Support
Articles about different topics to support you in your journey. Written by Trustees, Members, Health Professionals...
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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
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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…
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Reflux and Food Webinar series
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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…
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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 canāt 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 isnāt gaining weight or you and others…
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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.…
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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 āCot 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 didnāt know that he…
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Reflux is not just a spilly baby. Reflux is⦠Awareness Week 2021
A post by GRSNNZ member Shannon in our private support group. Every night when Iām feeding my 4mo (2nd child with reflux) and reflecting on the day, I keep thinking how people with children without reflux, just donāt 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, Iād be interested to know if others feel the same Reflux is not just a spilly baby. Reflux is⦠Hearing a burp and jumping to find a spill cloth. Rubbing in spew with…
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Elei’s Story – Awareness Week 2021
Our son Tyson was born a little overdue, we got there in the end, back and forth to Maternity but 3rd time a charm. After being given the okay we were left to go to the birth centre to recover. But he wasnāt settling, obās every 2hrs, the morning nurse came in and next we were in NICU for 7 days. Fast forward to 6 months old, Tyson was a dream, but we started having issues with his weight, they kept putting a Nasal Gastric tube in and out, back and forth to A&E, then we found he had chronic constipation, he was put on IV Clean Prep and we…
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Journey of Reflux during Lockdown – Awareness Week 2021
Journey of Reflux during Lockdown Barely three weeks after becoming a mum, NZ was thrown into lockdown; supports and practical help cut off. Instead, I found myself with a husband working from home and a baby that was incredibly distressed. This was not the start to motherhood that I had imagined. Just prior to lockdown the GP advised us that they suspected our daughter had cowās milk protein intolerance (CMPI). She was put on Pepti Junior formula to help with that. Heading into lockdown she was starting to settle but then the progress quickly plateaued. My days during lockdown quickly became spent trying to console my upset baby or trying…