Nesting parties: rethinking the baby shower
Interview with Danielle Liddick
In this episode, Julia chats with Danielle Liddick from Nest about how “nesting parties” can replace traditional baby showers with practical, meaningful postpartum support. Discover how postpartum professionals can help families prepare for life after birth by building their village before the baby arrives.
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About Danielle
Danielle is a postpartum planning consultant, a registered nurse, and most importantly, a mum to two. She previously worked as a NICU nurse but was inspired to start her own business after the birth of her first baby, when she realised the severe lack of postpartum support in our society. Danielle’s business, NEST, focuses on providing quality digital resources and personalised postpartum planning sessions for families. Her hope is to help inspire cultural change so that families are better supported in creating cosy, nourished postpartum “nests” that allow them to better savour this special time.
Reach out to Danielle here: http://www.nest-hbg.com
We explore the following questions:
What inspired you to shift from NICU nursing to postpartum education and community building?
How did becoming a mother influence the direction of your work and the creation of your business, Nest?
What led you to study with Newborn Mothers, and how did that training shape your approach?
What was the process like transitioning from home visits to creating educational resources?
Why did you decide to focus your guides and resources on partners, families, and support networks?
How did you come up with the idea for nesting parties, and what makes them different from traditional baby showers?
What role do games and interactive tools play in educating and engaging families during postpartum planning?
How have you adapted your business model to fit your current season of life as a mum of two?
What are some practical ways to bring postpartum support into mainstream baby showers?
How can postpartum professionals support clients in planning for their village and emotional care needs before birth?
What are your dreams for the future of Nest, and how do you see your offerings evolving over the next 10 years?
How do you hope to make postpartum care more community-driven and accessible within local settings like churches?
What advice do you have for new parents who want to build meaningful support systems early on?
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Transcript
Julia Jones:
Hello and welcome to the Newborn Mothers Podcast. Today, I'm interviewing one of my graduates, Danielle, who does some really beautiful work in her business, Nest. Well, I'll let you explain it all, but you do a lot to do with mothers' circles and baby showers and gathering your village, I think, to support mums. And you're based in the US. Do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself?
Danielle Liddick:
Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to talk about this subject and also hear your input on it as well. So my story started way back when I was a 10-year-old and I loved babies and I worked with some quintuplets who were in the NICU, and I thought, whoa, there's a whole place where babies go and they're there for, you know, multiple days, and they are people who take care of them. And I'm like, I want to be a NICU nurse. That's what I'm going to do when I grow up. So I set my sights on being a NICU nurse, and I was able to do that for seven years as a nurse in NICU and one year in postpartum. And then my story started to shift a little bit after I had my first baby, which is a theme that I hear often on this podcast, where I realised that there just needed to be a lot more postpartum village building, education and support set up for people. So that was how it all started, and then I can get into more of the details of it later.
Julia Jones:
A lot of the time, that does happen that people sometimes don't realise early, but it sounds like you did realise early that you wanted to be in a caring profession and work with families. But yes, it sounds like that became more focused after you had your own baby. So what made you take the leap and study with newborn mothers, and what was the catalyst for that?
Danielle Liddick:
So I learned about your business through Rachel Hollinger with NOURISH(her), and I was completely taken with your approach of educating mums about how their brains are changing, how they need rest and how it's good to boost oxytocin. And it really clicked with me and felt like it was that perfect education that everybody needs to get, that felt very practical and also not what we're getting in the typical mainstream postpartum education. So after hearing her story and doing a mother's circle with her in person, I eventually was like, yes, I'm going to sign up for Newborn Mothers. This is the perfect education opportunity for me. And so that's how it all started with that.
Julia Jones:
I love it. I've interviewed Rachel on the podcast a couple of times as well, and I know that she is a really big influence in the US on people moving into this work. So it's always really lovely to hear about that kind of ripple effect. And I'm sure that you are now inspiring other people as well to go, like, Hey, that's a real job. I could do that.
Danielle Liddick:
Right. It's amazing. Like, oh, that's a possibility. It's neat to think about.
Julia Jones:
It's likely to be one of the world's oldest professions, and yet we don't really know about it anymore. So you studied with us in 2021, and did you launch your business right away, or did that take you a little minute to get that courage up?
Danielle Liddick:
It was kind of slow; it's been a slow drip over the last couple of years. In 2022, I did an event called the Birth and Beyond Co, where I had parents meet with different local professionals. And that was sort of my soft open, like, I have a little website, I'm getting my name out there. And I started with doing postpartum home visits. And then over time, I really started to realise that the education support needs to go to the family and the partners as well. And I wanted to start to do more of that sort of educational work with people because I feel like a lot of times the mums are the ones that are learning all these things and gathering their resources, and then the people who are taking care of her aren't as aware of these sorts of practises and things. So that's one of my big focuses with the resources that I've made, is trying to get the word out there for people who are taking care of somebody with a new baby.
Julia Jones:
I really love that because, yes, often the mum is much more motivated than other people to learn about this stuff. It's her body, it's her brain, it's her baby, it's her life, it's a career, it's everything. So there's a lot more kind of incentive for mums to read some books and, you know, learn a bit more. But I agree, often then it's a bit harder to take, you know, grandparents or friends or husbands on that journey. Especially if they haven't had babies before or they had their own babies a long time ago. So I think that's really, really important work. One of the things I really loved in your nesting guide is the Baby Bingo. And you, you know, the idea that there were all these different things that people could learn about, but you'd kind of made it into these fun games so it didn't feel like, sometimes I think it can feel a bit too preachy or condescending and the way that you've put it together into games makes it really accessible.
Danielle Liddick:
Thank you. That was really my hope with it because I do feel like, you know, nobody wants to be talked down to or, you know, feel like they aren't aware of these things, but a game just makes it a lot more fun. I actually homeschool my little ones, and one of the things I've learned is that when you play, you learn things a lot faster. So, you know, if you were just reading about it or you know, watching it or something, you might not learn quite as quickly as actually playing and thinking about it in a different way in your brain. So the games really are something that I think is a really fun thing for people to use.
Julia Jones:
I love it. So did you, I've kind of skipped ahead, you started doing some networking with other professionals, a little bit of a soft launch. Did you go straight into doing these nesting guides and games, or were you doing postpartum in-home care first?
Danielle Liddick:
No, so I actually was doing the postpartum care first. And all of the guides actually are much more recent. I've been sort of simmering and working on them for about a year or so, and they really feel like a baby. Everyone always says that when they have their book, it feels like a baby. And I'm like, yes, I get that now. Because it feels very vulnerable to start putting them out into the world and hearing what people think. And one of my friends, who actually is a labour and delivery nurse, was like, Danielle, the water broke. It's time to get the baby out. Like, you need to get it out and get it out into the world. Stop holding back. And that was, it's just good. I have a lot of wonderful friends, and that was something that definitely will stick with me.
Julia Jones:
I love that. I could see that yours is actually a printable, which is lovely, but I could see it being printed as a series of, like, a book with—it would be expensive to print something like this—but with little envelopes with all of the cards inside, it would be amazing.
Danielle Liddick:
I really would love to have an actual hard copy, which would be very cool, but maybe, maybe eventually. For now, everything that is a good thing to know. Everything on my website is in digital format, so people can print out just the things that they want from it, and the nesting party guide itself is actually split into different sections once you buy it. So you could only, you could just print just the workbook or just the games. You don't have to print the whole full guide if that's not in the cards for you. Although personally, I think it's really nice if you can print it on card stock, double-sided, because it feels like a real experience rather than just looking online.
Julia Jones:
And it is a beautiful design. There are really nice colours and I think it's worth printing nicely. But it's lovely as well that it's optional because it makes it much more affordable for people to pick and choose. And are you still doing as many consultations and more personalised home visits and that sort of thing?
Danielle Liddick:
So the home visits I've dialled back or paused for now because I just was feeling like, honestly, this is maybe a bit personal, but with having two little ones home, it was feeling like a lot of nurturing for this phase of life. I kind of joke, it's one of those things I could see myself absolutely being the perfect job in like 10 years or so, like when I'm kind of out of this thick of little kid zone myself. But I also wanted to focus more on this educational aspect and get the word out to society at large about how cool these nesting parties are. That's one of my big focuses. And then I'm also doing some postpartum planning consults where I actually individually work with people to set up for their postpartum. So that's been really cool too.
Julia Jones:
I love this. This is a really common theme when I talk to my graduates because I think women's lives are always coming in and out of capacity for so many reasons. Whether you're, you know, having babies or going through menopause or caring for elders, you know, there are always things in women's lives that are taking up space and impacting our ability to work and our needs. And so I think it's really beautiful that when you find something that's your calling, like postpartum care, you can stay true to that sort of longer-term vision, but find different ways to do it that suit your different stages of life. So I think it's really clever that you've found this thing that can have a really big impact on educating people beyond the mother, and also fits in a little bit better with you at this stage of life, personally as well.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes, definitely. And I do love that about your programme, how you talk about all the different ways that you could use the education and it just makes it a lot more accessible, like you said, for all of us mums in the various phases that we're in to be able to make a neat business plan that we, we really love.
Julia Jones:
Yes. And you can change it in five years if you have more capacity, right? You can. Yep. Because I can also see you hosting these nesting parties as well. I think that would be a fun kind of more premium offer too, to not just have a printable download but do a planning consultation with 'em and then bring everything with you and actually run the party. That would be awesome too.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes, that actually it was one of the things, so the original idea for the ebook started when one of my friends had a nesting party and she was like, it would've been really nice to have a little more guidance about what kinds of tasks to do, what kinds of, you know, meals to prep, maybe some like nice meaningful touches. And so that got my wheels turning, turning, and I was like, oh, maybe I could do actual event planning. But then I was like, wait a second, that's going to be a whole involved thing. That sounds really fun and neat, and hopefully, this will inspire some other people to do it too. But for me I was like, time-wise again, it was like I need to find something that I can come and go from a little bit more and that would have a wider reach because my hope is that this really could become like a more typical cultural practise, just like baby showers or sprinkles that oh we're having our nesting party. It's, you know, towards the end of pregnancy, and it just makes it a lot more of a practical setup for people.
Julia Jones:
I love the sort of the way that you've branded it as a nesting party. Because I'm not sure that everyone would be up for something like a mother blessing or a mother's circle, but you've got all of those elements in there, but you also just have some fun silly like games like pin the toy on the baby, you know, that are just much more like baby shower like, and so I think that opens up a whole new audience to who might not engage with it if it was a bit too woowoo.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes, exactly. And I honestly, I can't take credit for the original idea. I think I was trying to figure out who started the trend. I think it was Aloha Nutrition. She had made a reel about it a couple of years ago, about how she had a nesting party. And when one of my friends sent it to me, I was like, whoa, that's the coolest idea to do. Like, I was like, this needs to take, this needs to catch all, and it's perfect. And so the original concept came from her, but then I feel like the guide definitely is something I haven't seen around, and I feel like it is going to be really helpful for people to actually make a plan and get ideas, and they can apply it to any kind of baby celebration. It wouldn't have to just be a nesting party.
Julia Jones:
I love it. And you, anyone could download it. It could be the aunt or the mum, like the grandmother, or you know, a best friend who's like, I'm organising the baby shower, but I know she wants something a bit different. They could just download it, and it saves them hours and hours. Because, like you said, a lot of those ideas could probably be found on the internet, but having someone who's kind of already set it all up and made it all pretty, it's so much easier.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes. It gives a really clear pathway, and I would definitely love it for something for grandparents and friends to use. I've actually really enjoyed printing off some of my friends ' nesting party guides. You know, have fun planning, and I always like to help them a little bit with their parties too, so that's been really special.
Julia Jones:
Yeah. I can also see an opportunity in your business in the future when you have the capacity to actually have training for nesting party hosts so that people can become professional, you know, guides, like you could call them something like that. And you don't have to be the only one, but there could be a database of, you know, finding a nesting host in your city or something like that.
Danielle Liddick:
Oh, that is a really cool idea. Yeah. And again, with the wider reach, I just love that about the online stuff. For example, you know, you're in Australia, I'm in the States, and here we are chatting. It's incredible.
Julia Jones:
I love that kind of thing. I'm looking for an architect at the moment for some interior design for my kitchen, and I found someone in Melbourne, and I was like, that's a shame because I would really like someone who can come and, you know, be in my house and see it. And then she had this directory of like, here's other people in other cities who do what I do. And there was some in Perth, I was like, oh, that's awesome.
Danielle Liddick:
That's perfect.
Julia Jones:
I love that you could do a similar thing, but so there are lots of possibilities obviously for the future of your business, and we've touched on quite a few. What do you feel like you'd like to do next? And you know, next immediately, but also in 10 years, where do you think you'll be with Nest?
Danielle Liddick:
I have so many different dreams. My husband actually teases me. He's like, you have to focus. He's like, you gotta focus and like actually try it for a while. But, I definitely keep having tweaks that I want to make to my postpartum plan consult. So, that's my most immediate thing that I'm going to be working on. And then I have what I call a build your village guide that I don't have on my website, but for local professionals it's just a list of all the different kind of like you're talking about like a directory, different local professionals that do things like lactation consulting or chiropractic care you know, photographers, physical therapists, the whole, everybody who I've met or like heard about or good reviews about go onto this list. And so I'm hoping to update that and get it sent out to people again. And that's actually been a really great marketing technique for other people who are listening. I really think it takes a lot of work. I won't lie, the one summer I spent like the better part of a couple of weeks getting it put together, but it's really been a cool way to connect with the actual local professionals who are around here. And so, that's one of my near future goals, my 10-year plan.
Julia Jones:
That would be a page on your website that anyone can access, is that what you mean?
Danielle Liddick:
Well, it's actually a PDF guide, and I'm eventually thinking of maybe having it on my website as well, like just for people who are here in Pennsylvania that they could download. But I need to, you know, update it before I officially put it up on the website. But that was definitely something fun to do.
Julia Jones:
I love it. And it's, again, it's really win-win because it's great for people who are having a baby in your area to be able to just instantly find, you know, a bunch of different kinds of support and it's also great for you to be able to connect with all of them and now they know about your work as well and, and can refer to you too.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes, exactly. And that was one of the things when my baby was born,as a NICU nurse I was very confident with baby care and breastfeeding. I thought it would be very seamless, but I was surprised at how little I knew about the local resources. That has definitely been a big focus for me with my business, getting those connections made for people so that they have access to that information right up front.
Julia Jones:
I love it. So I'm going to just rewind a little bit too, because I heard you saying you just have so many ideas and it's hard to focus, but I also just want to, that is a really common trait of entrepreneurs, and you can, you shouldn't feel ashamed of that because I think it's great to have lots of ideas and something I've really learned over my life is that not everyone does actually have lots of ideas and I kind of assume that that's normal, but but people like me and you who start businesses and people are like, you need to focus. It's like, it's true, it's true. But that is also your greatest strength. And you know, I'm sure that's why you've got this broad range of offers and this beautiful website, and you've taken this leap to do something creative and different. So I think that's awesome.
Danielle Liddick:
Thank you. That is really nice to hear. Because it does feel like I am the same way. I'm like, oh, of course everybody has 5 million different ideas and schemes, but no, like, that is not how everyone is, and it's probably good that they're not all like that.
Julia Jones:
Yeah. Because we need employees too, like people who are stable in their everyday work. That's an important role in the community. And so take me a bit further into the future. What do you see in 10 or 20 years' time?
Danielle Liddick:
So my big, big dream would be to have some sort of postpartum community hub or retreat centre. I've actually seen a model similar to this, and I was like, that's exactly what I was imagining. So it's actually really cool that it exists. The fourth try retreat, I think, or something is what it's called, but
Julia Jones:
Yes, I know the one, yes.
Danielle Liddick:
This needs to be more present everywhere. So there's that one. But then on a more probably like doable level, I actually would really love to get into doing parent focused ministry at my church where I could have teams of postpartum care professionals that actually go to people's houses, take care of the new family, provide meals, provide that emotional support, just like what you're doing with training people. I would be just training the people in my church to be able to do this kind of care for families, either in the community or in our actual church. And then having, you know, parent circles and different components of that all within the church ministry.
Julia Jones:
I love that. That's such a beautiful vision. And, and again, because the, the way that I can see you sort of sustainably growing your business over time I definitely can see that happening for you because this is obviously something that you're, you know, taking, taking it making a business plan that's going to work in the long term. So I'm very excited to see where that takes you.
Danielle Liddick:
Thank you.
Julia Jones:
Do you want to share anything else before we wrap up?
Danielle Liddick:
I was thinking how it would be nice to share just a couple of ideas for people if they're planning a baby shower, a more traditional baby shower, ways that they could incorporate more practical support. And I'd love to hear, you know, any thoughts you have on it, of course, as well. So the first thing that comes to mind is, is food. And I think because most people want their freezers to be stocked and all set. And so just having people bring like a frozen soup or a frozen meal actually to the baby shower you could even do just one or two portions of that so that it's just like you can pop it in your freezer, have it for lunches, I think is a really nice way to provide some of that practical support. Or you could have stations at the baby shower where guests are making energy balls or mixing up tea blends.
You could send some recipes home with the guest, I know, like, or send different recipes from the yearbook or from blogs, or the Village for Mama has amazing printables or amazing recipe cards too that are really beautiful to send home with people. And I think we should start to reframe it, as it's very hard to change our culture. So I think trying to think about practical ways we can get more postpartum support into these celebrations that we already have is a really cool way to go. So just some ideas for how to get more food into your postpartum.
Julia Jones:
I love it. That's so beautiful and, and practical and I think a lot of people do really want to help, but when we sort of have a culture that's based on, I don't know, just consumption, then they buy a few onesies or some muslin wraps, which everyone needs, but you always end up with too many, you know, because they want to help. It's just that we're not giving them a better way to help. So I think a lot of people really appreciate getting a little bit more guidance on that and knowing that they have actually made a real difference, they've given something that the person really wants.
Danielle Liddick:
Yes, totally. I do feel like I'm hopeful with my resources that they are kind of that bridge in between the p the mum who just had a baby who doesn't know how to ask in a tactful way, and then the family and friends who want to help her but don't want to overstep or like aren't quite sure what to do. And that's where I think, as postpartum professionals, we really can give people amazing guidance in how to do that, in a practical, tactful way. And actually that reminds me of something else I wanted to talk about too is that the insight that postpartum professionals could have for families in helping them to be aware that they could get some of this practical support set up at their baby showers, like making a parent focus registry or bring having postpartum favour cards, you know, playing these games that provide more awareness and all of that stuff is things that aren't even on the average new parent's radar. And so as a postpartum professional during your prenatal visits or as a birth worker during your prenatal visits, bring up the fact that, hey, what are you doing at your baby shower that could set you up for some postpartum support?
Julia Jones:
I love that. That's interesting that even mums haven't really thought about that a lot of the time, too, because again, we're so focused on the birth, aren't we? But just getting them to think a little bit more long-term and a little bit more about their needs could have a really big impact.
Danielle Liddick:
Definitely. My friend is actually one of the friends that I helped; she was like, wow, I wouldn't have even thought about, you know, having a fund for lactation consultants or, you know, postpartum care visits. She's like, this is such, and she doesn't like the whole consumer culture aspect either. So she was really happy to have some ways to redirect that helpful energy that people wanted to provide for her and not give her a bunch of stuff.
Julia Jones:
I think that's true. Because a lot of people who don't want a bunch of stuff often just end up not having a baby shower, but don't necessarily think, oh, there might be a different way that we could do this.
Danielle Liddick:
Right? Yes, definitely.
Julia Jones:
Yeah.
Danielle Liddick:
So that's another idea for people if in your business, is if you want to have like a baby shower consultation to help them get ready and get their village building thing set up, it's a really great way to do it. And I, for my guides, I love saying like, share them with all your clients. They're not meant to be used only by you. Like, as long as you're not reselling them, I really welcome people giving them out to their clients, too.
Julia Jones:
Oh, that's very generous of you. And what a great addition it is for someone in business to be able to buy the nesting guide for a client and then help them plan their nesting party.
Danielle Liddick:
Yeah. Hopefully get the word out there even more about what a cool concept it is.
Julia Jones:
I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much for sharing with us. People can find you at www.nest-hbg.com. We'll pop the link in the show notes over at www.newbornmothers.com. And I'm really excited about this. I'm really excited about what comes next, and I'm really excited to see how this grows and evolves over time.
Danielle Liddick:
Thank you so much. It's been wonderful chatting with you.
Julia Jones:
My pleasure. Thank you for sharing so generously.
