This week Ce Eshelman, LMFT, interviews Stephanie Culler: Caltech PhD, twenty-plus patents, and former cancer researcher. Then she became a mother, went looking for what shapes health at the very beginning, and found a hole in nearly every American baby's gut. What does this have to do with parenting children from adverse beginnings? A lot.
Her My Baby Biome study — one of the largest of its kind in the U.S. — found that nine in ten infants are missing keystone strains of Bifidobacterium, and nearly a quarter have none detectable at all, rising to 35% of babies born by C-section.
Our kids weren't in that study. Most of ours arrived without much of a birth story or what happened in the first 1000 days. So, Ce asked what that study didn't: What happens when the exposures stack? What comes home with a child at eighteen months, or at seven years?
(And, Ce’s favorite part of the interview: how dogs fit in.)
▶️ Watch the video version here → https://youtu.be/NGbt6mPR7Lw
💡 Check out Stephanie's Baby Biome study → https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08274-7
🌐 Find Stephanie on her website → persephone.bio
From Ce Eshelman:
Are you searching for a community of parents who will get you; who offer an attentive ear and open arms in the worst of times; who give you a standing ovation for the monumentally big "small steps" forward you make with your child? It is so painful to walk the jagged trail of this parenting journey alone and no one is ever alone in the Love Matters Parenting Society Therapeutic Parent Program. You will feel seen, understood, and actually deeply cared for. We know it as "love." The Society is a virtual program for parents of children who experienced trauma and others who support them or work with them professionally. You don't have to wait a minute longer. We are right here waiting for YOU!
Access Free Resources!
✨ The VIP Parent Program has been discontinued, but you can still access all the handouts and more free resources at our Free Resources Page!
Additional Resources:
📖 Get your copy of Ce's new book: 20 Things Children from Difficult Beginnings Wish Friends and Family Knew
📖 Get your copy ofDrowning with My Hair On Fire: Insanity Relief for Adoptive Parents
▶️ Watch Ce's YouTube Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CeEshelman
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Unmuted Love is a free podcast for parents of children from difficult beginnings of adoption and abuse trauma. Ce is an adoptive mom of two, step-mom of two, and an Attachment and Trauma Specialist. The Unmuted Love Podcast is part of Love Matters Parenting Society and The Attach Place Center for Strengthening Relationships, LLC. For more information about joining this vibrant community of parents, https://www.lovemattersparenting.com/lmps1.
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