Life After Baby

It takes nine months to make a baby, so why do we expect to "bounce back" after birth in just six weeks? Drs. Susan Cicala and Stephanie Bamford of WellFit break down how a baby changes your body during and after pregnancy, how long it takes to recover post-baby, and ways to avoid common postpartum issues.

Crystal Murphy is a local mom of two (2 and 5) and music teacher. Crystal Murphy Music is a ukulele-based business that was created from a love of music, teaching others, and being silly. All services offered foster creativity, teamwork, networking, and social development for all ages. We chatted about how to bond with your baby through music, when and how to introduce music to your child, and the benefits of music.

This episode should be called, “Man, I wish I knew about this before I delivered.” My guest is Nora Wright, The Family Hive owner, a social worker, therapist, lactation counselor (and a mom of a 2-year-old) in Chester County. Nora and Kelly run an innovative new parenting program called Bringing Baby Home. By offering the Bringing Baby Home program, they hope to empower new parents to strengthen their relationships and embrace their new roles. Please take our survey and let us know what you'd like to learn more about: forms.gle/cAwvmyfLVq6YCsHJ8

Schools around the country started back up this week and a lot of parents are left wondering how to transform their homes into a classroom. We brought in a pediatric physical therapist, Dr. Stephanie Lint of Play at Home PT, to talk about how parents can set up their home for virtual learning. The tips are great for parents working from home too! Please take our survey and let us know what you'd like to learn more about: https://forms.gle/cAwvmyfLVq6YCsHJ8

In honor of World Entrepreneurs' Day, we chatted about balancing motherhood, entrepreneurship, and you and your kiddos’ dreams with two fabulous moms and business owners. My guest host is Julianne Tettamanti, co-owner of Gemelli Gelato and mom to 1-year-old Mateo. Today’s guest is Melanie Thomas-Cook, who is a mom of three, Momager Boss Boutique owner, and manages the Momager Blog. Her goal is to help moms manage motherhood creatively.

Today’s guest is Jada Glover. She is a Certified Lactation Counselor and Certified Health Coach for Pregnant and Postpartum Mothers through Dr. Sears Wellness Institute. She is the founder of Lactation Mamas, an amazing online community and resource for mothers. Jada supports mothers like you through a healthy pregnancy and postpartum experience so you can have a healthy pregnancy, a safe birth, and a smooth transition into motherhood. We chatted about how to prepare for breastfeeding, pumping, nutrition and chest stretches, breastfeeding must-haves, and the good, bad, and ugly parts of breastfeeding.

Maria Swann is a busy mom to three girls, wife, personal stylist, capsule wardrobe expert, and Dabar Couture owner. Her goal is to help women develop and maintain a grab and go wardrobe that allows them to get dressed with more style and NO stress. We chatted about building a capsule wardrobe around your lifestyle, ways to love your post-baby body, how to figure out your style and get the best deals, raising the next generation of girls, and how to feel confident at any age.

This week, we are joined by Aditi Wardhan Singh of Raising World Children. She is a self-publishing coach, children's book author, book and magazine publisher, foodie, podcaster, and mother of two. We chatted about different ways to raise culturally-minded kids, her favorite parenting resources, and the importance of taking care of yourself in early postpartum life.

Today’s guest is Erica Desper, the founder of Confident Parenting. She offers sleep solutions and potty training support to families in and around the Greater Philadelphia. Confident Parenting is a network of resources providing education and support for the challenges growing families face including sleep deprivation, postpartum mood issues, and overwhelm.

Independence has a whole new meaning when it comes to parenting. In this episode, we chat with Nicole McNelis, a licensed professional counselor, about how to feel independent when you rely on other people during recovery and with a new baby that depends on you 24/7, how to adjust to postpartum life, why you need me time, and how to banish mom guilt. Nicole provides therapy and guidance for women, moms-to-be and moms in every stage of life.

This week’s guest is Scott Bragg of Scott Bragg Counseling. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a mission to help fathers navigate through mental health challenges.

Necessity is the motherhood of invention, especially when it comes to Hello, West Chester. When one local mom couldn't find one local source for everything happening in West Chester, PA, she took matters into her own hands. Meet Cara Corridoni, the communications professional by day, and Hello, West Chester author post-bedtime. In this week's episode, we chatted about how she started her own news blog, work-life balance, and her favorite local activities. What topics would you like to hear about? Take our listener survey, and let us know! Thank you. forms.gle/cAwvmyfLVq6YCsHJ8

Today’s guest is Hallie Steinberg, owner of Hallie's Healthy Living and a Dr. Sears Certified Health Coach. She helps individuals and families achieve their wellness goals at home, work, school, and everywhere in between. We chatted about what to eat during pregnancy and postpartum life and ways to take care of yourself after having a baby.

Despite the books and labor class, our transition into motherhood was more of a crash landing than a graceful leap. We spoke with Nicole Didizian, owner of Main Line Family Education and a former L&D and maternity nurse, about how to prepare for postpartum life when you're still pregnant.

Today’s guest is Allison Barto. Allison is a local mom of a toddler, a wife, a realtor, a photographer, and a former small business owner. She is super organized and wears lots of hats. We sat down to talk about how she uses her background in logistics to make life easier as a parent.

Today’s guest, Kathrine Bright, owner of KatFit, shares healthy ways to cope with stress, both physically and mentally. KatFit, LLC helps moms gain clarity about their fitness habits so they can be strong and confident in their bodies at any stage, from pregnancy and beyond.

Today’s guest is Michelle Legaspi Sanchez, Executive Director of Chester County Fund for Women and Girls and she is here to talk about getting the whole family involved in volunteering and charity.

We learned so much about car safety and seatbelts during our chat with Sergeant Ollis of the City of Coatesville Police Department and Amanda Pezick of Safe Kids Chester County and Chester County Highway Safety Project. They share tips on how to keep kids safe in the cars while traveling for the holidays and every day!

Finding the right childcare provider for your family is no easy feat. Patience Dominiski -- mom, seasoned sitter, and founder of the Chester County Childcare Pennsylvania Facebook group -- offers advice on what to look for when selecting a sitter.

Did you know that the West Chester Public Library offers so much more than books? Or why nursery rhymes are so important? Our guest, Michelle Guinan, the Early Literacy Specialist at the West Chester Public Library discusses storytimes, raising readers, kids' programming, and all things literary!

This maker momma shares her favorite crafting supplies, what you need to know about making a costume without going batty and simple DIY Halloween costumes for every family member. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a glue gun-slinging, crafting extraordinaire to master these costume ideas!

As a new parent, Kelly realized she didn't have all of the parenting answers. She founded a Facebook group, MomAdvice, in 2010 to build a tribe of online Mamas to share advice, stories, and more. These days, it has more than 12,000 members and 28 sub-groups.

In today's episode, Once Upon A Child - Exton, PA's owner, Megan shares tips about buying and selling gently used kids' clothes, accessories, toys, books, and more at #OnceUponaChildExton. Plus, we will chat about how to prevent and handle in-store meltdowns.

Today’s guest is Jen Anderson, publisher on West Chester Macaroni Kid, a parent’s go-to guide to Chester County family fun. As a mom of two energetic boys, she found herself searching for activities, camps, and ideas to get out of the house, or for things to do when we are stuck inside the house. West Chester Macaroni Kid is full of all of the above ideas and more

Luanne talks nutrition and fitness tips for your pregnancy and beyond with Sarah Kuhn of Juna. Sarah Kuhn is the Founder of Juna, a fitness and nutrition app for pregnancy and postpartum. Sarah is a Pre & Post-natal exercise specialist and has spent the last 10 years of her career building, launching and marketing digital fitness products like Beachbody on Demand.

Today, we are joined by local Mom Dréa Moore, owner of Annex24 and member of the Chesco Moms Play Date/Meet Up Group, and talk about playdates and all the fun things you can do with your little ones! It's a lot more than you think!

In our first chapter, Luanne sits down with Jackie and Kirsten from Beyond the Bookends to talk about good reading habits, how these moms read 100 books a year, reading adventures, their favorite kids' books, when you should start reading to your baby, the best parenting books, how to get reluctant readers interested in books, and the importance of family reading. www.beyondthebookends.com