This Little Life

Ever heard the phrase “mad as a hatter?” It comes from mercury exposure — a toxic heavy metal once used in hat making.  Now, those same metals — mercury, lead, arsenic and cadmium — are showing up in baby food. In fact, a 2019 study found that 95% of baby foods tested contained at least one toxic heavy metal. So, how does heavy metal exposure impact our children’s health and development? What foods are the biggest culprits? And what can we do to reduce the risk? Join LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe as she sits down with three experts to unpack the truth about heavy metals. 

A whole podcast about milk? You’ve goat to be kidding!? You’re not? Well, who knew that milk could be so interesting. But here’s what we absolutely know: before cows, there were goats. And thousands of years ago, no one milked cows. Instead, they enjoyed the natural benefits of rich, creamy goat’s milk. But fast forward a few centuries and where are we now?  What dairy source are families drinking in our modern times? And what's the difference between goat's milk and cow's milk? Is one better than the other? And more importantly, which one is healthier for you and your family?  The Greatest milk showdown Of All Time answers all these questions and more. Join farmer and owner of Oete Goat Farms, Matt Bolton; regulatory expert and part-time comedian Colin Oliver; and Senior Lecturer of Applied Science and notable smarty in the room, Dr Bob Stewart, along with LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe, to unpick the nutritional pluses and minuses of everyday milk. www.thelittleoakcompany.com 

The role of a father has shifted considerably over the years. For many Dads, raising kids looks very different to how their fathers did when they were growing up. But what is best? Old school parenting or new age nurturing? Join AFL super Dad, Aaron Cornelius and modern Dad, Mitch Papas, together with the all-round inspirational individual and father, Joel Sardi, to hear what fatherhood means to them. It’s a long one, folks, but sit back and enjoy the conversation. It’s real, it’s raw but it’s all hard-won wisdom into the phenomenon that is: modern fathering. www.thelittleoakcompany.com #dadsoflittleoak #fatherhood

No one is a stranger to the perils and uncertainty of Covid and yet so much opportunity exists in e-commerce for those agile enough to embrace this unprecedented and dynamic trading global environment.   Join, Elke Pascoe, CEO and Founder of The LittleOak Company and other leading retail experts from this year's Retail Global 2021 event to discuss the building blocks of a global business - the pitfalls and pratfalls of international expansion as well as the hottest global markets and how to break into them. Join Don Robertson (CEO STAX), Teresa Aprile (CEO BrandCrush), and Pharida Khiev (eCommerce Relationship Manager, WorldFirst) for a lively and impromptu discussion on how to launch into emerging markets and what traps to avoid. www.thelittleoakcompany.com www.stax.com.au www.brandcrush.com www.worldfirst.com www.retailglobal.com.au

How do we become who we are? And when it comes to our little ones, who’s really shaping them – their personalities, their temperaments, their opinions?  Maybe it’s you, their caregivers. Maybe it's their peers. Maybe it’s their siblings. Or maybe it’s all in their DNA. So...who...or what...is really shaping your child? Join LittleOak Founder and CEO, Elke Pascoe, for a fascinating conversation with personality psychologist Julia Rohrer and Nancy Segal, Founder and Director of the Twin Studies Center. Together, they unpack how personality develops, why twins can be strikingly similar—or surprisingly different, the role family dynamics play in shaping behaviour, and much more. 

You’ve had the baby. You’ve navigated feeding. You’ve survived the sleepless nights...and just like that, you’re a parent. But somewhere in the chaos, something feels off. You’re exhausted. Stretched thin. Overwhelmed — in a way that sleep alone can’t fix. In this episode, we‘re looking beneath the surface – at postnatal depletion, the identity shift of matrescence, and the incredible changes happening in a mother’s brain.  And — perhaps most importantly — at the story that tells mothers their exhaustion, their overwhelm, their brain fog is just “part of motherhood.” But is it? Join LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe as she sits down for a fascinating conversation with accredited clinical nutritionist Emma Morris, neuroscientist and therapist  Dr. Jodi Pawluski, and clinical nutritionist and naturopath Kellie Slobodzian. 

From fridge to formula, cow's milk is everywhere. But have you ever wondered why? In this episode, we uncover how cow's milk rose to fame and why goat's milk is a significantly more nourishing alternative. Join LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe as she sits down for a fascinating conversation with nutritionist Chloe Steele, emeritus professor Melanie DuPuis and mum Emma Slee to uncover the surprising history of cow's milk, the advertising that made it a staple and the science behind goat's milk and infant gut health. 

"I’m falling apart.""I'm overwhelmed, I'm not coping."  “You don't really have any choice other than to keep going.”Sound familiar? As parents, we’re constantly juggling. And with so many balls in the air, sometimes it can feel like we’re running on empty. And oftentimes, we are. In fact, more than two in three working parents are burnt out. So, what exactly is burnout? How is it different from stress or exhaustion? And with everything piling up, what are we to do? Join LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe as she sits down with three experts to unpack the hidden signs of burnout and the practical steps that can actually help. 

Are we creating picky eaters?Dinner time with little ones can be a real challenge. These tiny food critics will turn their nose up at anything, it seems. So, are all children picky eaters? Or do we create them by catering to their every culinary whim?In this episode, LittleOak Founder and CEO Elke Pascoe sits down for a conversation with Anjali Shah - nutritionist, health coach, and author of The Picky Eater blog. Together, they unpack why picky eating happens, how to make healthy food a hit, the best time to introduce new foods and so much more. Connect with Anjali at pickyeaterblog.com

They say it takes a village to raise a child. But what if you want to go it alone?    Becky Bell refers to herself as a single mum by choice, using a sperm donor to conceive her two beautiful children. Now, she's on a mission to break the stigma and educate others about the power and beauty of her unconventional path to motherhood.   At times, single parenthood may mean double the stress and double the worry. But doesn’t it also mean double the love? Join us as Becky shares all about being a single mum by choice.

The birth of a child is meant to be the happiest of times, and the start of a lifelong journey of milestones. But what if this journey is cut short? Late into her pregnancy, Priyanka Saha and her husband Will received news that would change the course of their lives. Their unborn child was diagnosed with an incurable brain condition and an uncertain life expectancy. Despite the challenges, their daughter Lily proved to be a fighter, living 10 months before passing away. Today, Lily's legacy lives on. Her parents established a foundation in her honour, helping families navigate the scary and isolating road of parenting a child with a terminal illness. We are honoured to have Lily's mum, Priyanka Saha, with us to discuss this incredibly important topic of infant and child loss. 

Like, follow, share - social media can be a real mother  Did you know that approximately 90% of mums are active social media users? Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok – millennial mums live online. And we can’t lie...we’re certainly part of that statistic. But...how does social media impact our lives and can it be a force for good?  Is social media a help or a hindrance? Whether you love it or hate it, social media is completely embedded in our lives. In our latest episode of This Little Life, we’re joined by Rachel Chappell – Founder and Publisher of North Shore Mums, an online group with over 40,000 members. Tune in as we answer the burning question: is social media a help or a hindrance?

Hosted by LittleOak CEO and Founder, Elke Pascoe, This Little Life is an impromptu and lively discussion diving into the big and little issues of parenting and beyond. Tune in for our latest podcast episode featuring image coach and stylist, Lacey Savell. On a mission to empower mums, Lacey shares her top tips for regaining self-confidence post pregnancy and finding your back-to-work personal style. With love, LittleOak xx

At this time of year, it's all about family – and we want you to meet ours. A new spin on our most-loved podcast, we're joined by some very special guests: Olive and Freddie, Elke's very own little ones. Not only are they Elke's inspiration, they are the heart and soul of LittleOak and the reason she started the Company seven years ago. Tune in to meet the family behind LittleOak as they share their highlights of 2023, their favourite things about Christmas and their hopes for the new year. From favourite Christmas movies to favourite Christmas foods, we're bringing you the inside scoop - you may even get some ideas for your own little ones.

Hosted by LittleOak CEO and Founder, Elke Pascoe, This Little Life is an impromptu and lively discussion diving into the big and little issues of parenting and beyond. Children don’t come with an instruction manual. And as parents, we’re often making it up as we go and hoping for the best. But when it comes to the unique delights of toddlerhood, all bets are off. How do we deal with the dreaded toddler tantrum? How do we get them to say yes instead of no,no,no? And please tell me, just how do we get them to eat their vegetables? While we haven’t quite written that instruction manual, we think we’ve got the next best thing. Michelle Tangeman is a mother of 2, therapist and behaviour expert, and she joins us today to discuss whether we can, and indeed should we, tame the toddler.

Hosted by LittleOak CEO and Founder, Elke Pasco, This Little Life is an impromptu and lively discussion diving into the big and little issues of parenting and beyond.   You've heard the saying “never wake a sleeping baby”. But does that apply to toddlers? And what about the age-old conundrum of when to stop daytime naps? Is it when your little one says so or should we persevere through the tantrums?     Katy Bourzikas is a certified sleep coach and founder of Well Rested Wee Ones. Their mission is to get little ones and their parents sleeping better, moving from tired to well reseted.      So let’s dive into today’s discussion and decide if we should let sleeping toddlers lie… or not?

This month we have teamed up with some of the world’s leading experts in toddler development. For the next two episodes, we will explore sleep, nutrition, behaviour, and more to help our LittleOak families as they navigate this wonderful, but noisy new journey… So settle in, and buckle up …as we welcome you to toddler town.  With Love, LittleOak xx

A Journey of Courage, Hope, and Pink: Sarah Powell's Inspiring Story This month, as we mark Breast Cancer Awareness, we bring you a truly remarkable episode of This Little Life. Join us as we delve into the life-changing journey of Sarah Powell, the CEO of Pink Hope. From her personal battle with breast cancer to her advocacy work to understand and reduce the risk of hereditary cancer in our community, Sarah's story is one of courage, resilience, and most importantly, hope - or should we say, pink hope.    Tune in to be inspired by Sarah's journey - empowering as it is emotional. Learn more about hereditary cancer risks and ways to break the cycle of cancer and encourage conversations that save lives.

We’ve all heard the saying happy wife, happy life but here’s another one for you - Happy gut, healthy child. Ok, so it doesn’t rhyme, but we think it’s just as important.  Dr Anna Garber agrees. A naturopathic doctor, her passion is children’s health. She believes that good gut health early in life sets a strong foundation for our adult health.  So what does good gut health in our children look like? How can we achieve it? And what is the connection between gut health and mental health? There’s certainly lots to cover, so join us as we get to the heart (or should that be the gut) of this very important topic. 

Hosted by LittleOak CEO and Founder Elke Pascoe, This Little Life is an impromptu and lively discussion diving into the big and little issues of parenting and beyond. Childbirth. A word that can trigger a hundred different emotions – from joy to fear and back again. Then, you head home with a tiny human and everything else goes out the window. But what about mum? How are we helping them through this massive life transformation? Vanessa Werner believes we can do better. As a Doula, her passion is empowering women during pregnancy, birth and recovery. Inspired by traditional Chinese medicine, her goal is to create a respectful birth culture for mothers.  But what does that look like? How do we achieve this? Should all women have a doula?  Join us as we tackle the ultimate childbirth conundrum – to doula or not?