Support

Articles about different topics to support you in your journey. Written by Trustees, Members, Health Professionals...

  • Support

    Baby Massage

    Simone Degiorgio, Director of Maternal Journey, originally recorded and shared this video with the Gastric Reflux Support Network NZ for National Infant and Child Gastric Reflux Awareness Week 2020 where our theme was ā€œConnectionsā€. Massage is such as special way we can connect with our children and fits well with our theme of Awareness Week, Whānau Mental Wellbeing in 2022. Massage techniques to help with digestion and sleep.

  • Support

    Mindful Parenting

    Simone Degiorgio, Director of Maternal Journey, originally recorded and shared these videos with the Gastric Reflux Support Network NZ for National Infant and Child Gastric Reflux Awareness Week 2020 where our theme was “Connections”. They fit well with our theme of Whānau Mental Wellbeing in 2022. In Mindful Parenting Part 1: Simone Degiorgio, Director of Maternal Journey, helps us to define for ourselves: Where are my challenges? and What are the issues I face? on my parenting journey. Now that you have identified what your challenges are Simone will help you understand control and the art of letting go while teaching you the skills to bring yourself into the moment…

  • Stories,  Support

    Cambridge News Crying over spilt milk

    Jenny, National Coordinator of the Gastric Reflux Support Network was was interviewed recently by The Cambridge News about her son Tobias’s reflux journey and what led her to want to support others on their journey. Read the article here: https://www.cambridgenews.nz/2022/06/crying-over-spilt-milk Written for National Infant and Child Gastric Reflux Awareness Week 2022

  • Support

    Infant and Child GORD Diagnosis and Experiences Survey NZ

    2021/2022 vs 2006 In 2006 the Gastric Reflux Support Network carried out a survey “to identify the problems that may exist with diagnosis in New Zealand of gastric reflux disease in infants, the impact that this has on families, the treatment and support that is offered and finally the most useful treatments and the ages which children outgrow gastric reflux disease.” The results of the survey were used as the basis of an article entitled “Gastro-oesophageal Reflux: Children’s Experiences and Family Well-Being in the Face of an ‘Invisible’ Disability” – co-authored by Judith Duncan, Children’s Issues Centre, University of Otago and Roslyn Ballantyne, Gastric Reflux Support Network NZ. We were…

  • Support

    The importance of sibling support

    Negative impacts: Anxiety and guilt (they may feel they have caused their sibling to be unwell or that they too will get unwell) Anger or resentment over the amount of time their parent spends with their high needs sibling, or embarrassment over their siblingsā€™ behaviour. Feelings of grief and loss over how life was before the arrival of their sibling. Breakdown in family communication and bonding. I have to say the negative impacts on Peter have been more noticeable. Peter was just 16 months old when Tobias was born, he was still breastfed and had never been apart from me for more than a few hours. We have no local…

  • Support

    Spilt Milk

    Where do you fit if you have an infant who just spills a lot? What about if they are just irritable? What happens if all your health professionals say that there is nothing wrong with your baby, that they are perfectly healthy and they will just grow out of the spilling, and/or the crying is just a phase? What happens if despite being reassured that this is all normal, you canā€™t cope with the washing, mess, crying, lack of sleepā€¦? What happens if your baby does appear to be perfectly healthy ā€“ is it all in your head? What happens if your baby isnā€™t gaining weight or you and others…

  • Support

    Related Disorders

    There are a number of conditions, diseases and disorders that are related to gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR). Conditions that co-exist with GOR.  It is hard to know which ones come first, or if they truly just co-exist e.g. allergies, food intolerance, coeliac disease. Disorders that affect the functioning of the palate, oesophagus or the gastrointestinal tract in some way e.g. cleft palate, laryngomalacia, cerebral palsy, any neurological condition. Diseases that mimic GOR e.g. eosinophillic oesophagitis (EoE) or eosinophillic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID). Eosinophillic oesophagitis (EoE) or eosinophillic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID) are distinct from gastro-oesophageal reflux, but may co-exist or may mimic GOR.  There may, however, be no symptoms of GOR at all.…

  • Support

    Sleep – Awareness Week 2021

    What is SUDI? Recently I completed The National Sudden Unexpected Death in Infants (SUDI) online prevention program and it has got me thinking a lot about safe sleep. I know for me, pregnant with my first son Peter, SUDI or SIDS and ā€œCot Deathā€ as it has previously been known; was one of my biggest fears. Luckily for me, Peter quite happily slept on his back, swaddled and in his own bassinet. But when Tobias came along he fought the swaddle and hated being on his back. In fact, he rarely slept unless perched over my shoulder like a drunk parrot. In those early days I didnā€™t know that he…

  • Support

    Reflux is not just a spilly baby. Reflux isā€¦ Awareness Week 2021

    A post by GRSNNZ member Shannon in our private support group.  Every night when Iā€™m feeding my 4mo (2nd child with reflux) and reflecting on the day, I keep thinking how people with children without reflux, just donā€™t get what it really is. So I mentally write a list in my head about what it really is. Tonight I wrote them down… some light hearted, some not so much… Feel free to add any of your own, Iā€™d be interested to know if others feel the same Reflux is not just a spilly baby. Reflux isā€¦  Hearing a burp and jumping to find a spill cloth. Rubbing in spew with…