Traumatic birth and behavioral problems

[HelenEmjay]

Is there a link? - ive heard there is??.......

i dunno if anything has been proven but i think so.

my labour lasted 74 hours and my son was in distress for teh last couple and swollowed meconium.

he now has severe behavioural probs and various other SN.

my daughter was all over and done with in 20 minute and she (touch wood) is absolutly fine.

ds has motor development issues (fortunately very slight in comaprison to many others), was in distress for several hours of labour and born by ventouse. Coincidence or not ? The questionnaire we completed for his OT did ask about his birth.

my son has fine & gross motor delay and various other SN and we are always asked about the birth.

Can I ask at what age did you realise your son had motor development issues? And what did you notice? I had a long labour that ended in c-section, my DS is behind other babies on the gross motor dev, he is 9.5 months, I am wondering if I should take things seriously now or just wait and see.
Thanks.

link to recent thread discussing difficult births and special needs

Sorry i vanished for a while there! - had a busy couple of days! Well the reason i bring it up is my son who is five and my first baby was a 52 hour labour which was slow to progress, and then he was in distress for quite a while before he was delivered by emergency c-section, cutting ALOT of the gory details but all in all it was a pretty horrific birth and one im very eager to forget all about! but he now is having quite bad problems at school and his behavior is awful, a child pschologist we have seen recently has said they believe he has apergers, and she asked about his birth, i have heard so many people relate these problems with a traumatic birth im really curious - that and someone suggested a cranial osteopath could work wonders on him!??? im not to sure about that though.....

Don't know if this will help. My DS was born not breathing and having fits and spent a week in special care. Cutting a very long story short, tests have shown that there a couple of areas in his brain that were affected by hypoxia, and he is now being watched for signs of cerebral palsy... not showing any yet but early days. He was a difficult baby at the beginning, screaming for most of the day with nothing helping him. I decided to take him to an osteopath, who after a long chat, told us he was a very frightened baby after his birth, and every part of his body was tense which was upsetting him. Three months later and he is a different baby, happy, laughing and very interactive. I was very dubious about the ostepathy but I am so impressed with the dramatic change in him that I am now a great advocate for it. My osteopath was quite sure that if he hadn't had the treatment he would probably have ended up with developmental and behavioural problems. Give it a shot, what have you got to lose! Yes it's expensive but if it works surely its worth it.`

Wow mhorne!! sounds lije he worked a miracle on you baby! - im glad he is better now!! you are right - to help my ds it would be worth anything! i will try and find one, see what happens, like you say - i havent anything to loose by trying! thankyou mhorne xxxxx

I know this isn't 1st hand experience but my bestfriend had a very traumatic birth with her Ds (2nd child). He was difficult from the beginning -always crying and screaming, restless, not content after feeds and banging his head deliberately in his cot. As he got older (around 12-18m) he would hit out, try and head butt his sister etc.
Anyway to cut a long story short they took him for cranial osteopathy (it was only financial problems which prevented them from trying it sooner)and hes a different child -much more settled and content, plays well etc. Amazing difference thats obvious to anyone who knows him

Hi If you are near London there is the Centre for Paedriatric Osteopathy in Clearkenwell which are a charity and say pay what you can.
I am reading this thread as I have a 2 and half year old who is still v. disturbed in sleep. Pretty much waking every night at 3am and sometimes going back to sleep sometimes awake for hours. We had a long labour and then forceps and also had a total b=nightmare breast feeding having to go back into hospital for dramatic weight loss. I feel that this later experience has possibly contribited to her trauma but don't know how much of this is guilty projection on my part.
I feel that the osteopathy had an affect on her being able to breast feed more easily but not sure about the sleep! May try again as it has been a while.
A nanny frien of mine was suggeting psycho ttherapy, for me and babe! Any information out there?