The Modern Mommy Doc Podcast

Seed oils are toxic. Carbs are the enemy. Your newborn doesn’t need the vitamin K shot. Wellness culture is full of confident claims, and many of them are selling something. This week, Dr. Whitney sits down with Katy Harvey, the “non-diet dietitian,” intuitive eating coach, and host of Rebuilding Trust with Your Body, to sort the legit from the woo. They talk about what that means for how we feed our kids and how we talk about their bodies.
Katy breaks down the “Wellness Woo” segment from her own podcast, where listeners send in the latest diet trend or supplement claim and she checks it against the evidence. Dr. Whitney shares why she’s tired of hearing that pediatricians are in it for the money, and why doctors who used to get pushback for being on social media now need to be there.
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This episode is supported by the International Children’s Arts Network, or ICAN Radio. ICAN Radio is a free, 24-hour radio station dedicated to award-winning arts and music programming for infants, children, young people, their families, teachers, and caregivers. Now available to stream on the free ICAN Radio app, listeners of all ages will enjoy music, international dance hours, lullabies, poetry, book readings, kids telling their OWN stories, art trivia, and mindful moments that will help kids AND their adults stay centered and calm. There are no commercials, and the content is age appropriate for infants and young children. ICAN Radio is free and available to you, wherever you are. Search your favorite app store for the ICAN Radio mobile app, or you can listen and learn more at ICANradio.org.
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There’s so much parenting advice out there, and most of it doesn’t matter nearly as much as the internet wants you to think. (Seed oils? We have bigger fish to fry.) In this solo episode, Dr. Whitney is getting back to basics and sharing the six evidence-based parenting principles she focuses on as a pediatrician, the ones she dug into with a leading child development researcher. She's also sharing how these play out in real life as a mom of two neurodivergent kids, because guidance only helps if it actually fits your family.
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Mentioned in this episode:
New Book! Raising Body-Confident Kids
You want your kids to love their bodies. You're still trying to do both. My new book, Raising Body-Confident Kids, helps you do both. Releases Sept 1, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: https://www.raisingbodyconfidentkids.com/books
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Everyone focuses on the teen during the college admissions years. But moms are carrying the household, the emotions, the logistics, and the quiet fear of watching their kid leave. This week Dr. Whitney is joined by Danny Ruderman, Stanford grad, and a coach with 20+ years and 40,000 hours spent with teenagers. His new book, Harvard Doesn't Care About You, Mom, is written for the mothers.
He and Dr. Whitney talk about how to communicate with a teen who's pushing every button, when it's actually time to start thinking about college, and why "Does this look good for college?" is the wrong question. They also cover whether families without money for tutors and counselors still have a real shot. And Dr. Whitney gets honest about her own Bay Area memories and why wellness has to come first.
Mentioned in this episode:
New Book! Raising Body-Confident Kids
You want your kids to love their bodies. You're still trying to do both. My new book, Raising Body-Confident Kids, helps you do both. Releases Sept 1, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: https://www.raisingbodyconfidentkids.com/books

Two and a half weeks after dropping her daughter off at college, psychologist Dr. Sheryl Ziegler joins Whitney to talk about the messy, unfiltered reality of watching a kid leave the nest — including the fight at breakfast, the tissues in her purse, and the psychological reason her daughter picked their last morning together to be completely impossible.
In this episode, we get into:
"Soiling the nest": the psychological term for why sweet kids suddenly turn prickly right before a big transition (and why it's protective, not personal)
Why the 18-year-old version of pushing you away looks so different from the 14-year-old version — and what both are really doing
Why parents of neurodivergent kids may have an advantage when the teen years hit
"Future tripping": Dr. Sheryl's term for the anticipatory anxiety that steals parents' present moments, and how to catch yourself doing it
A simple gut-check for deciding which social accounts, sidelines conversations, and parenting rabbit holes to walk away from

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Mentioned in this episode:
New Book! Raising Body-Confident Kids
You want your kids to love their bodies. You're still trying to do both. My new book, Raising Body-Confident Kids, helps you do both. Releases Sept 1, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: https://www.raisingbodyconfidentkids.com/books

In this candid, unscripted episode, Dr. Whitney reminds parents that there's no such thing as "winning" back-to-school season. Drawing on a genuinely chaotic 24 hours in her own life — a burst water pipe during a kitchen remodel, a big corporate consulting meeting, an anxious child struggling at school, and a stomach-medication mishap — she walks through what it actually looks like to choose "good enough" over perfection, and why that choice makes her a better parent, not a worse one.
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Introducing The New Book: Raising Body-Confident Kids!

Ever said something about your own body in front of your kids and instantly regretted it? Wondered if you can even comment on your kid's appearance without doing damage? Googled whether intuitive eating actually works when your child seems to live on Oreos?

Dr. Whitney's new book, Raising Body-Confident Kids: A Balanced Approach to Breaking the Cycle of Body Shame and Diet Culture, is for you. Pulled from the questions she hears most in her pediatric practice and on this podcast, it skips the all-or-nothing advice and walks parents through where their own body image baggage comes from, how to talk to kids about food and movement without the shame spiral, and how to hold the line when social media, coaches, and well-meaning grandparents push back — plus 30 real activities to put it into practice with your family.

📖 Raising Body-Confident Kids is available now wherever books are sold or at www.raisingbodyconfidentkids.com/books