When the Eczema started to surface, Ollie was only 6 weeks old. As a first time baby mumma this was all new to me. I asked the nurses about what to do and could it be ‘Eczema’?? That was the day my son was labelled an ‘Itchy Kid’. ‘Oh love, he’s just going to be an Itchy Kid’ [insert kind but ‘sorry can’t help you’ sound in the voice]. My reaction… NO WAY! Not my kid! That’s where my mission to heal him from the inside out started…
Now let me introduce us to you and give you some background. Warning – I love a good story tell so will do my best to keep it sharp! I’m Debb and I’m blessed to be the Mumma of our gorgeous boy, Oliver Harry or ‘Ollie’ as we all know him. I’ve got one stud of a hubby, Caine, and a gorgeous bonus son Josh who was 3 when I met his dad. Now he’s 16 and in Grade 12! Whoa – can’t believe we’re on the home stretch with one, and starting all over again. Suckers or blessed??
So Master Oliver flew into this world a little earlier than we expected. He was born at 34+1wks old. I was so lucky to be able to bring him into this world naturally, with minimal intervention, as I had dreamed of it – just a hell of a lot earlier than I had expected. I used Hypnobirthing techniques and had the support of a beautiful Midwife student and a premmie team hanging in the back corner, ready to swoop if needed. I got to enjoy about 10 minutes with our little man before he was whisked away but he was breathing on his own and was loving cuddles with his mum and dad. He spent the next 18 days in Special Care learning to remember to breath (he even got some shots of caffeine to keep the brain pumping), how to feed and get used to being out just a bit too early. He was like an underdone cake – perfect on the outside, just a little soft and squishy in the middle.
‘Like an underdone cake – perfect on the outside, just a little soft and squishy in the middle’
Debb Stevens – Mumma to a Premmie
From day 1 the intolerances started – he reacted to the formula they gave him while my milk was still coming in so we were offered the beautiful gift of donor breast milk and accepted it with open arms. I still to this day don’t know why they give premmies milk straight away when naturally you only have colostrum?? But anyway, I was passionate about breastfeeding and I wanted to give him the best start possible – and my 10ml’s of colostrum just wasn’t going to cut it. Now donated breastmilk – I know some of you might think, geez that could be a little risky, but to be honest I didn’t even know it was a thing until I was sitting there in the SCN. The doctors gave me so much info and were such advocates of it, I couldn’t imagine not using it. Thankfully my milk came in on Day 3 and it came in in litres! Over the next few weeks I was by Ollie’s side, pumping like a maniac, tube feeding him and getting him to familiarise himself with breastfeeding and popping him on as much as he could handle. Just a HUGE shout out to the amazing nurses working around the clock in Special Care Nurseries, they were absolutely amazing in helping me to make my dreams of feeding come true! We had our fair share of feeding hiccups along the way, lots of vomiting, smaller feeds more regularly – even to the point he went back on continuous feed but fast forward to Day 18 of Ollie being Earthside – 36wk+5days corrected, and we packed our bags for the final time and headed home. I was taking home a beautiful healthy baby boy, latching like a champ and not even full term yet!
Settling in at home was bliss – until the colic started… then the itch…
Down the rabbit hole we went…
The Itchy Kid 