Oh it seems like yesterday that I was sneaking peak after peak of that positive pregnancy test. Does anyone else keep ahold of that positive for a while? I hid mine in the pantry and when I wanted to smile like a crazy woman, I’d tip toe in and check it just one more time! That first trimester was a doozy to be sure. There were were several times when I was sure we had lost her. I learned to give my worry to God and embrace gratitude as spiritual warfare.
And then she was here. We were so ecstatic to hold her the day she arrived. While we were smitten beyond belief, we didn’t understand why she cried ALL.THE.TIME.
My sister has experience with food allergies and recommended that I remove dairy from my diet. I hesitated. I loved my icecream. Isn’t life with a newborn challenging enough without having to reinvent how to eat? Thankfully, God sent two friends to challenge me with the same thing and point out that my poor daughter was in pain. Suddenly, icecream didn’t seem to matter. Fierce mother-love overrode my selfish clinging to appetite.
After a few days of going off dairy, Greta didn’t squirm and cry nearly as much. Since the crying still persisted more than the norm, I did a full elimination diet. It was intense, but I identified that she was reacting to dairy, eggs, peanuts, gluten, spices (bye bye Mexican food) and chocolate. It was rough, but I was committed to doing what was best for her. And I was eating as I’d always dreamed of eating – copious amounts of vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner! {I just love how God always provides a gift glimmering through any challenge.}
We caught a glimpse of how severe it was when I mistakenly ate the wrong ‘mashed potatoes’ the day after Christmas that caused her to have bloody stools.
But even with all of these food restrictions, she still struggled and we finally took her in to see a chiropractor when she was four months old. Turns out the bones on her skull were overlapping and pinching the nerve going down to her gut. After the first adjustment, I was able to add stuff back to my diet. {I’m now a former skeptic-turned believer in the benefits of chiropractic care.}
But all was not right just yet and we continued to sort out what was causing it.
I came to a breaking point in August when she had green diarrhea for nearly three weeks after eating a few bites of sweet potato. She had cradle cap so severe that her hair wasn’t growing up top. No matter what I did, the inflammation continued.
In September, as she approached her first birthday, still not able to handle much in the way of solid food, we started to pray hard. Not that I hadn’t been praying before, but I think I assumed she would just grow out of it. As her birthday was coming up, the seriousness of the situation started to hit. As I interceded for our daughter, God built my faith. We prayed and prayed and then one day noticed that the inflammation on her head was gone. Since then her hair has started to grow and two weeks ago, I received wonderful news that she can tolerate ME having butter, eggs (in baked goods only), peanuts and oatmeal. Woot. I’m now only having to avoid milk, cheese and scrambled eggs and she is adding new veggies to her plate each week {but currently still on a grain-free diet}. Her sensitivities are subsiding!
She is happy and we have a tight bond forged through this last year of this trial. Isn’t God good?
I have a new found respect and understanding for parents who have children suffering from food allergies and I’m now proud that I can cook around just about any allergy! Do any of you or your children suffer from food sensitivities/allergies? How did you adjust?
I’m glad that things are improving for Greta! Kenneth still cannot have dairy. He knows that it gives him awful reflux and he is very good about asking if something is “safe” for him, but it is really starting to become difficult when everyone else is eating something that he can’t have. It is not a problem for us at home, but eating out is a challenge and holiday gatherings this time of year are really hard. I need to provide a few things for him to choose from, rather than just bring one thing for him, because he gets upset when everyone else can choose from a huge spread of desserts and he gets to have the one thing that I brought. Even worse is if I am caught unprepared (like cookies handed out at co-op, fellowship time after church, etc.) He does amazingly well for a 4yo, but we still deal with tears if I am caught without an alternate for him.
Theresa, I’ve been looking in to GAPS a bit. She handles cooked veggies and bone broth very well. And AMEN to your last paragraph. I had no idea and now have so much respect for mamas who have kids with food allergies.
Camille, thanks for your encouragement. I was so blessed by the experiences you have shared on your blog and your email help a few months ago when I hit that wall. Your prayers and encouragement meant so much.
Kim, a friend is coming over next week to let me borrow the GAPS book. I’m really curious to read it and implement some of it in our home. Thanks for the links. I’m quite familiar with nourishinggourmet, but not really the others. Thanks for the tip on azurestandard.com. I’m checking them out. I have two friends here who would probably benefit from that as well. Your co-op down in Tucson sounds lovely.
We’ve been moving towards having all 7 of us on GAPS come 2013….been finishing up the last of our grains/starches for past couple months and filling the freezer with pastured and organic meats. (For those who don’t know, the Gut And Psychology Syndrome Diet consists of broths, soups, stews, meat, and veggies to heal the gut. It cures a ton of allergy, behavior, and pain issues and involves a lot of fermented foods to encourage beneficial bacteria in the gut which is more of a “brain” than we realize.) I was a skeptic for so long too! When we took our daughter off dairy 8 years ago and found her chronic ailments went away, we were so grieved that we’d ignored good advice just because it went against mainstream nutrition (my UA degree) and doctor’s recommendations. I, too, had suffered through countless bouts of strep, URIs, and other illnesses until I did a year off of all grain and sugars (not even fruit….at least with GAPS you can have that eventually).
We are so grateful that there are SO many websites out there with great recipes. This week we’ve had a moist wonderful cake made with white beans, honey, coconut flour, vanilla stevia and eggs, crisp waffles from similar ingredients, muffins from zucchini and almond flour, and pumpkin ice cream! Check out rejuvenatingrecipes.org, thespunkycoconut.com, deliciouslyorganic.net, nourishinggourmet.com (by daughter-in-law of Gregg Harris!), gapsinfo.com, realfoodfreaks.com, scdrecipes.com, etc.
For the ice cream we used raw goat milk because we all tolerate that fine and happen to have a friend with goats but you can use coconut milk too. It’s 2 c. cooked pumpkin puree, 1 c. milk, glug of vanilla, 2/3 c raw local honey, and some cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (depends how spicy you like it….we use about a teaspoon and think it tastes like egg nog. Original recipe had just 1/4 tsp I think.) You can use a Donvier or other ice cream maker but we just freeze some of the ingredients and whiz them in Vitamix for a quick soft serve ice cream or creamy shake (we freeze pumpkin and/or milk in ice cube trays for the blender routine).
Wanted to know if you order from azurestandard.com. I know they deliver to your area (free!) and that’s where we’ve found the best prices on all these special ingredients. We fought hard to get them to come down to Tucson and then got them so much business down here that they now go to far SE AZ and New Mexico as well. We have a wonderful buying club down here where we have lots of healthy families supporting each other. It’s nice that our children can feel “normal” among others who eat the way they do. We get together monthly to taste things and learn to feed our families better.
What a sweet and encouraging friend you have here Heather in Theresa! Oh…how hard it is…but, truly, how rewarding! Hang in there! You are doing a great job!! What a blessing that the LORD chose your family for precious Greta to be born into!! Love that last photo of you and your sweet girl. Makes it all worth it, don’t you think??
Merry Christmas!
Love to you!
Camille
Dear Mama Bear,
Gooood job!!!!
I have 4 little ones (under 6 yrs.) on the SCD (similar to GAPS) diet. We are nearing our 2nd year…and I am stunned that they can now begin to eat a raw apple without running to the bathroom with diahrea. We have been through so much.
Currently, I am making homemade broth based formula for my 13 mos. old son. He is doing so well. He too couldn’t have any dairy through breast milk…and I gave up my icecream! =) I wish so bad he could handle eggs now….but still cannot.
Hang in there. No one will ever understand how much time you spend in the kitchen, how your heart will ache that your child cannot eat “normal” food…or have to trade in their piece of candy for a grape. lol – However, know that you are showing incredible love, by God’s grace….and the benefits will be so worth it as their little insides heal stronger & stronger!!!!