natasha Marchand

About Greer Kirshenbaum

Greer Kirshenbaum is very excited to be the first Neuroscientist Doula! Greer is on a mission to revolutionize the future of health by communicating scientific research. Greer wants families and perinatal practitioners to understand how caregivers can boost success, thriving and flourishing and diminish poor health, depression, anxiety and addiction in adulthood by shaping babies’ brains through simple intuitive enriching experiences in pregnancy, birth and infancy. Greer teaches courses, holds workshops, provides consultations in pregnancy and infancy and is a birth and postpartum doula. Greer is currently working with Bebo Mia to create and teach an Infant Sleep Educator program launching in 2020.

Greer worked in neurobiology laboratories for over 15 years studying how genetics and experience shape the emotional brain and influence lifelong mental and physical health. She has published numerous academic research articles and received many awards. Greer has a BSc in Neuroscience from Dalhousie University, a PhD in Neuroscience and Medical Science from the University of Toronto and worked for several years as a postdoctoral research fellow and assistant professor at Columbia University.

Greer lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son and dog. She loves hiking, yoga,

meditation, sleeping under the stars and spending time in green spaces.

Learn more at nurtureneuro.com or follow her on Instagram @nurture_neuroscience

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).