From apps to outside opinions, Ellie Garcia-Reeves on why the constant noise makes us doubt ourselves, and how to rebuild trust in your own parenting judgement. A taste of one of the features in our autumn issue.
I expected having a baby to disrupt the predictable, orderly life I knew. But what caught me off guard wasn't the broken sleep or the sudden lack of free time. It was the outside noise.
It began the moment I got pregnant: opinions on birth plans, lists of foods to avoid, and product guides detailing what I supposedly could not live without. Once my baby arrived, the noise grew louder. Parenting books, tracking apps, online forums and social media feeds all competed to tell me the right way to feed, settle and care for my child.
We live in an era where we have access to practically every piece of parenting information out there. In many ways, having answers at our fingertips is brilliant. Whether you're awake in the middle of the night checking safe room temperatures or reading up on a strange new rash, NHS guidance and evidence-based advice can bring genuine peace of mind.
However, there is a fine line between useful advice and information overload. It's important that we don't let the parenting noise distract us from listening to our own common sense, and to the baby in front of us.
The noise from every direction
From the moment you bring a newborn home, advice arrives from every angle: books, parenting websites, health visitors, well-meaning relatives and friends. In those stressful early days, having experienced voices around you can offer genuine comfort and practical tips on the basics.
The challenge comes when that advice starts to contradict itself. I learned this in our first few weeks over something as simple as a dummy. When my son was briefly on the neonatal ward, the nurses used one to settle him, so we assumed it was completely fine. A week later, our health visitor warned against it, worried it might interfere with breastfeeding. We took it away immediately and endured weeks of endless crying…
“Instinct is the automatic reflex to protect and comfort a crying child, but intuition is knowing why they are crying.”
Read the full feature in our autumn issue
In the rest of the piece, Ellie shares how she:
- stopped letting a baby-tracking app and its “wake windows” decide when her son was tired
- stepped back from the pressure of perfect milestones on social media
- handled unsolicited advice from family and friends with kindness and clear boundaries
- learned the difference between instinct and intuition, and why you are the one who knows your baby best
“Trusting Your Intuition” is on page 25 of our autumn issue, alongside elimination communication, learning plants through the senses, sheet pan suppers and a free Natural Beauty Bible 2026.
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Ellie Garcia-Reeves is a new mother to Maxwell. She lives in Hampshire and is navigating the beautiful, messy transition into parenthood, fuelled by coffee and community. Find her on Instagram @elliereeves.