Quelling The Baby Blues

I'm tired. I don't totally feel like writing but sometimes one just needs a little push and then momentum takes over.

I have written before that I was a very colicky baby and tortured my parents for over a year with it. As a healer and having studied naturopathic medicine (a 4 year program and University needed as a prerequisite), I have prepared for it with Anwyn and watched her closely to see why she gets it. I have used various remedies and found what works to clear it. I have changed the foods I eat to attempt to prevent it.

Here's a short summary of what I have learned.

Dr. Jack Newman, as much as I love his work to help new mothers get breastfeeding right, seems to think that gas is all about the latch. An improper latch causes air to get into the stomach somehow and there you go. I think he is partially correct.

I think mothers: women who are actually breastfeeding their babies, can attest, again and again, that they go out and eat such and such a food and wham, their little sweet angel has turned into a screaming demon child from hell. It's not rocket science. I know it's not any latch issue. My baby can now nurse while doing yoga all over my body. She knows how to nurse, in fact she was the one who really taught me how to breastfeed.

My own experience is that, yes indeed, improperly digested food from mom causes gas, bloating and other digestive discomforts otherwise known as colic. I think improperly digested metabolites can get into the breast milk and affect the baby negatively.

Baby's guts are still forming and have a whole bunch of environmental learning to do.  The first thing to help them along is to birth vaginally so that the proper bacteria can transfer into the mouth and then into the gut. It also seems most wise to introduce foods gradually, starting with the most easy to digest and natural forms of foods and work up from there. The most natural and easiest thing for a baby to digest would be mother's milk from a mother eating her best primal diet and digesting well. The next would be certain fruits and then slightly cooked vegetables, as organic and local as possible, ideally with some breast milk mixed in for extra enzymes. Grains are the more challenging to digest and should be the last introduced, even after meats. Pulses also need to be tested and introduced slowly.

Foods ideally should not be introduced at all until post 6 months when the baby is able to hold his or her head and body upright combined with showing interest in food from your plate. Really, there is a whole lifetime of eating which takes lots of energy for the body to deal with and assimilate, so why the rush? Breastfeed as long as possible, pump if you must, get milk from a bank if you must or have a wetnurse. I have a good friend who nursed her son exclusively until after 1 year. He is as healthy as can be.

Then there is question if the evolved human really should be eating much food at all, when one is breathing properly, getting energy from the sun and drinking the correct vibration of water, food is almost negligible (read Hira Ratan Manek's story at http://solarhealing.com/about/), however I digress.

So for Anwyn the foods that challenged her when I ate them were milk (not cheese or yogurt, just milk), wheat, white sugar (the rare time I would have any), onion, garlic, broccoli, cabbage (oh cabbage) and all other sulfur family foods. If I took a digestive enzyme before eating any of these foods her discomfort was greatly reduced or completely avoided.

Treatment for her if she had colic was first some probiotic (I use Genestra), then homeopathic Sulfur 30CH (I find the sulfur connection fascinating), then if that didn't clear up fast enough I would make fennel or dill weed or seed tea and give her some to drink. Oh and the bouncing...the. bouncing. My poor wrists.

Homeopathy, the herbal approach and helping out the gut flora really work wonderfully together. I also would apply castor oil to her belly, especially if she was more or less constipated. Giving her Cod Liver Oil (from Genestra) I do regularly to aid in her brain development and to reduce any inflammation. Daily massage with grape seed oil is also a great practice for many reasons and I also give her some water with a pinch of Himalayan crystal salt in it to help her with minerals (and she often eats earth from the garden). A hot water bottle applied to the abdomen can also give some relief, especially if combined with an oil upon the skin, like the above mentioned. Even a warm shower or bath (hydrotherapy) would provide some relief.

I hope some of this info will assist you with your sweetie. Remember to take it easy on their developing gut, in later postings I will talk more about food and digestion.