Tantrums, sleep training and anxiety: Dr Billy Garvey answers your parenting questionsTantrums, sleep training and anxiety: Dr Billy Garvey answers your parenting questions
All In The Mind
How can I help my child with anxiety? What's the deal with sleep training? Are we supposed to ignore tantrums? This week, we've invited developmental paediatrician Dr Billy Garvey back on All in the Mind for a mailbag episode. We'll unpack your parenting dilemmas which cover questions about kids of all ages, from the littlest of newborns right through to teenagers. So whether you're a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, friend or someone just curious about how to support young people in your life, Billy has advice for navigating challenging moments. And please note, one of the questions is a bit heavy, touching on the topic of suicidality. Please take care while listening. Guest: Dr Billy Garvey Developmental paediatrician Author, Ten things I wish you knew about your child's mental health Podcast co-host, Pop Culture Parenting Founder, Guiding Growing Minds Credits: Present/producer: Sana Qadar Senior producer: James Bullen Producer: Rose Kerr Sound engineer: Antonia Gauci More information: 'Bad behaviour' or just misunderstood? What to know about kids' mental health Support resources: Lifeline 13 11 14 13YARN 13 92 76 Beyond Blue
29:39•4 Apr 2026
Tantrums, Sleepless Nights and Anxious Kids: Dr Billy Garvey on Parenting with Compassion
Episode Overview
- Short, infrequent periods of baby crying do not cause lasting harm when parents are otherwise responsive and focused on attachment.
- Ignoring tantrums is unhelpful; children need co-regulation, validation and guidance to understand and manage big feelings.
- Talk of wanting to die from a young child should always be taken seriously, with the focus on safety, feeling safe, and getting professional support.
- Anxious children benefit from tiny, structured social steps rather than being thrown straight into overwhelming settings like busy playgrounds or parties.
- For neurodivergent and burnt-out young people, connection, accommodation and feeling genuinely valued matter more than grades or attendance.
“"How can kids learn that they're good enough, that we love them for who they are, and then find ways to help them succeed?"”
What emotional and inspiring tales of recovery are out there? This time, the focus is on parents hanging on by a thread, trying to do right by their kids in a storm of tantrums, sleepless nights and anxiety. Developmental paediatrician Dr Billy Garvey joins host Sana Kadar for a parenting mailbag that runs from newborns to young adults.
If you're stuck between "cry it out" advice and your own gut instinct, you'll hear Billy calmly unpack what the research actually says about baby sleep and attachment. He's reassuring about those long, lonely nights: putting a crying baby down so you can stay sane is "completely acceptable and doesn't do damage" when care is otherwise responsive. Things get real around tantrums.
Billy is blunt: "I 100% believe that ignoring behaviour is wrong." Instead of brushing off meltdowns, he talks through co-regulation, time out as something you do *with* a child, and why kids need help naming and handling big feelings, not being shut out for having them. The episode also tackles a confronting question: a nearly five-year-old who talks about killing himself when extremely upset.
Billy walks carefully through safety, language, and why this is never just "normal attention-seeking" to be dismissed, while still holding space for frightened parents. Older kids and teens aren't forgotten. Social anxiety, burnout, neurodivergence and school refusal all come up, with Billy offering small, practical steps: structured playdates instead of chaotic playgrounds, starting from what the young person actually cares about (even anime and Comic-Con), and shifting the focus from grades to connection.
As he puts it, "How can kids learn that they're good enough, that we love them for who they are, and then find ways to help them succeed?" If you care about a child or teen and feel anxious about getting it wrong, this conversation might leave you feeling less alone and a bit more equipped. Which part of your parenting instinct do you most want to start trusting again?
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