'A trusted voice is very important and can help when parents are questioning everything'
Niche podcast genres, such as parenting, have an engaged and active listenership.
We spoke to the hosts of three of the most popular parenting podcasts:
Horan had hosted the popular podcast, where she interviewed mums (often well-known) about their parenting experiences, but when on maternity leave, she noted a lack of practical, expert-led support for parents.
She says: “You can sift through Instagram and look at millions of reels from psychologists, and you might think, ‘Oh, that’ll help’, but when you get in to the deepest, darkest trenches of bedtime, or your child is not regulated, or they’re struggling with their peers, the social media advice all goes out the window. To have a trusted voice is very important, and can help when you’re questioning everything.”
Horan comes from a broadcasting background and says: “I’m really facilitating the experts. I guide them through the conversation and let them help us along the way.”
As a mother of two young girls, she has learned a lot from her guests. Topics like nutrition and food have resonated with her. She has also learned about neurodiversity, particularly around regulation and what children need to thrive. “The cyber safety theme is always interesting, too. It probably scared me a lot, but it’s important to know what we’re dealing with.”
The podcast covers the expanded range of parent concerns, such as “eating disorders, children on the internet, neurodiversity”, says Horan. “Twenty years ago, parents were perhaps more focused on sleeping patterns, behavioural issues, and schooling and education. Now, we have this whole new gamut of issues that people are looking for advice on.”
Gernon says: “I had given birth to my first child in 2018, and I had an incredible birthing experience. When I was out on my walks every day, I would be chatting to other mums about it, and I was interested in their perspective as well: How they felt after they gave birth, and maybe early postpartum days, all of it.
"I set up a mother-and-baby group that took off locally. But then I realised so many women wanted to recount their experiences and maybe I could help.”
In 2020, her father bought her some podcasting equipment and encouraged her to give it a go. “And that’s what I did. I had an eight-week-old, my second child, at the time, who joined me pretty much on every recording.”
Each episode features a woman and her story of childbirth, “with all the details, from stitches and blood loss to sore boobs and loneliness. It was the most amazing experience for me, as well, because I was having these really valuable conversations.”
The podcast took off. Within months, Gernon said she had a “10-month waiting list of women who wanted to share their stories. It just showed how much these women needed the space to share in a non-judgemental space.
“I’m not giving advice; I don’t have it to give. I’m just sitting there listening and enjoying the conversation.”
Gernon has now recorded 200 episodes of . There are stories around grief and trauma, but positive stories, too, says the Kildare woman. The podcast regularly tops the parenting podcast charts and has attracted a loyal listenership.
“I have listeners who go back to 2020. I call them the OGs — or my long-time listeners. They still listen, even though their families are complete. What I have in the podcast is a really high listen-through rate, meaning people listen from the very start to the very end. This, to me, is of more value than the number of listeners.”
The podcast helped Gernon to see she wasn’t alone. “When I had my first child, I felt so isolated. Now, I know that sometimes all it takes is a ‘hello’ to kick off a conversation. You can end up having a coffee with someone and having a chat with them.”
“I didn’t launch this podcast with the goal of getting ‘X amount’ of listeners or being top of the charts, or anything like that,” says O’Byrne. “I was 20 years in practice last year, and in that time I’ve seen so many people, I’ve looked after so many families, that I had a lot to say, and I wanted people to tell their stories, too.”
So far, she has recorded six episodes, her first series, with a second on the cards. The podcast has started strong, featuring in the top 20 since its launch. Each episode features a woman talking about her experiences with breastfeeding.
“People remember their birth stories and their breastfeeding experiences forever. I’ve spoken with grannies who still recall their breastfeeding experiences.”
The perception of breastfeeding can be “black and white”, says O’Byrne, and she wanted to explore that. “Breastfeeding can be portrayed as either a natural, easy thing, or the worst thing in the world. It’s not always that black and white — most experiences are somewhere in the middle.”
The podcast highlights real stories, and that’s why O’Byrne believes it’s receiving such favourable reviews. “It’s very real. We’re not romanticising breastfeeding. It’s practical. Women with unique situations, like breast cancer, multiple children, preterm babies: This is what they did, this is what really helped.”
The Dublin mother of five says attitudes to breastfeeding have changed over the past two decades. “There is more help available now, and the HSE has lactation consultants in the community, who run great support groups. And for people who need more one-to-one help, that’s available, too, but we need more of that at a much larger scale.”
For her second series, O’Byrne plans to introduce even more practical tips for women. “We’ll be providing advice on what you can do in pregnancy, how to prepare, explaining what happens on the first day, and what to do if a baby doesn’t latch. These are the things that can throw people, so I want to help with that.”
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