Mothers and Babies

"Touch is one of nature's most powerful recipes for growth, contentment, bonding and pleasure, it helps babies breathe well, sleep well, digest optimally, feed successfully, dream peacefully and grow strong with a feeling of love and security."
Kitty Haggenbach, What Babies Know.

Cranial Osteopathy is a wonderful tool to assist the postnatal recovery of both mother and infant by unravelling physical strain patterns and also bringing the body into restorative stillness.

Simon has an interest in early intervention for prevention. Scientific enquiry and research has established beyond doubt that early adversity affects health and behavioural outcomes. It alters function and causes biological changes which can continue to affect health many years later. Trauma of any kind including around the birth has long term effects on health outcomes. Releasing the effects of trauma in the body tissues can remove the associated tissue memory and reduce the chance of future problems. A small change of course early on in a voyage can mean a radically different destination.

The founder of Cranial Osteopathy said “As the twig is bent so the tree inclines”

One of the foundations for health is infant feeding and Simon has an interest and lots of experience in this area.

Some examples of when to contact a medical practitioner:

• Your newborn baby is not feeding 8 to 12 times or more in 24 hours
• There is not enough output:
  Day 2 – at least 2 wet nappies and 3 black stools
  Day 3 – at least 3 wet nappies and 3 greenish brown stools
  Day 4 – at least 6 wet nappies and 3 mustard yellow stools
• Your baby is always sleeping or always unsettled
• Your baby’s eye or skin colour is becoming more yellow or orange especially if the colour is below the navel
• Any fever (38c +) diarrhoea or vomiting in a baby less than 3 months old
• Any illness accompanied by an inability to keep down fluids
• Crying when touched or moved
• Purple rash
• Breathing difficulty
• Drooling with difficulty swallowing
• Convulsions
• Little or no urine output for 8 hours
• Sunken eyes
• Sunken fontanelles
• Blood in stools or vomit
• Vomiting in a child which lasts for more than 12 hours
• Diarrhoea for more than five days
• If a child is unusually inactive or irritable
• Excessive urination in a child

Examples of when to seek help with feeding

MOTHER

• You have sore, damaged or misshapen nipples,
• Supply is unregulated (you have too much or too little milk)
• Mastitis or engorgement (your breast is red or overfull)
• You have fever or flu like symptoms
• You are having to use nipple shields
• You have back shoulder, arm or neck pain

BABY

• SLOW OR NO WEIGHT GAIN
• Too little output
• Long feeds
• Baby is unsettled
• Baby is not satisfied after feeds
• Baby is very windy or colicky
• Baby has a sucking blister
• Baby is having trouble latching
• Baby has a tongue-tie

The benefits of Breastfeeding

BREASTFEEDING reduces the risk of infant infection and gut inflammation and later obesity, reduces pain and has many long term health benefits. It’s better for Mum too (Spatz and Lessen ILCA 2011)

IF YOU ARE UNABLE OR CHOOSE NOT TO BREASTFEED

We support families whose baby is bottle fed too.