LIKE most parents, Cat Cubie will never forget the endless, energy-sapping sleepless nights that come with a new baby.
“Lack of sleep has an impact on every part of your life – mood, relationships, work..” she says, fervently. “I was at the stage I was up with my daughter every 45 minutes during the night – I was absolutely exhausted.
“So helping other new parents has become a bit of a passion project for me.”
The TV presenter and former Glasgow Times columnist has teamed up with baby sleep expert Sarah Carpenter to produce a podcast which has already raced up the charts during lockdown.
The Sleep Mums aims to help new parents get more sleep and its chatty, having-a-blether-with-friends style has won it many fans.
“Mums and dads have got in touch to give us some really great feedback, which is amazing,” explains Cat, who lives in Glasgow’s west end.
“The normal kinds of support networks haven’t been as readily available this year, so we wanted to give new parents some zero-judgement, funny, real advice from people who really understand what it’s like when your baby does not sleep.”
Cat’s daughter Indy, who is now five, slept very little in the first few months of her life because of a condition known as tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, where the strip of skin connecting the baby’s tongue to the bottom of the mouth is shorter than usual.
“We had no idea that was the problem of course – all I knew was that Indy wasn’t feeding well and she was losing weight, so I was incredibly anxious,” says Cat. “Even once it was sorted, I was still really worried about her weight, and every time she made a sound I’d get up.”
Friends introduced Cat to Sarah Carpenter, who runs a parenting consultancy.
Sarah explains: “I have worked with thousands of families and I’ve seen the impact of a lack of sleep on parents.
“What drives me is supporting families and helping everyone get more sleep. The Sleep Mums podcast allows us to be there for parents wherever and whenever they need it, whether that’s in the middle of the night, pounding the streets with their pram or nap-trapped with their baby.”
Cat adds: “Within a few weeks, Sarah had given me back a full night’s sleep and we had become friends. And I became passionate about helping other parents get more sleep with advice that was realistic, less prescriptive and not a one size fits all.”
The first series of The Sleep Mums reached number 24 in the Chartible podcast chart, regularly receiving five-star reviews. A special “lockdown” episode was released to help parents whose children were struggling with the change of routine. The new series starts today and Cat and Sarah are working on bringing out a book.
“Sarah’s advice made all the difference to me when I was a lost, emotional new mum,” says Cat, who also has a son, Roar, aged three. “I’m delighted to get it out there to other parents.”
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