Dam Parenting

Dam Parenting Podcast
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Parenting
  • Updated Weekly

Nobody hands you a map when you have a baby in a country that isn't your own. DAM Parenting is a weekly English-language podcast for international parents in the Netherlands: pregnancy and birth in the Dutch system, kraamzorg, postpartum, matrescence, relationships after kids, bilingual families, ADHD assessments, Dutch schools, and finding your people far from home. Hosted by Eva, an Irish parent in Amsterdam. Honest, warm, non-judgemental. 200+ episodes with midwives, psychologists and parents telling the truth about how it actually went. Browse every episode by topic at damparenting.nl

  1. 11h ago

    Miscarriage in the Netherlands: Pregnancy Loss, Grief & What Actually Helps

    TW: this episode talks about miscarriage and pregnancy loss. Skip it if today isn't the day. It will be here. Released on Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day 15 October 2026, this episode is for anyone who has lost a pregnancy or a baby while living in the Netherlands, and for anyone supporting someone who has. Melissa, an American living in Rotterdam, went through three pregnancy losses in the Dutch system before having her two children. She talks honestly about a missed miscarriage at her first midwife (verloskundige) appointment, deciding between medical management and a D&C (curettage), a second loss alone during Covid, a termination for medical reasons, and a near-sepsis emergency at Erasmus MC. We cover: Going through miscarriage as an expat, in a second language and an unfamiliar healthcare system Why grief after early pregnancy loss is normal, and why it can last months What to say (and not say) to a friend after a miscarriage Sibyl, the app Melissa built for pregnancy loss support Sibyl is a private companion app for pregnancy loss, built from lived experience with gynaecologists, fertility specialists and a reproductive mental health psychologist. It's for any kind of loss, from failed fertility treatment to stillbirth, whether it happened yesterday or months ago. OFFER: One month free with code DAM2026 Website: https://www.sibyl.care App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787125952 Instagram: @sibyl_app Support in the Netherlands: your huisarts (GP) or verloskundige can refer you to a psychologist, including English-speaking ones. If you're here for someone else, send this to them, or just message them that you're thinking of them. Get DAM Parenting in your inbox once a month: SUBSCRIBE HERE Follow: @damparentingpodcast · damparenting.nl DAM Parenting is an English-language podcast for international and expat parents in the Netherlands. We arrived without a village, but we built one anyway. The village is for the hard days too.

    Miscarriage in the Netherlands: Pregnancy Loss, Grief & What Actually Helps

  2. 1d ago

    Is It ADHD or Just Adjusting? Spotting ADHD in our Third Culture Kids

    Is it ADHD, or is your child just exhausted from a new school, a new language and a new country? It's #ADHDAwarenessMonth. Child psychologist Kate Berger from the Expat Kids Club on why some kids hold it together all day and fall apart at the front door, what a Dutch teacher really means by "druk", and how to get from a first worry to an assessment. Plus the one thing she says parents nearly always know first. Guest: Kate Berger, child psychologist and founder of The Expat Kids Club, supporting families in the Netherlands for over 18 years. Mentioned on the episode: -https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/health-care-support/personal-budget/ - Tilt Parenting -The Expat Kids Club provides psychoeducational assessments and screenings for many neurodevelopment conditions, including ADHD and ASD. We do not formally diagnose, but use standardised assessment measures that yield information to provide reports that include diagnostic indication (if relevant), as well as tailored recommendations for access to academic accommodations (aligned with IB-standards), and additional (mental) health services in supports in NL and abroad. We also, of course, offer therapeutic intervention. For more information about our services please see expatkidsclub.com  Get the monthly newsletter: HERE More on this topic: https://damparenting.nl/

    Is It ADHD or Just Adjusting? Spotting ADHD in our Third Culture Kids

  3. Oct 7

    ADHD and Sex: Why 'Not Tonight' Feels Like Rejection

    Does ADHD affect your sex life? If you or your partner has ADHD, "not tonight" can land like a door slamming, and nobody has told either of you why. It's ADHD Awareness Month, and DAM ex goes there. Sex and intimacy counsellor Debby Poort explains why the intense early spark shifts, what rejection sensitivity does in the bedroom, and why so many couples end up feeling more like parent and child than partners. Plus the medication conversation almost nobody has with their doctor. For the partner with ADHD and the one who loves them. Neither of you is the problem. Guest: Debby Poort, sex and intimacy counsellor at Yellow Wood. Her free welcome course: sexandintimacycounseling.nl. Get the monthly newsletter HERE More on this topic on DAMParenting.nl

    ADHD and Sex: Why 'Not Tonight' Feels Like Rejection

  4. Oct 1

    ADHD Awareness Month: (Recorded Nine Hours Before It Airing)

    Kicking off ADHD Awareness Month with the least polished episode I've ever made. Recorded nine hours before it went out, at my kitchen table, in one take. The deadline is the only thing that has ever made me do anything. I was diagnosed in my forties — the same month this podcast launched. Three medications in three months, none of which worked, and then I was told I'd maxed out my dose. And what I felt wasn't "the system failed me." It was "I've failed. Again." In this one: – What a late ADHD diagnosis actually feels like as a parent– Why ADHD medication not working can feel like a personal failure– New University of Warwick research linking ADHD to gut problems, IBS and constipation– Why calling it a deficit of attention was always a con — it's regulation, not concentration– Why neurodivergent mothers burn out more than everyone else– And why "just rest" is the most useless advice ever given to a working parent All of October is ADHD on DAM Parenting — for you, your partner, your kids. Debby on sex and intimacy when your brain won't settle. Adina on the grief nobody warns you about after a late diagnosis. Kate on raising neurodivergent children here. Mimi on languages. And Liam and me on a Saturday, going through everything we've tried that didn't work. New here? There are 200+ episodes, all sorted by theme at damparenting.nl 📩 Newsletter Sign up here🎧 Last month's episode on regulation with Adina Petre

    ADHD Awareness Month: (Recorded Nine Hours Before It Airing)

  5. Sep 30

    My Child Understands My Language but Only Answers in Dutch

    Your child understands every word of your home language, and answers you in Dutch. Every time. If it started when school or daycare went back, you're not imagining it. Why does my bilingual child only answer in Dutch? Mimi from Growing Up Multilingual explains why the school language takes over so fast, whether you should insist on a reply in your language, and why she'd retire one very popular piece of bilingual parenting advice. We also get into the child who seems embarrassed by the home language, one easy thing to try this week, and what to do if you feel you've already lost ground. For international parents raising bilingual and multilingual children in the Netherlands, where Dutch at school can quickly become Dutch at home too. Get the free Multilingual Cheat Sheet when you join the DAM Parenting newsletter Check out our website: damparenting.nl

    My Child Understands My Language but Only Answers in Dutch

  6. Sep 28

    Taalparade: A Free Multilingual Family Event in Amstelveen on 7 November

    The Dutch and English langauges are everywhere. The language your child speaks with their grandmother? Almost nowhere outside your front door. And kids notice. Mimi joins me for a short one about Taalparade, a free multilingual family day for children aged 0–12. We talk about why seeing your home language out in the world matters more than any lesson about diversity, and why asking a bilingual child to "say something" in their language can backfire. For international families raising multilingual children in the Netherlands. Taalparade: Saturday 7 November, 11:00–16:00, Library Amstelveen (next to the shopping centre). It's Free. Whether your family speaks one language or five, you're invited.

    Taalparade: A Free Multilingual Family Event in Amstelveen on 7 November

  7. Sep 26

    The Shame of Asking: From the Boardroom to Food Delivery Driver

    Camila moved here for love straight out of university, spent sixteen years climbing at a big media company, and quickly built Joy In Organizing a business with 77,000 followers and a book deal. Then came burnout, a divorce that ate €45,000 in legal fees, and nine months of job applications that went nowhere. This summer she got on a bike with an Uber Eats bag. The reel she made about it has over a million views now. This episode is about shame. The kind that makes you go quiet instead of asking for help — and what happened the day she messaged every single person she knew, including a man she once rented a bike from. We talk about carrying a household financially for years, what divorce costs when you have no family in the country, why supermarket and restaurant shifts don't work if you're the only adult in the house, and why she says you should never confuse needing help with failing. For anyone raising children in a country they didn't grow up in, working a system nobody explained to them, and wondering how they'd survive doing it alone. Newsletter, once a month: Sign up here

    The Shame of Asking: From the Boardroom to Food Delivery Driver

  8. Sep 23

    Can't Relax No Matter What You Try? Nervous System Regulation Explained

    Tried breathwork, silent retreats, sound baths and every calming app going, and still can't relax? You're not bad at it. Your nervous system might just need something different.   In episode 3 of DAM Trauma, trauma therapist Adina Petre explains nervous system regulation in plain English. No Latin, no diagrams, no pressure.   In this episode: – What regulation actually means (it isn't feeling calm all the time) – The window of tolerance, hyperarousal and hypoarousal, for parents running on empty – Why fight, flight and freeze are automatic, not a willpower problem – Co-regulation when your support network is a plane ride away – What constantly adapting to a new country does to your nervous system – The one thing Adina says doesn't exist at all – A simple, slightly playful tool you can build tonight from an old shoebox   For international, expat and immigrant parents in the Netherlands dealing with parental burnout, brain fog, the mental load and the everyday stress of raising a family abroad.   If this episode brings up something bigger than a podcast can hold, talk to your huisarts or contact Adina directly.   Adina Petre: Instagram Get the DAM Parenting newsletter: once a month, plus early access to the last-Wednesday episode. Find episodes by topic: damparenting.nl

    Can't Relax No Matter What You Try? Nervous System Regulation Explained
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About

Nobody hands you a map when you have a baby in a country that isn't your own. DAM Parenting is a weekly English-language podcast for international parents in the Netherlands: pregnancy and birth in the Dutch system, kraamzorg, postpartum, matrescence, relationships after kids, bilingual families, ADHD assessments, Dutch schools, and finding your people far from home. Hosted by Eva, an Irish parent in Amsterdam. Honest, warm, non-judgemental. 200+ episodes with midwives, psychologists and parents telling the truth about how it actually went. Browse every episode by topic at damparenting.nl

Information

  • Creator
    Dam Parenting Podcast
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    233
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dam Parenting Podcast
  • Show Website
    Dam Parenting

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