Actress Ali Bastian talks about her baby’s worrying health condition

Former Hollyoaks actress, Ali Bastian gave birth to her first child with husband David O’Mahony, at the start of lockdown, on March 12. Ali gave birth to their beautiful baby girl who they named Isla, by emergency C-section, following Ali’s gestational diabetes diagnosis at 36 weeks pregnant.

The new mum recalled that frightening time in an interview with new magazine, confirming that it wasn’t an easy decision to make but “I knew in my heart of hearts… was right for me. And when I was handed her at 9lb 2oz, everyone was like, ‘Good choice!’”

However, even though Isla was delivered safe and sound, Ali’s introduction to motherhood wasn’t exactly plain sailing. For the first couple of weeks of Isla’s life, “She was actually a very sleepy baby,” Ali recalled.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Ali Bastian (@alibastianinsta) on

“But she had mild jaundice so we were put on this crazy sleep-deprived regime, setting alarm clocks to feed her every three hours to get her weight back on, because that helps with jaundice,” the new mum explained.

“We were trying anything you can think of to wake her up, like tickling her feet and putting wet cotton wool on her legs. It almost felt quite mean! And it would take an hour to really wake her up and start feeding and then you’d be in that cycle again.”

“Looking back at that period, we were completely cross-eyed, but that was a time of proper teamwork. We started watching 80s movies through the night,” 38-year-old revealed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Ali Bastian (@alibastianinsta) on

However, it wasn’t long before the family found their groove. “Once I started feeding on demand, she settled quickly. I remember the first time she slept through the night, I woke up at 5am and was just staring into the cot, panicking,” Ali admitted.

Excited about this new journey into motherhood though, Ali revealed that her daughter’s little personality is emerging already. “A lot of people say, “Oh, in the first few weeks, all they do is sleep.” Not Isla! She’s really confident and smiley.”

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