Mothercraft New Zealand

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Reviews

1. Grace Beeby ★★★★★

   Mothercraft is such a wonderful facility and has made a huge difference to my life. Obviously everyone's experience is different and this is just ours. Reason for referral: 6.5 month old baby waking every 45 mins - 2 hours for 5 months straight. Fed to sleep, co sleeping often and contact or pram short day naps. Before going: I was anxious as anything about him being left to CIO. While there... Building: Under the Waterford Birth Centre, large private room with cot, pram and sink. Shared bathroom, shared kitchen and lounge. Nice wee play area for baby with toys. Breakfast is standard cereal and toast type set up and lunch and dinner is brought downstairs from the birth centre chefs. I really enjoyed the meals and I also took some snacks. Staff: The nurses there are fantastic. I cannot speak highly enough of them. They are all wonderful. They genuinely care about you and your baby. Techniques: Day 1-2 the nurse did most of the settling and resettling for me. Baby would have a song and a cuddle then placed in cot to learn to self settle. Yes, there was some crying but I was able to specify my maximum cry time for him and they stuck to that. The lovely nurse (Jane) listened to his crying and after 10 minutes popped him in the pram to get him to sleep. I believe the first couple of days are just about getting the baby (and Mum!) to catch up on sleep. Day 3 Jane taught me how to listen to his cry and decipher between a distressed/ pain cry and a wind down cry. From here I was able to do the put down myself and resettling. Resettling was singing, bum pats and cot rocking. The idea is to keep baby in the cot and fight the urge to pick them up. The cot rocking worked a charm. At night you also have the option for baby to go with the night nurse so you can get a full night's sleep. Since returning home... Sleep: Baby now settles himself to sleep for about 80% of sleeps within 8-15 mins, the other 20% is just bum pats and cot rocking. Baby only wakes overnight for feeding (every 4 hours for BF baby). Learnings for me: Difference between wind down and wind up cries. Some crying is OK! Don't be too quick to interfere. Letting him sleep in whatever position he wants. Feeding schedule (4 hourly + 3x solid meals and all food consumed within 1 hour each feed). Change from structured sleeping times to awake times (up for 2.5-3 hours and watch for tired signs), aiming for 2-2.5 hours of sleep each day nap. Not being too hung up on 3 naps a day, if only 2 then an early bedtime is fine. Overall a fantastic experience and has really changed our family's sleep!! You've got this māmā!

   almost 7 months ago
2. Kate Bradley ★★★★★

   I have just spent the week at mother craft and cannot speak more highly of my experience. The nurses were absolute angels and so kind. They have helped my baby go from up to 7 wakes a night to one wake over night for a feed and extend his day naps from 30 minutes to 1 hour 40+. The food was great and the 24 hour support is unmatched. Thank you to all the nurses at Mother craft, I hope more mums can feel the confidence to use this amazing service.

   almost 10 months ago
3. Holly Hastings ★★★★★

   Quite literally saved my life

   almost 2 years ago

1. yolandi van zyl ★★★★★

   Mother craft saved my life. I was completely shattered when I arrived on that Monday. It was really hard but I left with hope and new skills to settle my baby, getting him to drink and sleeping better. They helped to get his reflux a bit more manageable. A big thank you to all the nurses who looked after us.

   almost 4 years ago

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