5 years ago; I found out I was pregnant. My 3rd pregnancy, amidst a journey of pregnancy loss, infertility and other such issues. It was Mother’s Day 2017. Back then, things like reflux, laryngomalacia, food aversions, postnatal depression, all were things I’d had little to no experience with, they weren’t even anywhere NEAR my radar of possibilities. I couldn’t have even TOLD you what laryngomalacia was, or what postnatal depression even felt like. I’d heard of “spilly babies” and “happy chuckers” – and I knew that people with breathing difficulties got pneumonia when they get colds. But that was the extent of my knowledge. Fast forward to Jan 2018. My…

We have been on the reflux journey with our little Mabel for many months now and she’s just getting worse as the days go on despite multiple daily medications, Omeprazole, Domperidone and Famotidine.  We have seen multiple doctors and paediatricians to try and help Mabel and to be honest nothing we have tried really helps. We have been diagnosed with severe silent reflux. It’s truly awful to see your precious wee one in so much pain every day. You miss out on the magical moments, you don’t get to see her beautiful personality shine through because of the chronic pain.  We have tried many alternative therapies, treatments and everything suggested…

I am mum of 3 boys who all had reflux as babies. Strangely my third boy had a much milder version. All three “outgrew” reflux as they were more upright. Or so I thought. One morning when Xavier was 6 he was agitated and pacing in the lounge saying he “didn’t feel right”. His dad got him a bowl and he immediately vomited a significant amount of blood. Being an ex-nurse I collected the blood in a Tupperware container and put him in the car and headed to Angelsea clinic. After triage and showing them the amount of blood (over 200 ml) we were sent straight to Waikato Hospital. Little…

Nothing can prepare you for having a baby in a pandemic. Our beautiful little girl Mackenzie was born during level 3, we couldn’t have any visitors and all our family were half a world away in South Africa with no way of getting to us. I found the whole experience overwhelming and quickly developed severe post-partum anxiety. When she was two weeks old, my husband had to return to work, leaving me on my own with a baby that screamed constantly and without the one person keeping me together. I was convinced there was something wrong but my midwife, brilliant as she absolutely was, kept reassuring me that newborns are…