Traumatic birth effects

Traumatic birth.

Have just finished working for a lovely family half Dutch, half Canadian.

The baby was stuck fast in the birth canal and his arm was caught up behind his back, ( a "Turtle").

The gynaecologist had to break his arm in order to get him out.
Everyone involved was traumatised and the mother lost too much blood resulting in a low iron.

This resulted in the mother being extremely tired and traumatised from the birth.
Father was also affected and kept busy to stop himself from thinking,( or so it seemed).

The baby itself was very sleepy especially at the breast and cried whenever his fractured arm was touched.
Both feeding in a comfortable position and undressing the baby were problematic to say the least!

Mum's milk was slow to come in probably due to the anaemia and stress.
Fenegreek was tried as a galactogue to increase her milk but she was allergic to this so it was discontinued.

Patience is required both for mum and baby.
Time to heal and time to bond.
Plenty of 'skin-to-skin' contact, mum and baby,( papa too).
Good iron-rich food for mum, rest and relaxation and in the future counselling and help to talk over the trauma.

Time can heal if we allow it to.