
Flora’s Walk: Compassion, Connection, and Community Awareness of Maternal Mental Health
Each May, something beautiful happens across Canada: strollers, sneakers, and community spirit gather for Flora’s Walk, the nation’s largest perinatal mental health fundraiser. But this isn’t just about walking—it's about walking with. With the parents navigating sleepless nights. With the families quietly coping with anxiety, grief, or isolation. With every new mother or father who’s ever wondered, “Is it just me?”
Launched in 2022, Flora’s Walk has already supported over 100 organizations in offering accessible therapy and support groups for perinatal mental health. As both an occupational therapist and a mother of three, I know firsthand how layered the journey into parenthood can be. Yes, there is love and joy—but often, there’s also fatigue, self-doubt, and the often invisible weight of anxiety and depression.

Oops. (Mistake-making and Parenting)
You’re going to make mistakes in parenting.
You’re going to think you’re doing one thing and actually be doing the exact opposite.
You're not going to have a darned clue what you're doing.
You’re going to figure something out (about sleep, about how to parent responsively, about who your unique kiddo is and what they need), and then you will somehow unlearn it, and have to learn it again. And again.
But you will discover things; learn things; get really great at things; and be ok with the things you’re not so great at.

How Much Sleep Does My Baby Need (And Are They Getting Enough?)
Sleep is probably the most significant concern parents have at well-baby visits (and in parent facebook groups, and online forums, and when talking with friends over text at 2am when your baby is up...again...).

Long Division, Baby Sleep (and other difficult things)
Remember long division?
How hard it was at first? But at some point it kind of clicked? At least enough to pass grade four?
And could it be that your baby’s sleep development may be a lot like that?















