Mothers & Babies | Growlife Medical
Brisbane's premier child health clinic for breastfeeding support, infant sleep and help with common baby issues. We remain one of Brisbane's most comprehensive teams of specialists in early life care.
Are you looking for family-centred care that optimally supports your capacity to enjoy your child? That provides genuine solutions to the common difficulties of sleep, breastfeeding and settling in the early weeks of life?
Specialist Baby Clinic
We are one of Brisbane’s favourite specialist baby clinics, with Growlife Medical Highgate Hill's privately run, multi-disciplinary specialist clinics for baby and toddler problems. We offer you the help you need to find your own way through challenges that emerge in early life.
Trust our family general practices in Oxley , Sherwood Fairfield and Highgate Hill to provide first class early life care, supported by our mothers and babies special interest team at our Highgate Hill location. We are with you from before birth with our Life With Your Newborn antenatal classes through to the toddler years and beyond.
The mothers and babies team can also provide comprehensive assessment and advice via Telehealth in the comfort of your own home.
Breastfeeding Support Service
The specialist Breastfeeding Support Service includes a tiered response from peer support parents groups, to in-clinic midwives, shared medical appointments with a Lactation Consultant and Midwife to one-on-one lactation consultant support. Lactation Consultants bring you the very latest in evidence-based, holistic breastfeeding support. Read our breastfeeding help blog series.
We understand the strong desire to breastfeed that many women have, and want to help you make your breastfeeding journey comfortable and easy, to give your child the best nutritional start to life possible. Many patients have told us that breastfeeding experts saved their breastfeeding journey. Let us work with you. Support starts from our free parenting groups, to home visits, in clinic appointments or telehealth with a Midwife Lactation Consultant, to in-clinic assessment with a highly skilled GP Lactation Consultant .
Infant Sleep Problems
A specialist Infant Sleep Clinic includes consultations with specialist GPs,
Dr Kate Pink ,
Dr Jane Herbert,
Dr Rebecca Coote and
Dr Sonja Morgan. After an initial consultation you can access ongoing
group follow-up with no out-of-pocket expenses.
Difficulties with baby sleep is one of the most enduring challenges of parenting. Advice is abundant; from rigid routine, cry-it-out strategies to attachment parenting. We recognise each mother-baby pair is unique, and believe that the relationship between clinician and parent is often as important as the advice. We take our time to understand you and your baby, by assessing breastfeeding, growth, mother's health, baby's health, your social context.
Read about our approach to baby sleep.
Other Common Baby Issues
Multi-disciplinary specialists provide mothers solutions to a range of common issues including:
- Infant feeding concerns ;
- Reflux ;
- Colic ;
- Tongue tie assessment and treatment ;
- Second opinions concerning the need for oral surgery ;
- How to help your child toilet train earlier ;
- Introducing Solids .
Activities and Social Connection
Social connection can have a greater impact upon your health than almost any other lifestyle habit. Positive sensory experiences for your baby can help with reduced crying, better sleep and helps them develop their emotional regulation skills. We encourage a deeper connection between mother and baby via a variety of activities and structured courses including:
- SongLife Connections Group Music Therapy ;
- Free Parents groups ;
These groups also build the social cohesion of our community!
Before Birth and Beyond
We believe that continuity through pregnancy and beyond is essential to good care. Early life is a time where you can make the biggest impact upon the health of your family and your growing baby. We find that establishing a relationship through pregnancy means that your first visit with your newborn is like welcoming a new friend to the clinic! We can support you through:
- Life With Your Newborn antenatal classes ;
- Maternity Shared Care with the Mater Hospital;
- Experienced Midwives as part of the clinic team;
Our unique antenatal classes for you and your partner focus on what comes after birth - how to prepare for sleep, breastfeeding and becoming a family.
Mental Health and Family Function
Becoming a parent is one of the biggest challenges we face. It causes us to question who we are, where we came from, and the experiences that have shaped us. Anxiety can bubble from nowhere, and Antenatal and Postnatal Depression is common, and can affect both mum and partner alike. We take a proactive approach to supporting your mental health by freely discussion your emotions, and providing further support where needed, including:
- Antenatal and Postnatal Psychology Counselling ;
- Free Parents groups to help if you feel isolated
- Circle of Security Parenting Program
We recommend all parents do The Circle of Security Program.
Unsettled Baby Case Study
"Luis was an unsettled baby from early on, always fussing at the breast. He started out OK in the first few days, but then started feeding more and more frequently. Luis and his mother became more and more frustrated with each passing day until he was up and down all through the night and pulling away from the breast."
Sound familiar? You are not alone. Growlife has helped thousands through situations like this through a simple, but comprehensive approach. Through a rapid assessment of fit and hold problems with breastfeeding, your team can make breastfeeding comfortable and effective. Within two visits, Luis' pulling from the breast stopped and his mother's painful nipples started healing.
Expert GPs have advanced training in paediatric care, and carefully checked Luis to ensure his physical health was on track. They also spent the time to listen to mum's concerns about his health, and to help her work through the anxiety that had appeared from nowhere since he had been born.
We all know sleepless nights lead to mood problems and depression, and we actively work to help you find solutions that allow you to live again, without the nightmare of a cry-it-out strategy. For Luis, enrolling in the SongLife Connections program had a dramatic impact on his sleep by providing a nurturing way of helping him to feel settled and comfortable.
For him, those difficult early days are now over, but the Growlife team continues to enjoy watching him grow...
We Are Leaders in Child Health
Health professionals who choose to consult at Growlife are leaders in their field. The health professional team utilise the latest, evidence-based approaches to infant behavioural challenges, including in the management of breastfeeding problems and problems of feeds, sleep, infant crying, and parental mood. The breastfeeding support service is renowned for its leading GP Lactation Consultant Dr Sonja Morgan and Endorsed Midwife and Lactation Consultant Sam Foster. Growlife's infant sleep clinic applies techniques designed to reduce the stress of unsettled nights. We believe that a consistent approach based on solid science, and adapted to match your individual circumstances is best.
The Highgate Hill clinic utilises a team based approach to early infant care and health professionals can help with referrals to other members of your team where needed including a paediatrician, psychologist , physiotherapist and music therapist. Health professionals Dr Sonja Morgan , Dr Kate Pink , Dr Jane Herbert are supported by paediatric nurses and midwives, Alison Chambers and Lara Rossback, are all passionate about managing sleep, breastfeeding and other aspects of early life care. We tailor the support we offer to suit your family’s unique needs. Our Sherwood and Oxley clinics also have GPs equipped with Diplomas in Child Health, skilled paediatric nurses and endorsed midwives ready to support your family in early childhood and all other stages of life.
Clinics have a friendly, personal atmosphere that will help you feel at home. And parking is easy and free!
Most importantly, your practitioners at Growlife Medical Centres in Fairfield, Highgate Hill , Sherwood and Oxley are committed to supporting your whole family's health throughout life's journey. This is a great time to find a healthcare team that genuinely understands, takes the time to listen, and is in this with you for the long haul.
Phone us now on 07 3036 4081 or book an appointment online for you and your child at Growlife Medical .