Motherhood
I was a little concerned that you didn’t have any children of your own…
…but that fear was soon gone after learning of your background and experience, along with the wonderful way you interacted with my baby.
Your information and insight most matched how I felt I wanted to parent, before I actually knew what approach to take.
It has given me the tools to raise our daughter the way I feel is most natural, and I see a big difference between her and other children already.
I still get resistance from family on some choices I’ve made [that are unconventional], but the benefits are well worth those challenges.
We are much changed in how we relate to both our children.
We are very happy to be the parents we are and are holding strong in our beliefs. I am consistently flying in the face of convention, but the benefits are starting to pay off with the kids.
I do feel pressure from others about how we parent, perhaps some judgement that they feel that we are overly permissive, which annoys me still.
It has helped having support through the choices that we are making, though, and the Aware Parenting we have supported both kids with is paying dividends.
We cannot thank you enough for the work you have done with our son.
I definitely think your perspective has shaped my motherhood experience for the better…
…both in terms of practical tips (for baby, for dealing with other people’s input) and philosophy of non-judgmental realism.
My child is *so* secure in his body. When he moves around the house looking back at me occasionally, it’s just amazing to me how we built this relationship of trust.
I delight in watching him move in and out of the various positions (crawling, sitting, kneeling and in between), which I don’t think I would have known to look for or enjoy.
Also, being able to accept my baby’s crying as an expression rather than something to repress has also been invaluable.
Thank you so much for all the information.
Your help was wonderful and I feel blessed to be armed with it while my daughter is so young.
I believe it has made me a much more patient and present mom.
I’m so thankful for your time spent with my baby and I…my “mother’s intuition” feels a great deal of things, but I’m not always sure how to operate from there when it comes to my baby’s stresses and past trauma.
You have pointed out some amazing solutions that I am implementing with great success—he is a resilient and brave little human, but I think there are still some things below the surface we can work on.
Eliza helped me let go of a lot of my mom guilt, which feels amazing!
She truly cares about her clients and comes from a place of compassion and non-judgement. I would absolutely recommend her!
Aware Parenting
After our daughter turned 1, we found adapting Aware Parenting to toddlerhood quite challenging.
We also discovered that we were expecting our 2nd child, and the two children would be 22 months apart. It was at this point, that we reached out to the expert – Eliza!
A few sessions with Eliza resulted in both my husband and I feeling very confident supporting our toddler (who is also highly sensitive), both reactively and proactively.
We also felt confident bringing a newborn into our toddler’s life, knowing that we would have the tools to support her through this emotional transition. Eliza coached us on using AwP with our soon-to-be newborn, which made the early postpartum phase so much less stressful and incredibly pleasant!
I also found more confidence being an “alternative” parent—not feeling alone on this journey and fully realizing there are explanations to our gut feelings about how parent consciously [which don’t always match the cultural norm].
We had no hesitations about purchasing a package because our health is #1 for us. Other than Eliza’s wonderful personality, we loved the comprehensive follow up email, outlining everything (and more) that we discussed.
I would recommend Eliza’s services, and I have several times! To people who seem to fall in between the hardcore attachment/ breastsleeping/ don’t want to hear anything other than “babies should never cry” and conventional CIO parents.
I have learned so much from my baby since our session, and it’s really beautiful.
Thank you so much!
I’m really enjoying this Aware Parenting style, as I am pretty much an Attachment Parent, but felt it has put my needs last and has impacted my physical and mental health.
In this model, I feel all in our family are equal partners, that all of our needs are important and we all deserve to be listened to and respected.
We’ve become super appreciative of the Aware Parenting approach after a visit from some friends and their three rowdy kids (6, 4, and 1)!
It was the first time we had extended contact with another family in a way that allowed us to see the difference Aware Parenting makes — it is incredible!
We’re so thankful that we’ve been able to use your techniques with J for the past year or so. What I found most interesting is seeing the impact that communcation style has on behavior as babies transition into toddlers and into young kids.
Watching other parents up close, it’s pretty clear that most people don’t realize just how “aware” babies and toddlers really are. The tendency to “baby” seems to come from an underappreaciation of that fact.
Another big thing we noticed was the difference in parental interference in the kids’ spaces–constantly providing direction, intervention, distraction, or correction versus respecting the kids’ abilities, emotions, etc. And also how those different approaches manifested themselves in behavioral outcomes, as well as overall temperament.
Anyway, all of this is to say that we were reminded this weekend of how much we appreciate your help. I’m so thankful for what we’ve learned so far, so thank you again!
Sleep
After working together, we felt we understood what our son was feeling and how we could better support him.
We found clarity in things we had been murky about.
Eliza’s work came so highly recommended and sounded so fascinating to me that we knew we had to work with her.
The online video chat sessions were the best part. It felt that we were there with her and that she could really get a sense of our issues and work through them in the moment rather than trying to describe them at a later date.
My son started to relax and over time, he started to sleep. I also had the sense that he was thankful that we were finally giving him what he needed in the moment. I could tell he felt supported in ways he hadn’t before.
I would absolutely recommend Eliza in a heartbeat. We were able to work through complex issues around a NICU stay and help our son thrive in ways he hadn’t before.
I feel like I’ve gotten some confidence that had alluded me for most of this parenting journey thus far.
Our last session really shifted something in me. We are doing some lovely pre-sleep crying [in arms] that somehow is not making me anxious as before. It’s a challenge to channel his physicality, but he falls asleep looking into my eyes…wow!
Also, thinking ahead to weaning, it’s very empowering to know that I can be there for him in other ways aside from nursing, which heps assuage an inevitable anxiety I mostly have tried to repress.
Working together
I think I’d have been reluctant to purchase a package until I’d met you, but I was able to meet you at low cost first.
I developed a deeper understanding of my baby’s emotional landscape, and of mine in relation to her. I also found a new language for communicating with her. And we both had a chance to work on processing the birth together in a meaningful and connected way, which was wonderful.
I loved the way you were with my baby and how you talked to her. It was true communication. I loved the way that you worked intuitively, following her cues rather than coming with an agenda or pre-fixed form.
I also really appreciated the breadth of your experience – we were working around sleep, and you brought several strands of expertise to bear on the situation. And I loved the flexibility you showed in moving from the most practical of advice around how to hold a cry to the most spiritual considerations – I feel like anyone’s language, belief system or outlook on parenting could be incorporated in your sessions because you respond so much to the individual in the moment.
I felt so respected and heard as a mother by you, and I know that my baby felt seen by you too – it was a truly affirmative experience, in which my maternal instincts and way of being weren’t ever questioned or doubted. You are wise, kind, compassionate, and a truly gifted communicator with babies.
You have been a great model for me in how to gently and respectfully interact with babies, from speaking to them, listening to them, communicating with them, handling them, and observing them.
I really value the specific handling guidance and your modeling of movement.
I think the most valuable items have been philosophical—coming to baby’s level and following baby-time, not my rushed pace.
Eliza is an affirming, knowledgeable, kind, warm person who is able to facilitate parent-child communication without imposing any “ideology” other than a trust in the innate relationship between the two.
This is the best resource for parents. I can not even begin to explain all the awesome ramifications of Eliza’s work. I’ve learned all of this amazing stuff. Thank you so much for all that you do. You are amazing and the world is sooo much better because of it.
Outcomes
That first year was critical in extremely “unconventional” ways. We talk about it often.
We would have wanted to be this way but never would have known how to get here day by day, supporting her in tiny ways like we learned to do.
It’s hard to put into words how phenomenal she is at 14 mo!
I just have to share with you what I’ve been seeing recently, since our work together a few years ago.
Our daughter started a new preschool and is loving it! But she has been dealing with some new things and we are encouraging her to talk about them.
During the first talk with a professional, she used the words, “I was scared”. That impressed the provider because she said normally you don’t hear that type of clear response from a 3 year old.
Then yesterday in dealing with something a little frustrating at home for her and I, she asked me “Mommy, are you sad? Frustrated? Disappointed?” Wow. I was blown away. I was actually trying really hard not to show my emotions by not saying anything but “I love you.” So we talked about it and I asked her how she was feeling and she said “Disappointed.”
I just thought I would share with you how our 3 year old is communicating her feelings.
Such amazing wisdom! We need this awareness to bond deeply with our babies and ourselves and to support foundations of authentic trust and raise truly empowered humans in the world. Thank you Eliza!