Hey Sophie and Jayde, thank you so much for chatting with us! We are such big fans of Beyond the Bump. Can you tell us a little about yourselves and what inspired you to start your own podcast?

We are big fans of Prae so thank YOU! Sure! 

I Jayde, am a mother of three beautiful girls aged turdler, 7 & 8. We all live on a farm with my Husband in Byron Bay and love sharing our day-to-day realities on @londonxboston.

Sophie was actually my inspiration as she came to me with the idea of starting a podcast and asked if she could interview me, long story short, we both realised very quickly that it would be a fun thing to do together and here we are two years on! 

And I am Sophie, yeah it’s all thanks to me haha. Nah I thought Jayde would be a great candidate for my first guest and then we realised it’d be funny to do with a co-host and it went from there! 

I am the mum of two girls, aged nearly two and four. I live with them and my husband in Cabarita Beach, currently in the middle of a build there! We love cooking and being outdoors and just generally spending time together. I used to work as a doctor but since having kids have been trying out other lines of work (like the podcast) which has been really exciting! 

We love the beautiful community you’ve built through your podcast, which includes mums from all over the world. How important is it for mums to establish relationships with other mums, especially in the early days?

Hands down the most valuable thing to have are friendships through this time. Having someone there that is also going through baby milestones, sleepless nights makes you feel like you aren’t alone in motherhood and that it can be a really hard job at times, so to surround yourself with relationships of similar ages or people you get along with tend to make a hard day better!

We think it’s great that your podcast focuses a lot on life beyond the bump, as so much information out there is based around pregnancy and birth. What made you choose to mostly focus on this stage of motherhood?

Mostly because we were both in the thick of pregnancy and the early days of parenthood. The other reason is what we were seeing on social media, there was lots of fluff, lots of perfect photos and not enough genuine stories and conversations around the realities of motherhood and we really felt like there needed to be a place for people to feel supported.

Your podcast covers such a wide variety of topics and you interview so many different women, how do you choose the subject for each episode and what sort of research is involved?

The easiest episodes to choose would have to be with Dr Timmy aka Obstetrician, Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist, aka Sophie's dad! Full of dry humour, loads of information about various topics that our listeners always want more of! Overall, we like to balance the weeks out by mixing in lighter episodes which can be sex related all the way to what is a mum brain, but getting back to your question, it really does vary on current topics and what our listeners ask us to put out there!

We love that your podcast is very candid and raw, focusing on the unfiltered truths of motherhood. Why is this important to you both and do you ever struggle to approach certain topics (perhaps if they’re a little taboo)?

The whole aim of the podcast is to talk about things that other people aren’t necessarily comfortable with. As we have discovered that if one person is going through something in motherhood or pregnancy or womanhood in generally, there’s bound to be many others that are going through the same (and usually silently). 

The best episodes end up being the ones that we struggle getting our heads around because we have to spend more time curating questions and making sure we are mindful that the conversation is taken in the correct light for our listeners and our guests.

We’re both open books though with very little filter. We often get to the end of a recording and think hmm do the listeners really need to hear that detailed intimate or private story haha. And we generally keep them in and that’s what people tend to write to us about resonating with. 

You’ve had such an amazing journey so far and you now have over 100 episodes, which is a huge milestone - congratulations! What’s next for Beyond the Bump? 

Woohoo! Thank you. We are BEYOND humbled (pun absolutely intended) that there are so many people out there listening to us every week. From the heartfelt messages we receive after each episode, to the positive reviews (feel free to write one everyone) as cliché as it is, we wouldn’t be here without you all.

We genuinely started this podcast as a little side hobby and had no idea if ANYONE was going to give a rats about what we had to say. So it’s really cool that it has become our job and we are able to put out so many episodes so far! 

We are so grateful to have been able to create a platform that not only makes people feel supported but has allowed new parents to connect with other like-minded people! Watching the community and support rapidly grow over the years of podcasting has been heart-warming, especially in the pandemic as so many new mamas couldn’t physically meet.

Lastly, we’d love to know your best personal piece of advice for fellow mums?

Jayde: 1. listen to our podcast. 

2. One of the biggest life zappers (besides our children) can be social media. Follow accounts that make you feel good, mute the ones that don’t and remember that sometimes the people posting the fluffy stuff can sometimes be the ones struggling the most so reach out, be kind and be kind to yourself.  

Sophie: Hahah yes definitely biased but listen to Beyond the Bump! Also, know that parenthood isn’t the same for everyone and it shouldn’t be. If something is working for you then it is right for you, don’t listen to anyone else. Do what makes sense to you as a parent, or you as a couple, or you as a family! But if it isn’t working, also know that there is SOOO much help out there for when you do need it! 

SEE MORE FROM BEYOND THE BUMP:

instagram | @beyondthebump.podcast