Tender Little Beings Podcast

from Harriet Hamid-Collett, Holistic Sleep Coach, Parent Supporter, Anthropologist and parent to a brilliant toddler

Supporting you in supporting your tender little beings. With Sleep, bonding, co-regulation and finding calm and connection for the whole family. Respectful, Responsive and Non-Coercive approaches for sleep, parenting and life. tenderlittlebeings.substack.com

Episodes

  1. 10/08/2025

    Sleep Biology Basics: Ep 5 - What else can impact sleep?

    Welcome back to the fifth and FINAL episode of Sleep Biology Basics! You made it all the way through!! This is part of the FREE Sleep Biology Basics Resource I’m offering that you can access here: In this episode we will be exploring some of the additional factors that can impact sleep - namely: Temperament Developmental phases / learning new skills Discomfort – digestion/ allergies / teething / illness Separation anxiety & big life changes Environmental factors With our foundations of Sleep Biology Basics, we can check a couple of things - Is there enough Sleep Pressure? Are they having too much / enough sleep in 24 hours? Is the circadian rhythm optimised? (or mature enough) How is their nervous system state? Do they feel safe and calm enough to sleep? Then from there, if all of these are set and we’re still a bit stumped, we can start looking at some of these other factors. I hope you can find this both interesting and supportive - please do pop any questions in the comments section (on Substack if you’re reading this elsewhere). All 5 episodes, as well as extra strategies, context and resources are available now in the FREE Sleep Biology Basics Ebook. The episodes cover: Ep 1 - Why do we need Sleep Biology Basics? Ep 2 - Driving Forces of Sleep: Circadian Rhythm Ep 3 - Driving Forces of Sleep: Sleep Pressure Ep 4 - The Link Between the Nervous System & Sleep Ep 5 - What Else can Impact Sleep? Please do share any questions, thoughts or ‘aha moments’ in the comments. I’d love to connect. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tenderlittlebeings.substack.com

    23 min
  2. 10/03/2025

    Sleep Biology Basics: Ep 4 - The link between the nervous system & sleep

    Welcome back to the fourth and penultimate episode of Sleep Biology Basics! This is part of the FREE Sleep Biology Basics Resource I’m offering that you can access here: In this episode we will be exploring the link between the nervous system & sleep. This is something that often gets missed by mainstream sleep (training) narratives. When we believe that sleep is a skill (which it is not!) then we think we just need to teach it and that will *make* it happen. Instead we need to remember that sleep is a biological function, and a very vulnerable one. We need to feel safe enough in order to easily go to sleep. I hope you can find this both interesting and supportive - please do pop any questions in the comments section (on Substack if you’re reading this elsewhere). All 5 episodes, as well as extra strategies, context and resources are available now. I’ll be releasing the final episode soon. The episodes cover: Ep 1 - Why do we need Sleep Biology Basics? Ep 2 - Driving Forces of Sleep: Circadian Rhythm Ep 3 - Driving Forces of Sleep: Sleep Pressure Ep 4 - The Link Between the Nervous System & Sleep Ep 5 - What Else can Impact Sleep? Please do share any questions, thoughts or ‘aha moments’ in the comments. I’d love to connect. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tenderlittlebeings.substack.com

    23 min
  3. 09/12/2025

    A Sneakpeak into my Private Podcast

    I was thinking about my sons sleep a lot today (after a challenging night!) and thought this is EXACTLY what I want to be sharing in my private podcast! I haven’t yet sent the first newsletter, so I thought I would share this on here as a little experiment and taster of what I’ll be sharing. As you’ll hear it’s very informal, no heavy editing, no complicated themes. It’s basically like a voice note I’d send to a friend. Talking through what’s going on, and walking you through my process - showing my workings as I go! I really believe that this can offer the Sleep Biology and other aspects of infant sleep we will be talking about into context. Into a real life, live context. And that’s where the learning happens isn’t it! I would love to connect with you for the second episode and more via my newsletter - please do sign up if you’d like to stay connected there. I mentioned lots of resources during the episode and the links to them are listed below: 🌿 You can access my FREE Sleep Biology Basics series here. 🌿 This is the link to my Substack post about when my son was born. 🌿 Here is the Substack post I wrote about the anchoring phrase ‘can’t not won’t’ 🌿 Here’s the link for the Episode of Upstream interviewing Robina Khalid and you should also check out her Substack where she shares beautiful writing. (This episode is so brilliant, I listened to it as I walked my dog today and was nodding along so vigorously that I realised I was getting strange looks from passersby!) Please do let me know what you thought of this little episode, and questions or reflections that come up for you. And come on over to the Mailing List - excited to connect with you further there! Warmest wishes, Thanks for reading Tender Little Beings! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tenderlittlebeings.substack.com

    20 min

About

Supporting you in supporting your tender little beings. With Sleep, bonding, co-regulation and finding calm and connection for the whole family. Respectful, Responsive and Non-Coercive approaches for sleep, parenting and life. tenderlittlebeings.substack.com