Episode 135: Welcome Jenn Saxton, CEO of Tot Squad & These NEW Can’t-Miss Places to Get Parenting Support

Disclaimer: Transcripts were generated automatically and may contain inaccuracies and errors.

Welcome to the kids sleep Show podcast where we dive into the magical world of sleep, and all things parenting. Join us as we embark on a journey filled with expert advice, practical tips and heartwarming stories that will transform your little ones into sleep superheroes, and empower you to navigate the beautiful chaos of parenting. I’m your host, Courtney Zentz. And I’m on a mission to change how the world view sleep and provide accessible sleep coaching resources for all families to build healthy sleep habits in their home for children, and adults of all ages. As an award winning speaker, author and pediatric sleep expert, myself and my team of consultants work intimately with families around the world to teach healthy sleep habits to children and adults. I believe wholeheartedly that sleep is the foundation for which a happy home is built. So let’s sleep together. Hey, everyone, welcome to this week’s episode of the Kids sleep show. I am so excited to bring this guest on. Her name is Jennifer sacks. And she is the CEO of top squad and I had been waiting to chat with her for quite a few weeks now. And we finally got our schedules to align. And there’s so many amazing things happening this week when you are hearing this, so I’m gonna turn it over to Jen to introduce herself. Tell us a little bit more about her. And this amazing company top squad that she has built. So Jen, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here, Courtney. And until all the listeners thanks for tuning in today. My name is Jen Saxton. I’m the founder and CEO of Todd squad. I’m a serial entrepreneur and the baby industry based in Los Angeles and mom of two girls, Charlotte, who is four and a half and Sophie who is to

amazing. And so top squad you would think because of the type of company that it is, obviously and working with little tots, that you would have had this idea like many of us after you have a child and you go, oh gosh, there’s really a gap in the market for whatever this product is right? And you actually had quite a bit of forward thinking with this hotspot correct me if I’m wrong was founded when you were still getting your master’s at Northwestern.

Yeah, well, I was at Kellogg getting my MBA, although I would say I’ve been chewing on kind of work life balance as an area I was passionate about since after I graduated from Duke, I was working in management consulting, and I saw all these women turning 30 and trying to start a family and make partner at the same time. And everybody was leaving because it was just too hard to juggle career and life. And so I was looking for business ideas that would like help busy Millennials as they started to have families. And you know, this is going back to like the late bots. So you know, like the 2007 to nine timeframe, when millennials were just starting to have babies. And just thinking, you know, this generation is already obsessed with services and experiences more than stuff. And I think that it’s just going to continue as I started to have kids. So that was kind of my thesis going into business schools, like how can I start a company that will save busy moms time or frustration, and I had like 40 ideas on a spreadsheet that I took to my classmates and kind of wouldn’t look down on and we ended up launching, I won the business plan competition and launched a cleaning service for strollers and car seats. Every mom I talked to wanted it and there was nothing else out there at the time offering it and so it seemed like you know, something worth exploring. And so I grew and I scaled that business, kind of like the Geek Squad. So we ended up opening little service centers inside of big box baby stores all over the country where you could get your, you know, stroller recurrency cleaned, repaired, have your car seat installed or checked. And then I had a baby. Right as we were I think we’re opening up like 30 Different byebye baby stores. The month that I was having a C section with my first kid. And they got I have an amazing team who was able to like execute all of these simultaneous launches all over the country. But it was a wild time. And I came back from maternity leave. And I’ll put that in quotes. Because when you’re like launching your startup nationwide and having a baby at the same time, like there’s not a whole lot of break. But I came back from my quote unquote maternity leave. And I was like I have way bigger problems as a new mom than just a dirty stroller. And I don’t know how to breastfeed and I don’t know how to sleep train. And I don’t know how to be proof and like my husband thought that because I’ve been in the baby industry for a decade that I knew everything about babies, and I’m like, Look, I can install any car seat. But I know nothing about breastfeeding. And so I started just thinking about a new idea. And I decided to sell the old company. And so we actually closed that deal. We sold to a company called Baby quip. They’re the world’s largest baby gear rental platform. So if you’re like going to Disneyland and you’re in an Airbnb and you need to rent baby gates and a highchair and a stroller for your trip, like they’re in, I think over 900 markets now and now They also have baby quit cleaning where you can get your baby gear cleaned. And obviously they use the same cleaning methods for their rentals. So you can ensure if you’re renting from them, you’re getting clean gear. So we finished that on March 12 of 2020, which I described as the wild wild west of days to be doing an m&a transaction. It was a safe day Disneyland shut down, you know, it was just very stressful. We can’t believe we got it done. So here I was on March 16, of 2020, during the first lockdown, ready to start my new company, and I was able to use the top squad brand name again, because baby equip had rebranded the old business. So yeah, so what we’re doing now is we’re basically building I kind of compare it to like honey fund needs Angie’s List. So instead of handyman and roofers and plumbers, we have sleep consultants and lactation consultants and Carsington scholars and more services coming soon night nannies prenatal massage, baby proofers, you name it, there’s about 60 different types of services that new and expectant moms are using. And right now there’s no single platform where you can go and see their availability, compare the pricing, compare their certifications, or philosophies or styles. It was very much just like a black hole, where I was going on to like a Facebook group and saying, Hey, can anybody recommend a sleep expert? And I got 80 comments. And then I had to go like Google all 80 of these people and email them to see when they were free. And you know, it was just like, I’m already sleep deprived. This is so overwhelming. Um, why can’t I just go to one place and figure out like, what’s the difference between the $300 lady and the $3,000 lady. So I’m building that and the reason it’s kind of funny fun Meech and meets Angie’s. The reason it is honey fund meets angie’s list is because we are launching, and I’ll save more details on this for a few minutes for now. But with basically the three largest retailers in America, where you’ll now be able to add all these different kinds of services directly onto your baby registry. So much like honey fun has become so popular with millennials and Gen Z during their wedding, because they don’t want silver ware and China, they want to go to China. They want services and experiences on their wedding registry. Nobody has really yet figured out how to bring services and experiences to the baby registry until now. So I’m really excited kind of for this next phase of growth and launches that we have coming up this summer.

Oh my gosh, it has just been so busy for you since then you have two kids now, a global pandemic, the launch of a new company, like there’s quite a lot going on. But it’s all good. So yeah. So, you know, I think you you mentioned a couple of things. And I think the first and most important is that if you’re listening to this as a new parent, we’ve all been there. Okay. So, you know, the purpose of the kids sleep show is to try to help talk about sleep, but also talk about the realities of parenting, right. I mean, I think that, you know, we have these ideas of what parenthood should look like, or how certain things should come naturally or should there should just be this intuition on certain things. And that’s not always the case. And to your point, like, I don’t know, until somebody talks to me about the benefits of infant massage, whether that’s something I’m going to go down the road of, you know, or even 50 technicians, right, the CPS T, my sleep consultant, Erin Forsch, on my team just finished her CLC for nursing, just got her CPS T, and is doing sling consulting services, because it’s bringing this like well rounded approach to the education we provide. But it’s like, I didn’t know there was a car seat safety tech. I mean, I kind of looked at the balls on the thing. And we’re like, okay, these need to be bounced in the center field locked in, right, you know, and then I had no idea what I was doing. And she came over she’s like, okay, so like Max is a newborn. And that clip, the plastic clip that’s supposed to be like, right over his chest, not up by where it is. And I was like, oh, so like, I have no idea. And I’m like, Oh my gosh, could you imagine if I was in an accident. And then I’m the reason that you know, something happened. I mean, I think there’s just so much information. So to have a place like passcode, where everything is in one spot. And I think it opens up to Jen like, the education for parents to go, Oh, I didn’t even know that was a thing. Like people who even books lead consulting with tiny transitions are like, I didn’t know you existed. Like, I didn’t know this was a thing until somebody kind of told them and I feel like, you know, with Todd squat, and some of the launches that you have coming right now, which we can talk about next. You know, I think you’re gonna bring, frankly, a forefront of education that is lacking drastically in the market, because we are only as good as our SEO, our blog post reach our tick tock dances, you know, and to a new mom who’s not in the baby world yet. They don’t know about any of this. They’re sort of thrown at the wolves and, you know, and expected to figure it out. And I think many try pretty quickly to get in there. But I think that when we can provide a platform in a place where people go already, which they do to the places where you’re going to talk about now So, it’s just gonna be such a beautiful benefit to parents who believe me, like I struggled with anxiety and depression, which I had never had before, after I had my son Max. And I didn’t know, I didn’t even know I had it. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I felt super overwhelmed and lost. And like, I didn’t really have a village, you know, my mom had passed away

or No, yeah, or, or nowhere to like, find a therapist or that there are specialized therapists for that, except for like, it’s really hard to know what’s out there.

Like, oh, my gosh, this is crazy. So I mean, tell us all about like, what are we launching? What is top squad here? In 2023? I know you’ve got some exciting news to share. So why don’t we talk about it? Like there is so much yeah,

so absolutely. So I am super, super, super excited to share that this week, we are launching on target.com, nearly half a first time moms create a baby registry at Target. So it is an absolutely huge honor that they’ve selected us as their nationwide partner to offer services as part of their baby registry. And I’m so excited for moms, you know, when they’re three, four or five months pregnant, starting to work on that baby registry, to be able to have the option to put services and support, including those from Courtney directly launch their baby registry through the technology that target and Todd squad have built together. And so it’s going to be I just think, awesome, a lot of moms I think, are very eco conscious now, and they’re getting a lot of Hami downs, right? They they’re kind of like the anti consumers. AI is a term I’ve heard thrown around where it’s like you want to buy the least amount of new stuff possible just for our planet. And if you can get Hami downs and you know, find extended life for existing products. And that’s awesome. So maybe there’s less of a need for stuff on the baby registry and more of a need for support and services. And so one thing that’s really exciting is we have four services that are launching, there is sleep consulting, as I mentioned, lactation support for seat safety support, and then diet and feeding support. So that could be everything from Hey, I’m pregnant. And I don’t know if I can eat sushi or drink wine, can I talk to a prenatal nutrition expert, or I’m breastfeeding and I need to increase my milk supply? What should I be doing with my diet. So what kind of diet support for moms as well as feeding support for babies, and that could be everything from I need to introduce a bottle so that I can go to work while I’m pumping, or I need to introduce formula because my my time breastfeeding is coming to an end, I’m trying to introduce solids, and I’m worried about food allergies, or I don’t know if I should do baby led weaning versus eating purees all the way up to like picky eating through the toddler years. So we’ve got all sorts of diet and feeding experts on our platform as well. And if you don’t know, if you’re just like, hey, I’m doing my baby registry, and I feel like I’m gonna need help. I’m a first time mom, I’m scared, I’m confused. Maybe breastfeeding will be easy for me. But maybe sleep training will be hard. Or maybe my baby will be the best sleeper on the planet. But breastfeeding will be so hard. We have just like a generic one. I think it’s called postpartum services support. And you can put that on your baby registry. And it’s kind of like the grab bag, you can just save it and then select which types of services you need. After the baby arrives, once you kind of see what your journey looks like.

Absolutely. So, you know, it’s funny, because I think that, you know, when you do your registry to your point, you’re doing it at six months old, or six months pregnant, you know, and you’re like, Okay, I get to go in and hit all this stuff with a little beeper, and you get really excited, you know, end up with 85 of the same swaddle and your kid hates that swap. So plenty of those situations. And you know, I don’t think you know, what you don’t know, right. And I think so many of the parents that we work with, even in our newborn consulting, you know, are just grateful for the education that service providers give because there’s no other outlet, at least in a national capacity, that really does a good job of educating parents who are expecting there’s optional classes at hospitals, which not a lot of people go to, I think there’s a lot of misinformation online, depending on where you get that from, and what source you know, so I find an overwhelming amount of information online. Overwhelming is right. And you’re vetting to your point, like the sleep consulting industry alone is not regulated. So, you know, husband tomorrow could be like, You know what, I’m going to be a certified sleep consultant. And he could, because it’s not actually regulated, so anybody could be certified. You know, and I think that is a part of the industry that’s a bit scary. So you have to vet the provider that you choose to work with, which I know, Todd squad does very meticulously, and I’m honored to be on the platform, as you know, with tiny transitions because like you, you have to be very careful, like of the providers that you pick or that you Google who you’re working with, you know, it’s a little bit of an unknown world. So I mean, maybe talk about that, as far as, you know, yeah, parent is going to get this gift card from their baby shower, right? Maybe somebody gifts them, just the generic gift card, and they go out to top spot and they go, Okay, I’m two weeks postpartum, and I’m about to drive. My baby’s not sleeping, and my boobs are shooting milk everywhere. Where do I. So they’re going to start with a service, right and talk a little bit about your vetting process for the practitioners and how important it is that you’re, you know, the people that are representing top squad meet, like a certain level of quality assurance, if you will. Yeah,

yeah, absolutely. So um, I mean, I would say first, if you know, if I would hope that most people get in a car seat checked before their due date, so that it’s ready to go in the car. And what’s hilarious is, you know, I’ve been a CPS T and a child passenger safety technician since 2009. So, going on 14 years here, and I managed to drive to the hospital to have my second baby without a car seat. So here, I’m saying like, please plan ahead and have your car seat installed and ready to go several weeks before your due date. I mean, she did come three weeks early, but it’s just funny because like, every mom, it’s an overwhelming time. So do some of those things, really, if you can. But as far as bedding goes, the first thing I want to say is really just about our philosophy as a platform. Because some of these categories, like you mentioned sleep, there are so many different sleep training methods, right? There are people who are diehard believers in crying it out sleep training, you know what I would rip the band aid and the baby could just cry, all they want for the next three nights, and they’ll be good to go forever. And then there are other people who were like, I could literally never live with myself, if I heard my baby cry for more than five minutes. And like, I will take six months to train this baby to sleep, if that’s what to take, or I don’t even like the word training. And so how can we as tots what build a platform where both of those moms, the one who wants cry it out and the one who wants gentle sleep training to like both find a provider that is good for them on our platform. And so I sometimes hear people describing it as there are families that are really more into kind of like Eastern modalities. And they you know, they’re looking for the prenatal acupuncturist. And then there’s also people on the other side who are like, very much looking for evidence based science backed, research backed methodologies. And, and some of those things are just very different. And so our philosophy as a platform is that we are not picking one way of sleep training and saying like, this is the best way. So like everybody on our platform is going to use this same philosophy for sleep training, we’re saying, hey, we want to have a diversity of sleep experts on our platform, and then help moms find the right one for their family. That way, if you are looking for a certain style, or you know a certain type of person, if you’re looking for a feeding expert, you know, you want to do baby led weaning, we can match with somebody who specializes in baby led weaning. And so I think just having a diversity of providers is really important to us, not just from philosophies, but also from the perspective of wanting to make sure that families can see themselves reflected in the experts. So an example that I’ve used before is lactation consultants. So ibclc is like international board certified lactation consultant is kind of like the gold standard. It’s basically like getting a master’s degree in lactation support. And very few women of color have actually achieved that standard over time due to all sorts of systemic inequities, and you know, things that our country, but a woman of color might say, hey, you know what, I’m willing to work with a certified lactation educator, which is maybe a lower level of training, but who shares my lived experiences or as a member of my community, or maybe I’m an LGBTQ family, and I’m looking for a provider who like really specializes and works with folks in this community. So we’re really committed to having a diverse set of providers on our platforms that every family can feel like they found the right person for them, no matter what that looks like. So diversity is very important to us. But of course, that said, we are verifying credentials, right? If you’re claiming to be a certified or registered dietitian or certified nutritionist, we’re going to check your NPI number. And we’re going to validate that all of your credentials and certifications are current and up to date. And then we are actually personally interviewing every single provider that is part of our platform. And through the retailers the background checks take place for any in person services. So right now most of the services that we’re launching with target are virtual. But then obviously once we start moving into night, nannies, doulas, midwives, prenatal massage, things like that, that really have to be done in person. Then you can also guarantee everybody’s been through a background check as well.

Awesome safety first, you know, but it is just, you know, there’s the vetting aspect and the quality right, so we’ve got target, amazing, and there’s quite a lot of registries, you know, and you’d met Genet so I think that the exposure with target alone for top squad is going to be really cool. You had mentioned a couple other retailers. And I don’t know if you can talk about them today or not?

Yeah, well, yeah, the the easiest one is we’re already soft launched on walmart.com. So you can visit walmart.com/taught squad, and you’ll actually see our services are available like when you’re buying a car seat, it will offer you the option to add on car seat installation in person or virtually. If you’re buying a breast pump, you’ll see the option to add on lactation support. And you’ll see similar merchandising like that on the target website coming up here as well, since we’re just launching some of those things are all just getting set up. But I’m really excited target is putting us on the top 50 baby registry items list that they have. And so I’m just so excited for parents to have more options of what they can register for and to hopefully be able to provide more help and support to moms, you know, that are following in our footsteps at the beginning of their journey.

It is quite a journey. I love it. And I’m so excited for families to have access to this because again, I think so many people, you know, I would get texts all the time when I was home and they’re like, What can I do? What can I bring? And I frankly, I didn’t know. And then I was so overwhelmed. I didn’t ask, you know, so like my girlfriend was like, What can I do? I’m like I’m at a toilet paper. So she brought me like a 30 pack of toilet paper because it was like I just I know people want to feel helpful. But like, I don’t know what to tell you to do, because I’m a little overwhelmed right now. So I feel like if somebody asks, you could say, hey, look like checkout top squad, I think I’m gonna need some help. And it just is such a cool way to, to your point like services and experiences, they’re actually helpful. Like, don’t get me wrong, another container of diaper cream is cool. But the fact that like, you could change the fundamental course of this maternity leave or of this current, you know, baby that is developing, right? It’s it’s such a neat thing, I think in all the different services that you’re providing, you know, obviously, I’m biased asleep, because that’s where we live. But it is like the first thing somebody says when you tell them you’re pregnant, is say goodbye to sleep. And I’m like, it doesn’t write you that way. Like people think I’m you know, they’re like, I can’t believe you sleep train a newborn baby. And like, I don’t sleep train a baby. But please understand how things are categorized, you can build healthy sleepers from birth, with the right foundation of which many parents don’t have because they get no education. So we are educating families so that they don’t create bad habits that Yes, three months or six months down the road, you do have to train them out of because they have a bad habit, right? In a lot of cases, they’ve got a reliance on something or a prop or, or eating only to go to sleep, it’s like, you know, those are things that will develop that turn into props. And as a toddler, you have behaviors, they know how to sleep, but around two, they’re kind of choosing not to for one reason or another, you know, it could be one night they spent at grandma’s co sleeping in the in the bed, because that’s the best she could do with the sleep situation. And then all of a sudden, it just became this expectation. And parents don’t know how to get out of it, you know, so one night turns into two turns into 10. And three years later, you’re like, Okay, you’re going into like, third grade, third grade, you gotta get out of this bed, you know. So, it’s just so neat to see. Like, there’s something for every parent, but with sleep, it is so different, depending on to your point, your parenting philosophy, your living situation, the age of your child, like, we absolutely work with newborns, and we work with eight year olds, and we work with everything in between, you know, so it’s just such a crazy space, because I think sleep is the one thing that there’s just so much information on that it gets, it’s like analysis, paralysis, or just total overlap, and you don’t know where to go. So I think having a single place that provides not only a platform where you’re comfortable with the person you’re working with, right, because that’s a part of it. And you get to also choose a little bit more into the style as a parent that you are like, people always ask me like, well, what method are you certified? And I’m like, I’m not certified in any because they’re all actually not like real certifications. I look at a philosophy I look at the style, their goals, the age, and I go, how do we want to get there, you know, and I mean, I’ve worked with a brain surgeon, I still remember she was lovely. And she’s like, it’s Friday, and I have surgery. I’m going back to work on Monday and I need you to fix this baby because I can’t sleep and I was like, okay, Kelly, it’s gonna look a little different, you know? And you know, and then I had a gentleman I worked with in Germany who was like a little toddler and he’s like I’m gonna do this like an inch a night and I’m like, Cool just might take a little longer like it there’s no right or wrong like forward progress with kids sleep because sleep is a skill is like that foundation compliment that like over time you know, you can you can build Hold. And I think it’s that way, like you build your confidence as a parent, with sleep, education, you build your confidence as a lactation education, you build your confidence with car seat education, infant massage, like all of the services that you’re providing on top squad, like, oh my gosh, I mean, I went to an infant massage class, and I’m like, this is cool. Let me get the olive oil and just, you know, I took my daughter with me, it was like an in person class. And it was so cool. I mean, I learned so much about everything you could do with the body. And it’s like, so fascinating how it’s all connected. But as a new parent, I was like dabbling and sort of stumbling on things. Whereas Todd squats, putting it all in one place, to your point to make it easier for families.

Well, I think like, the thing that I didn’t really touch on is that there’s also an option that just says, like, get me the first available right, you can literally see live real time availability of the experts and what openings they’d have on their calendar. Because if you’re like, look, the baby is coming today. And I did not pre planned getting my car seat installed. You can go on our platform and be like, get me the first available Carsey technician on FaceTime on Zoom, like video chat, and like, we’re going to install this in the hospital parking lot together today. So I think if you are less picky, and you just need urgent support, like we’ve got that available, as well. And I think like, what’s really cool about our platform that you were kind of touching on earlier, is that most of these moms are going to discover us through their baby registry process when they’re in their first or second trimester before they have their baby shower, which is usually early in the third trimester. And we hope to be able to, like grow with that family, right? Once they’ve used hotspot to find their first expert, which is likely to do something like installing or carseat. Then we know, you know, we can put them basically on our email list that says, Okay, your due date is around this time, hey, let’s follow up. Do you need lactation support? And three months later, Hey, are you thinking about sleep training? And three months later, hey, is the baby crawling? Do you need support with baby proofing and being able to find the right service at the right time? And I think, you know, like, just I don’t want to call this a pipe dream. But in the world that we live in now, Chad, GPT, and AI, just growing so much that like I hope we’re for time, we can get really smart. And we can be like, hey, it seems like us this kind of expert, like you seem to be really into like Eastern medicine. Like I think I know exactly the sleep expert you need based on who you chose for your prenatal nutrition support and your doula. And I’m going to direct you to the top three people that are a fit for you. So I think that, you know, there’s a lot of opportunities we have in the future to like, just take some of that guesswork and stress out of having to like research so many different options, and being able to like learn about a family and provide them with the best experts for them.

Yeah, I love it. And it is cool. I mean, it’s just such a fast changing world right now that we’re in. I’m curious, you know, what the next couple years brings, but I think services is where it’s at. You know, I mean, I think that not only in parents, but I mean, just everyone like experiences and that service industry has been one that has never really been on like a big box type retail, right? Like you couldn’t get services on target and the fact that they’re doing this now outside of your traditional, like, you know, help us install the TV kind of stuff, right? This is a game changer in the services space, which I think is so amazing that you know, your forefront in 2010 ish, you know, to jump was so forward thinking because, you know, even retailers like Amazon I see as like product base, right? I pop on and get a car filter or something or I you know, and then the next order is like a diffuser, then five minutes later, and you know, my husband’s like, What the heck is what is this? And like, don’t? Don’t you know what, happy marriages, don’t ask what we buy on Amazon, because

you don’t need to know. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

me about my gel manicure stuff. Powell.

You know, so that’s right. So funny. Yeah, I’m excited. I’m excited for this new phase within retail as well to kind of provide more than just the products you need, but also the support and the help to use them correctly. Right. I mean, the first time I got a breast pump, I brought it with me to the hospital hoping that they would like Teach me how to use it there. But instead, they were like, No, you have to use our breast pump in the hospital. So then I still left without any knowledge about like, how to use my pump. And so I think just being able to get ahead of that when you’re buying a product to be able to know that you’ve got access to support with how do I set it up? How do I use it the first time. A lot of that is just so anxiety inducing. And I was just thinking when you were saying something a few minutes ago about like, the sleep training. I’m like, it just never ends, right like my baby Sophie who’s two now. She was the world’s best sleeper. She was sleeping 18 or 19 hours a day when she came off to the hospital and I was emailing the pediatrician saying, hey, the internet says that she should sleep 14 to 17 hours a day, but she’s sleeping 18 or 19 like should I be worried? And my pediatrician was like, Haha Please don’t email me again. Congratulations. I was like, oh, like love the lottery, I got a great sleeping baby. But then I ruined it, because I put her into a shared bedroom with her at that time two year old sister. And every time the baby would make the slightest peep, I would run in there to nurse her, because I didn’t want her to wake up the toddler. And so then all sudden, I trained my baby to like wake up multiple times a night nurse when she was a great sleeper, like I ruined her. Um, and so it’s so funny how like, things can change. It’s like she’s been a great sleeper for a while. And then as soon as she hit 35 inches tall, my husband is six fours, my kids are giants like their 99 Point ninth percentile. So she was only 18 months old when she was 35 inches. And she could like climb out of the crib, headfirst and land on the floor, which is terrifying. So we tried to move to the toddler bed. Well, that only lasted a few weeks, but we tried to move her to a twin bed and like it’s been six months coordinate, I’m not joking, she sleeps on the floor every night, we put her to bed in her bed, and we find her in the morning with a floor bed, she’s pulled her blankets and pillows down onto the floor, and she’s sleeping there. So I’m sure it’s just a phase like eventually she’s gonna get back in her bed. But like, if this is what it is, then this is what it is like, we’re just all parents, we’re all just in survival mode and adapting on a day to day basis because our kids keep changing every day.

And it is you know what, if you’re comfortable, fine, stay there, as long as you’re getting restorative sleep. Now one of the things you can look at too is if she’s a wiggle worm, and she’s kind of falling halfway out and then just finds herself in her sleep on the on the floor is take right now they have them because it’s the summer here when we’re recording this right pool noodles, or take a sheet that’s not on the bed like a queen size sheets, it’s a little bit bigger, and roll it up, and then put it under the fitted sheet. So you’re kind of creating bumpers that aren’t so ridiculous as like bumpers that you would see at the hospital, you know, but right and help in you know, sort of like having them roll back into the bed to stay there. Ya know,

we started we started with those like hospitals are like bumpers that you can install under the mattress for her. But this is very intentional, like she is making herself a bed on the floor. Um, I think it started because she was just sleeping by the door because she didn’t want to be in there alone. And now she likes it. I don’t know. I mean, we’ve got a very, very nice, I’m a big fan of the no sleep, no sleep.com and use their website, they have this amazing pebble tech mattress, just like the world’s most comfortable mattress. So when I’m laying in there with a two year old, I’m sleeping on a comfortable mattress, which is great. But um, but yeah, she prefers the the floor to the $1,000 mattress. So that’s just mom life. Right?

She will get back there. But you know, we a lot of times kids that kind of have a variety of reasons, frankly, Gen for like not wanting to be in the bed, and there’s a lot of them. I set up forts, so exactly what you’re doing and like, if they want to sleep in their little reading nook, let them sleep there, like there’s no harm, or to sleep, if they’re not comfortable. They’re gonna know, you know, a lot of times for families who are like I work with a lot of families from different parts of the world, and customized like they’re used to co sleeping, right, but they like don’t want to co sleep. So there’s this happy medium where they don’t want the kids in their own room, but they also don’t want to coast sleep anymore. And you know, I specifically remember a family of twins, and I was like, alright, well then let’s get them as their only choice, right is putting them in sleeping bags. So they are allowed in your room. But they are not allowed in your bed. So it’s their choice, whether they sleep on, you know, the sleeping bag, or they can choose to go back to their comfy beds. And so you’ve got to figure out like something that works for you. Right, like sleeping on the floors, fine. She’ll grow out of it. Believe me one of these times, you’re gonna be like, You know what? It’s not. I mean, are you good? Sleeping down here? Do you want to sleep on like that nice bubble mattress with a beautiful GREENGUARD certification or

Right, exactly. If I come on, we’ve got the best of the best year. One. I mean, I think we’ve the new wrench that we threw in there is you know, my first child like just absolutely refused potty training did not want to do it. And she was enrolled in a school that was requiring potty training for two and a half year old, which is not really developmentally appropriate. There are lots of kids that don’t potty train till they’re three or four years old. And Charlaine looked at the teacher dead in the eye on the third day of school, it took a long pee in the middle of the classroom floor. She was really, really she was given the toddler middle finger. We pulled her out of that school and found a school that was a lot more gentle. They’re potty training method, but it’s just funny. She was very difficult to potty train. And here I’ve got my second kid who sees her older sister using the potty and she has just decided on her own timeframe that she is potty training. So like the last four nights, we keep going in multiple times and I’m finding her she’s pulled the diaper off. She’s just naked from the waist down and there’s pee on the floor. So now I had to go out and buy all sorts of like pee pads to put all over the floor all over the beds. And we’re just going full in on the potty training. So it’s like it’s not one thing. It’s another and you know we’re just going to survive. It’s easy. And give them as much love and grace as we can. In the meantime,

there are a man I’ll tell you there’s a product, which I’m not sure if you’re familiar with him, they’re out in Utah, and it is called P jammies like P E jammies. So their pajamas that look like normal pajamas, but they are for typically, like Bedwetting, or, you know, if a kid might have a propensity to pee, but they’re, like, embarrassed by it, you know, I mean, they have a variety of products, but it also works in this case. I had come in to know them from one of my other clients Damon and, and yes, so they like I knew them because of the potty. wetting the bed, right for older, older toddlers wetting the bed. And they have a variety of different products. So definitely check them out too, because that could be helpful where that you know, she goes to bed and quote unquote, a big girl pajamas, but then you’re not like, Alright, you’ve now peed on the sheet, the carpet, the mattress, like, you know, at least it can

find her my husband has steamed like carpet in her bedroom, like every day this week. And I’m like, this morning, she just stood up totally naked and sat on the potty and peed. And I was doing the whole peepee in the potty, you know, during the day as well, I’m trying to hype it up. So you know, and then you know, then she’s like trying to quit her nap at the same time. We’re like, no, please keep napping. So it’s like, it’s a never ending adventure. It’s live it is

it is an adventure. And I am proud to say the task squad will help so many families in the next couple of weeks as they learn more about the rollout here with target and everything else you’ve got going on with Walmart and some other things that are in the kit and caboodle. And I know it’s gonna be a really successful year for you. But also, more importantly, providing a service to families who need it in filling a spot in the market that is empty right now. So congratulations on doing that. Because as new parents like, even as second time parents or third time parents like the services that topspot is providing is such a game changer. So I’m like super proud to have you on the show and to talk about it because I just think it is absolutely necessary and so exciting for for you so much to get the help that I don’t think any of them realize yet when they’re doing the registry they’re going to need

Well, Mary there you’ve heard it like I’m on this podcast, not because I know how to sleep train and potty train. I’m not another mom out there. But I do know one thing or two about business. And so I’m excited to be leading this company into into the next phase and hopefully just really being able to support so many more moms all over the country.

Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate you. And there’s so much more exciting stuff to come. So I’m sure we’ll have you back. And I appreciate your time today. And I hope you have such an amazing rest of the very busy week with this launch. And I look forward to all the great things that as a partner of top squad, tiny transitions is going to have as well. So thank you for that opportunity and for coming on the show.

Thanks so much Courtney.

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