More than Milestones
More than Milestones
Kaitlin Rickerd
41. Raising a Highly Sensitive Child: The Neuroscience of Big Feelings with Dr. Aoife Durcan
41 minutes Posted Jun 23, 2026 at 9:00 am.
Welcome & introducing Dr. Aoife Durcan
Aoife's background and her own highly sensitive boys
The neuroscience: what high sensitivity actually is
Sensing subtle shifts in tone (KC & Aoife's real-life examples)
High sensitivity vs. neurodivergence: is there a difference?
Just how common is it? (the 30% figure)
What parents notice, including in babies
Postpartum mental health and hard-to-soothe babies
Why co-regulation matters so much
When siblings feel the same thing differently
Beyond the physical: the relationship is everything
Emotional dysregulation and the "bucket" that overflows
The window of tolerance & becoming a "sensory detective"
"The only kid who won't leave my lap" and why support pays off
Repair, neuroplasticity, and hope for parents
Holding boundaries without breaking connection
You don't have to say the perfect thing
The number one thing every parent should know
Where to find Dr. Durcan and her book
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Raising highly sensitive children: the neuroscience of big feelings, co-regulation, and supporting sensitive kids. In this episode of More Than Milestones, I am joined by Dr. Aoife Durcan, chartered counseling psychologist, author of Your Highly Sensitive Child, and founder of Highly Sensitive Psychologist, to explore what it really means to raise a highly sensitive child. Roughly 30% of children are born with a finely tuned nervous system that processes the world more deeply, feels emotions ...