If your baby is restless, grumpy, drooly, off their food, off their sleep, or generally just having a hard time, there's a good chance that teeth are the culprit. Born with adorable gummy smiles, babies earn their toothy grins over the first two years of their lives or so. And then, a few years later, they have to do it all over again. In this episode, Leila and Kim delve into the surprisingly murky and misunderstood science of teething.

Inside:

• An introduction to teething and how both of our children are experiencing it
• What is actually going on inside your baby's mouth when their teeth appear
• The order and timing of teeth emergence, and the reasons for that pattern
• Why baby teeth fall out again
• Common teething symptoms
• How to sooth teething discomfort
• Caring for your baby's new teeth

Reach out to us with your teething tales contactthescience@gmail.com

And you can find The Science Baby elsewhere on the web:

Our blog: https://thesciencebaby.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_science_baby/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesciencebaby Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesciencebaby

And if you like what you see, consider supporting our work with a one-off or recurring tip: https://ko-fi.com/leilabattison

When you're all caught up with Science Baby, you can find our recommended podcast Sick Society here

You’ve just spent nine months growing a baby, but the journey doesn’t end the moment you give birth. When the baby is out, you might be tempted to think that everything - your body, your emotions, your life - will go back to normal. But for both new mothers and their babies, there’s an adjustment period popularly known as the Fourth Trimester. Kim and Leila unpack what’s going on, and how it can leave you feeling.

In this episode:

• How the fourth trimester sits alongside the three other trimesters of pregnancy
• What baby is experiencing
• What emotional changes you can expect and why
• How your experience might differ if you’re breastfeeding
• What physical changes you can expect
• Should you expect to bounce back during the fourth trimester, or even afterwards?

When both of our children were newborns, both Kim and Leila were told, repeatedly, that they looked just like their dads. Which, to be honest, wasn't always what we wanted to hear. We explore why it might be a good idea to look like your dad, what the science actually says, and how sometimes resemblance is all in the eye of the beholder.

In this episode:

• We talk about our own babies' features, and how often they were compared to their dads.
• Why it might be a good idea to look like the father, from an animal evolution perspective
• Do babies actually look like their dads?
• The science says its all in our heads
• Why not looking like dad might be a good idea
• How dad's investment can change how similar he thinks they are
• The future of our babies' features

You can find more Science Baby at...

Our blog: https://thesciencebaby.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_science_baby/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesciencebaby

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesciencebaby

And if you like what you see, consider supporting our work with a one-off or recurring tip: https://ko-fi.com/leilabattison

Last episode, we talked about the practical side of IVF - who is eligible, what testing there is beforehand, and what the procedure actually entails. But we didn’t talk about any of the squishy human stuff: the ups and downs of being an IVF patient and parent. So this time around, we tackle the physical and psychological impacts of IVF, and some of the things you might want to consider before starting treatment.

In this episode:

• The idea that IVF might have some lasting impacts, something which Leila didn’t really consider while she was undergoing treatment
• The additional benefits of IVF, including genetic testing and bespoke medication
• How long the process takes, and how that feels when you’re in it
• How the treatment might change within and between IVF cycles
• The emotions you feel while undergoing treatment
• The emotions you feel after treatment
• How you feel physically during and after treatment
• How IVF mothers are treated as high-risk pregnancies, and the pressure for birth intervention
• The effects you feel after an IVF birth
• The possibility of longer lasting medical risks
• The likelihood of success with IVF treatment
• How you can support yourself throughout your IVF journey

We're back afer a short break over the holidays, and we're kicking off with a really special one. Leila's son Felix (the OG Science Baby) was brought into the world through the medical miracle that is IVF. But to anyone from the outside looking in (or thinking about going through it themselves), the whole process can be a bit of an overwhelming mystery. So in this episode, we break down the IVF process, from where it sits within the assistive reproductive landscape, to who is eligible, how to get referred, and the ins and outs of what's involved.

In this episode:

• Leila's IVF Journey
• Introduction to the acronyms of assistive reproductive tech: IVF, ICSI, IUI, IVI
• Additional interventions possible with fertility treatment
• Who is eligible for IVF, privately and funded by the NHS
• How to get referred for IVF
• Fertility testing
• Details of IVF treatment
  • Down regulation
  • Ovarian stimulation
  • Trigger Injection
  • Egg collection and sperm collection
  • Fertilisation and embryo development
  • Multiples and embryo freezing
  • Embryo grading
  • Embryo transfer
  • Progesterone pessaries
• Frozen embryo transfer

Being mums and trying to make a podcast means that sometimes, things don't always go to plan! This episode, that means that we have a full house and not a little bit of chaos. Kim and Stella, and Leila and Felix take a look back at the last few months since the launch of The Science Baby Podcast, read your comments and answer your questions. Expect terrible audio, questionable continuity, and lots of real life tangents!

In this episode:

• Welcome to my Codpast! Felix and Kim chat about what it's like to be 2, and we catch up on life and milestones
• We look back at the last few episodes and respond to your comments and questions:
  • Poop
  • Breastfeeding
  • Pregnancy Loss
  • Hair Loss
  • Weaning
  • Healing
• We answer your questions in a quick fire Q&A, and get some ideas for future podcast episodes!

How soon can you know whether your baby is going to be right or left handed, and what can that tell you about how their brains are developing? Kim and Leila dive into the surprising science that links dominant hand with language, emotion, genes, and the environment. And since Science Baby himself is a leftie, we consider his experience growing up in a right-handed world.

In this episode:

• We introduce the idea of handedness being potentially linked to language, noting that left lateralisation of language in the brain could be linked to the predominance of right-handers within humans.
• We talk about the genetic basis for handedness preference
• We discuss when a hand preference is likely to emerge in our babies and toddlers
• We examine how much the external environement can affect dominant hand use
• We use brian lateralisation again to explain why mothers tend to cradle their babies on the left, regardless of which is their dominant hand
• We discuss a study that found that kids who show an early preference for their right hand tend to be more advanced with language - noting its strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opposite pattern seen in Science Baby
• We talk about the experience of our young left-handers in a right-hand world.

Okay, maybe not everyone's relationship with their loved one is in the pan after having a child, but anecdotally and statistically, many parents find themselves facing relationship challenges with a little one in the mix.

Leila and Kim are no exceptions, and we share a very cathartic chat about how and why our marriages have changed, and what we can do about it.

In this episode:

• We set the scene by describing our relationship foundations before having kids
• We compare notes on how our relationships have changed since having kids
• We take a look at the statistics of relationship degeneration after having children, including results from the Science Baby Parenting Survey
• We examine the reasons behind the changes, including a loss of protective relationship behaviours, an unequal division of the mental load, and the snowballing effect of maternal gatekeeping
• We describe how our loss of personal identities contributes to our dissatisfaction at this stage of life
• We discuss a study that suggests that marital unhappiness could just be a product of western society
• Finally, we talk about some of the tools and techniques for dealing with relationship issues.

I'm a big fan of Philippa Perry's book "The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (And Your Children Will Be Glad You Did)", which you can buy here.