Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) Support thread

[tigerlilly905]

Well said Megan, and I agree about the homemade FF... I would probably consider going that route over the commercial FF.

don't convince yourself that she is definitely going to have a condition like autism.

Yes, Megan is right, we all can't think like that. We have to look at the positives. You're taking such huge strides in her health now and giving her little tummy the best chance at repairing itself. The body has an AMAZING capability to heal itself once given the proper conditions, which is what you're doing.  It really does take a long, long time, so with very small steps you'll get there.  Also, having the knowledge you have behind the GAPS principles, you also know how to avoid the toxic overload that can contribute to the onset of autism (and other neurological disorders). Remember diet and supplements are only 2 key pieces. There's also limiting exposure to environmental toxins, EMF exposure, toxins in the home ect.  It's all part of the package and will all make a difference in the long run. We've added a bunch of plants in the house to help our indoor air quality for example.  Both boys have their own "Money Tree" growing in their room now.  I've noticed Arthur's nasal breathing has really subsided since adding the extra plants and opening the windows more often (yes, even in the dead of winter when it's freezing I will open the windows a crack )  So there's so many things you can do (and are doing) to minimize damage and maximize her healing. She'll get there, all of our little ones will... and as Megan said, 2 steps forward, 1 step back. This is a little step back for you, but I know you will be able to move forward from here. xoxoxox

[Mom to M&M]

ITA with Megan!

Not GAPS related but venting here... My DD has been breaking out every so often in a puffy red rash on her hands. It itches and feels sore to her. It seems to happen after "carp" food with additives. Which we don't buy at home but she does have sometimes elsewhere. So for example it happened last week after Nesquik powder added to milk at a friend's house and happened today after a small bag of Cheez-its at Hebrew school (they sell snacks there).

But I know she's not dairy allergic and seems fine with regular chocolate - so I'm suspecting it's one of the additives or the like? Any thoughts? If I can't narrow it down I'll take her to the holistic practitioner that I use for myself and DS but would love to figure it out on my own if possible - money is tight right now!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Do you girls take the nut/seed oil? The only one I can find with the right ratio is Udo's 3-6-9 and it has soy lecithin in it

What about fish oil with the higher APH-DPA ratio?

We take "D" drops, should we continue those?

I take calcium, magnesium and fenugreek. What about those?

Fenugreek is pretty much a must. Also I have been naughty and have been giving Emily 2 oz of HAF at bedtime because I just gave zero milk at that time and I can never get anything from pumping obviously I need to cut that out but how..?

I can't find FCLO in capsules. Anyone know where I can order them?

Sorry for my 50 billion questions. I am going into the city tomorrow to get all my organic stuff and supplements and I don't want to screw up!

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

((((hugs)))) Karen! I'm have no idea!

[deb]

ITA with Megan!

Not GAPS related but venting here... My DD has been breaking out every so often in a puffy red rash on her hands. It itches and feels sore to her. It seems to happen after "carp" food with additives. Which we don't buy at home but she does have sometimes elsewhere. So for example it happened last week after Nesquik powder added to milk at a friend's house and happened today after a small bag of Cheez-its at Hebrew school (they sell snacks there).

Food coloring? I'm pretty sure cheesy puff things have artificial yellow in them, and if it was strawberry Nesquik you know there was Red in it. There's still plenty of sugar in the Nesquik regardless. Oh, Nesquik has other ingredients: "Sugar, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Soy Lecithin, Carrageenan, Salt, Artificial Flavors, Spice. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Zinc Oxide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Copper Gluconate, Manganese Sulfate, Biotin" (Yes, I Googled!) which might be the culprit there; Natalie reacted to carrageenan for a while as a baby (in her case it was spinach-green poops!). Could also be the soy in the lecithin if she's really sensitive to soy.

[Mom to M&M]

Nope it was the less sugar chocolate variety of Nesquik and the Cheez-its (not puffs but square crackers) don't list artificial yellow on this site? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheez-It But not sure if that is accurate.

She's never seemed sensitive to soy before. She did break out TERRIBLY as a toddler once to holiday cookies a friend of the family made - we never narrowed that down either but always guessed it was a certain spice or the like. Sigh.

[tigerlilly905]

Jenn - Fish oil, we use Ascenta's Nutrasea.  Ds1 takes 1tsp/day DH and I take 1 tbsp. I've also heard amazing things about Krill Oil. Dr. Mercola talks about it alot.

I don't take nut/seed oil so I can't comment on that. I just eat a lot of nut/seed butters (almond and sunflower seed mainly)

We do Ddrops for the boys. Personally I would continue them, especially through the winter.

I also take a Cal/Mag supplement. The ones I'm using right now are by Sisu, but tbh I grab whatever I can find on sale that is Calcium Citrate. Since we aren't on any dairy, I feel it's very important.. it also makes a huge difference in my milk supply. I take between 2,000 iu/day - 3,000 iu/day. (higher dose if AF is in town )

Fenugreek - not sure  Megan can maybe comment, I know she was taking some for a while.  I was taking it when Ds2 was first born b/c I wanted to be sure to have enough milk for both boys, but then I realized Arthurs tummy troubles early on so I discontinued it b/c I wasn't sure if it was bothering him or not... hummmm... are you on FB Jenn? Perhaps ask about it on the GAPS FB page. I'm sure someone would know if Fenugreek is ok?

FCLO, I ordered the oil, but here's a list of all of green pastures FCLO products: http://www.greenpasture.org/public/Products/CodLiverOil/index.cfm  I've also seen the capsules on Amazon

About the HAF - you could try the Homemade HAF Does she really *need* the 2 oz?  Have you tried just nursing her to see if that helps? Babies are FAR more efficient nursers then a pump and can always get some milk even if a pump can't seem to get any.

Also, if you're having supply issues, I know it's not "ideal" BW'ing, but seriously, nursing on demand really does help supply.. especially as you start to enter "solids" territory.  What I did when Arthur was around Emily's age was I introduced one new BF where "solids" would be in EASY... In the BW for toddlers book Tracy outlines a feeding routine w/ solids on pg 122/123. That's roughly what I did with Arthur, but with BF's instead of solids.  As he became hungrier, more active, and more in the "solids" zone I just increased the BFs where solids would normally be, iykwim? (and my supply increased as well b/c I was nursing more frequently)  That's really helped us since we're still delaying solids. I can hardly call the couple bites he gets here and there solids

Wish I could help Karen... maybe Deb knows? She's really good with that sort of thing

LOL, and of course as I'm writting my post Deb has posted

[tigerlilly905]

Oh, and I think you were asking about the iron supplement too, Jenn?  I still haven't given Arthur one. After talking to the ND and doing some googling I don't feel he needs it right now.  He does play in "clean" dirt and lick his fingers though

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Thanks! That helps me out a ton! No I am not on Facebook.

Re: the HAF, I don't know! She literally screams and screams and doesn't stop! I would feed her earlier then BW suggests except she has always eaten every 4 hours and refuses in between, even when she was a wee little 5 lb baby. Spirited much?

[Erin M]

Everything I read seems to point to not needing an iron supplement either.

And Rebecca, Jenn and I have been through numerous threads on the BFing board -- Miss Emily seems to think that she needs to be up many, many times a night to nurse so I'm sure that Jenn is trying really hard to get some more sleep with that top up (correct me if I'm being presumptuous Jenn, but thought I'd throw that in there).  

Quote from: bjutka1 on Yesterday at 10:25:05 PM
by MUCH better prognosis what does he mean?

I'm sorry, I wish that I could tell you exactly what he meant by that, but I just don't know. I didn't ask :-/ I do think that there are some people who have really bad gut conditions but don't present with any of the gaps conditions. I'll never believe that every "normal" person has perfect gut conditions - I think it depends on a lot more factors than just plain gut (genetics is an example)

Just wanted to reiterate this, I've been in special ed for 12(ish) years now and I will say that I've never noticed my special needs kids having more tummy issues than the other ones (not that I spent time in the bathroom with them, but that type of thing would have come up with parents in at least some cases...).  Honestly, I only had one with tummy issues and he was on a very restricted diet already (knowing more than I do now, I'm pretty sure it was RPAH), but he was also off grains as well. Some of my "normal" kids were way more likely to have digestive issues.  So, there's a lot at play here, don't despair!

Posted when you did Jenn, that's right, I forgot about her punctuality with her daytime feeds. 

[tigerlilly905]

And Rebecca, Jenn and I have been through numerous threads on the BFing board -- Miss Emily seems to think that she needs to be up many, many times a night to nurse so I'm sure that Jenn is trying really hard to get some more sleep with that top up (correct me if I'm being presumptuous Jenn, but thought I'd throw that in there).

Gotcha thanks for the added info. That must be really tough Jenn.. huge ((hugs))!! You're doing amazing keeping up with her Bf's!! Arthur really has a mind of his own too... I can totally relate to the spirited side for sure

No I am not on Facebook.

I will post a general question about the Fenugreek as if I were asking for myself to see if anyone has any thoughts

[Jenn+Ethan+Emily]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Mom to M&M]

We do use an iron supplement here because DS was mildly anemic. But we are weaning off it and restesting iron levels since our practitioner thinks the main reason he was anemic is because he when we didn't know about his dairy intolerance he was having loose large stools 3-5 times a day! We have used this brand: http://kirkmanlabs.com/ProductKirkman/122/1/IronLiquid-Bio-MaxSeries/

Anyway, little Miss has to be up for school soon. Curious to see if her hands look better after that rash episode...

[kim&savannah]

I'm curious about the fenugreek as well because I've been taking it ever since we saw the lacation consultant at 4 months with our weight gain issues.  I thought I'd read somewhere that it was okay, but I don't know now.  Can't keep straight what I've read for which ED and what problems various things address.  Honestly, considering how tired I am all the time, its kind of a miracle that I remember my kids' names at this point

Lots of hugs for everyone struggling and worried. I worry constantly that if I "mess up" doing this, Henry is going to be affected permanantly and I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life, but really, I do think that there are a LOT of contributing factors that go into every condition and just health in general.  We're all doing the best we can and have to just hope that it will all work itself out.  The fear does keep me motivated, though, so I guess its kind of a good thing.  Our symptoms tend to be light and hard to read, so it would be easy for me to dismiss a lot of it and just try eating my typical nursing diet (no dairy or soy, but everything else is fair game).  But that little bit of fear keeps me going.

[tigerlilly905]

So excited. In his most recent article Dr Mercola said that throughout this coming year he's going to be working very closely with NCM to spread the word about gut health! Can't wait for more info!!

I posted on the gaps FB page about the Fenugreek, but no response yet. Hopefully someone will chime in.