The latest challenge at our house has been sunscreen. My son is sooooo sensitive to metals and ingredients that we've already gone through 4 different kinds this summer. Apparently, with all the other issues, allergies and behavior problems last summer we didn't notice the reactions to sunscreen. It started about 3 1/2 months ago, his waking up every night at least once, sometimes quietly and sometimes screaming horribly. Not anything like night terrors (see other blog), but more like nightmares and usually the same time each night.
I finally gave up and didn't apply sunscreen for the past few weeks and the night activity actually got worse. We went to our new kinesiologist and homeopathic doctor for a checkup and to ask some questions. The doctor checked the sunscreens and said the metals (titanium oxide) were highly toxic for Asher and the benzoate was also a bad one.
So, we are detoxifying his body with lemon water, extra vitamin C and adding magnesium to his routine before bed. (using Natural Calm - flavored powder) He has slept through the night twice since and the screaming is almost completely gone. Getting better. A friend of mine thinks she found a good recipe for homemade sunscreen, so I'll pass it along when I try it out. Until then, you'll find us in the shade or inside.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Green Vaccines - Too Many Too Soon
I totally have trouble keeping up with technology - here are the actual You Tube videos.
Green Your Vaccines - Too Many Too Soon
There is not much I can say here without becoming incredibly passionate and vocal, except that each and every parent has a choice and you should do your research. Start here and then check the sidebar for more websites to visit. Just check out the videos below on a mom trying to make a difference.
Green Our Vaccines Rally #5 of 6 - Jenny McCarthy
June 4th, 2008 Washington DC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b1fycxZIwI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTRk_Ssukb4
Green Our Vaccines Rally #5 of 6 - Jenny McCarthy
June 4th, 2008 Washington DC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b1fycxZIwI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTRk_Ssukb4
Pro-biotic
If you've ever eaten yogurt or given it to your kids because of the "live" culture in it, then you know what a pro-biotic is. Especially if you are a woman, then you might have struggled with a "yeast" balance at somepoint in your life during or after pregnancy especially. The yogurt helps because of the lactobillcius acidophollis (I'm going to butcher spelling because I am not a scientist).
Do some research, there is so much out there now about the benefits of a pro-biotic. Basicially, through taken anti-biotics and our diet, we lose the good bacteria in our intestines. This allows the bad bacteria to take over and weakens our immune system. There have been many books written to support this by doctors and scientists, see the recommended book list on the right side of the blog site. The increase of diabetes, auto-immune disorders, ADHD, and many others can be linked to a lack of good bacteria in your gut.
Talk to the people at your healthfood store and find a good one that works for you. We started on one (watch for dairy based or additives in them if you have sensitivities) that worked pretty good for us and we saw a huge improvement in kids sleeping habits, eating habits and attitudes. We recently, however, found a homeopathic doctor who recommended another one that has all 13 strains of good bacteria, since it is hard to know what each person is missing. It has given us drastic improvement and for me and my husband as well.
I've also read a lot of articles lately on the web about how a good probiotic clears up colic. Man, since I had two extremely colicky babies, if I was giving birth again, this is what I would try.
Do some research, there is so much out there now about the benefits of a pro-biotic. Basicially, through taken anti-biotics and our diet, we lose the good bacteria in our intestines. This allows the bad bacteria to take over and weakens our immune system. There have been many books written to support this by doctors and scientists, see the recommended book list on the right side of the blog site. The increase of diabetes, auto-immune disorders, ADHD, and many others can be linked to a lack of good bacteria in your gut.
Talk to the people at your healthfood store and find a good one that works for you. We started on one (watch for dairy based or additives in them if you have sensitivities) that worked pretty good for us and we saw a huge improvement in kids sleeping habits, eating habits and attitudes. We recently, however, found a homeopathic doctor who recommended another one that has all 13 strains of good bacteria, since it is hard to know what each person is missing. It has given us drastic improvement and for me and my husband as well.
I've also read a lot of articles lately on the web about how a good probiotic clears up colic. Man, since I had two extremely colicky babies, if I was giving birth again, this is what I would try.
Oil of Oregano
We stumbled on this phenominal product when talking with a lady who worked at a local health food store. It helps with allergic reactions, especially severe and that is why we started using it for my son's behavior food issues. Because, even on the enzymes, he is still extremely sensitive to artificial colors, flavors and perservatives we have to keep this stuff handy. For instance, last time he ran a fever above 102 degrees, i had to give him dye free Motrin to keep the fever down. Within 24 hours we have a reaction to the artificial flavor in the Motrin and the longer we have to use the MO\otrin, the more the reaction takes affect.
The lady at the healthfood store said the fastest absorbtion point on the body (besides ingesting) is the arch of the foot. So, we put a drop of oil of oregano on each of my son's feet and then put on socks when he is having a reaction. It will clear up a behavior reaction for us in as fast as 1-2 minutes up to 10 minutes.
If you are having weird behavior issues that other people would call a "stage" or just being a kid, I would encourage you to do a food diary and when you are getting a fit/attitude, apply the oil of oregano. If nothing changes, then it is a normal kid thing, but if the behavior improves or subsides, then it was a reaction to something.
We have also found in erradicating yeast from the body, after switching to a more potent pro-biotic, the oil of oregano counteracts the "die-off" reactions in killing off the yeast.
The lady at the healthfood store said the fastest absorbtion point on the body (besides ingesting) is the arch of the foot. So, we put a drop of oil of oregano on each of my son's feet and then put on socks when he is having a reaction. It will clear up a behavior reaction for us in as fast as 1-2 minutes up to 10 minutes.
If you are having weird behavior issues that other people would call a "stage" or just being a kid, I would encourage you to do a food diary and when you are getting a fit/attitude, apply the oil of oregano. If nothing changes, then it is a normal kid thing, but if the behavior improves or subsides, then it was a reaction to something.
We have also found in erradicating yeast from the body, after switching to a more potent pro-biotic, the oil of oregano counteracts the "die-off" reactions in killing off the yeast.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Ear Trouble
We discovered that our daughter at about 9 months old could not hear (at least that was the presumption from the hearing test, since she couldn't tell us). Well, she had been trying to tell us for 9 months. Although she had never had an ear infection, aparently she had had earaches pretty constant her whole little life. She had never slept really well, especially at night and would scream/screetch almost all the time and was very clingy to mommy. After finding a great ear, nose and throat doctor, who suggested she might be allergic to dairy, we saw light at the end of the tunnel. Her screetching stopped and she slept better at night. Also, the constant flow of mucous from her nose finally quit. Then we tested her ears again, and they were the same - frustrating. A natural-path friend of mine suggested grape fruit extract (look it up, this stuff is amazing). It is a natural detoxifier and works especially well on bacteria infections - including inner ears. I searched the net, called around to all my local health food stores and found some eardrops with grape fruit extract in them. By the second day, our daughter was speaking about 30 new words a day. Now after a few months, she is responding to discipline, and allowing mommy to actually separate at times and take her to the nursery at church without a fuss.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Enzyme Health
Before I even get started on this subject I will tell you that the author of the website and book, claims 93% success rate. That is huge, and coming from another mom with two kids with health problems all over the place, I was sure willing to listen.
Other statistics to consider, 80% of your bodies energy is used for digestion. Also, 80% of your bodies immune system is in the small intestines. It then starts to make sense that if your small intestines are not producing the correct enzymes, then not only could your digestion be messed up, but your immune system as well.
www.enzymestuff.com
Read it, research it - it is amazing and has been life changing for my family. My son's problems were all in sleeping and attitude/behavior and obedience. It has turned around completely for him. My daughter had cronic sickness and produced more mucous that you could imagine and screamed almost non stop - had trouble sleeping, etc. We realized that the mucous was making her unable to hear and now on the enzymes (and off of milk products for the most part) she is a completely different kid. We also added grapefruit seed extract ear drops to her routine and after about a week on enzymes and the drops, she was saying 20 new words a day.
My husbands lifetime athlete's foot has almost disappeared, I am no longer groggy in the morning and cranky at the end of the day.
None of us stay sick for longer than 12 hours and don't have any more problems in the bathroom after eating anything.
I will continue adding more information to this as we go down this road, but I will completely support the challenge laid out by the author of that website, to try it for 30 days, you will actually see results in less than a week.
Other statistics to consider, 80% of your bodies energy is used for digestion. Also, 80% of your bodies immune system is in the small intestines. It then starts to make sense that if your small intestines are not producing the correct enzymes, then not only could your digestion be messed up, but your immune system as well.
www.enzymestuff.com
Read it, research it - it is amazing and has been life changing for my family. My son's problems were all in sleeping and attitude/behavior and obedience. It has turned around completely for him. My daughter had cronic sickness and produced more mucous that you could imagine and screamed almost non stop - had trouble sleeping, etc. We realized that the mucous was making her unable to hear and now on the enzymes (and off of milk products for the most part) she is a completely different kid. We also added grapefruit seed extract ear drops to her routine and after about a week on enzymes and the drops, she was saying 20 new words a day.
My husbands lifetime athlete's foot has almost disappeared, I am no longer groggy in the morning and cranky at the end of the day.
None of us stay sick for longer than 12 hours and don't have any more problems in the bathroom after eating anything.
I will continue adding more information to this as we go down this road, but I will completely support the challenge laid out by the author of that website, to try it for 30 days, you will actually see results in less than a week.
Where it all started
My kids are now 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 and we are in sooooo much better shape that we were when my daughter was born a year and half ago. At that point, we were a mess. It all started when my sweet son one day decided to rebel and rebel big time. Giant fits of rage, angst as I called them started up about 14 months old. Night terrors followed and he was hitting and kicking me all the time. We have used Dobson's methods for disciplining and I was as consistent as I could be. He understood consequences at a very young age and all of a sudden that went out the window. We called the pastor about the night terrors (see night terror entry for more information) and my mother-in-law mentioned he could have a problem with red dye. My nephews in GA had similar issues she said, so I started picking the brain of my sister-in-law and what she discovered. She sent me to www.feingold.com. An amazing website that lists all the ingredients that can make your kids crazy with rage, anger, angst, etc. The big ones for us were all the dyes (red, yellow and blue), food preservatives, artificial flavors, and corn syrup.
The weird thing was that after about 3 days off of all this stuff - my son started having withdrawls - it got really bad, terrible for 2-3 days then disappeared completely. I mean completely. He was my happy sweet boy again. We have relapses when we have to use Benydryl or Tylenol/Motrin even though we use the dye free kind, they all have artificial flavor. We use Oil of Oregano and Flaxseed or MaxEpa Fish Oil (rubbed on the soles of his feet - for fastest absorbtion) to help his little body get rid of the toxins and it helps tremendously.
We also had to avoid the other salicylate foods on the list until we started using enzymes (see enzyme entry). Remember to look in the ingredients of all the products you put on the baby or child. I went through the house with a black sharpie and "x" through all the stuff that was bad so my husband could folllow suit. The diaper cream I was buying was bad, the detergent for the laundry, the hand soap, bath soap, baby lotion - you name it and it has either dye or preservatives in it.
I had to take the time to spend hours at the grocery store and health food store reading all the ingredients looking for these bad things. YOU CAN DO IT - it is worth every minute times 1000 to have happy kids around this house.
Don't let anyone tell you that its just because they are 2 or 3 or having a bad day. You know your kids and it is not normal.
The weird thing was that after about 3 days off of all this stuff - my son started having withdrawls - it got really bad, terrible for 2-3 days then disappeared completely. I mean completely. He was my happy sweet boy again. We have relapses when we have to use Benydryl or Tylenol/Motrin even though we use the dye free kind, they all have artificial flavor. We use Oil of Oregano and Flaxseed or MaxEpa Fish Oil (rubbed on the soles of his feet - for fastest absorbtion) to help his little body get rid of the toxins and it helps tremendously.
We also had to avoid the other salicylate foods on the list until we started using enzymes (see enzyme entry). Remember to look in the ingredients of all the products you put on the baby or child. I went through the house with a black sharpie and "x" through all the stuff that was bad so my husband could folllow suit. The diaper cream I was buying was bad, the detergent for the laundry, the hand soap, bath soap, baby lotion - you name it and it has either dye or preservatives in it.
I had to take the time to spend hours at the grocery store and health food store reading all the ingredients looking for these bad things. YOU CAN DO IT - it is worth every minute times 1000 to have happy kids around this house.
Don't let anyone tell you that its just because they are 2 or 3 or having a bad day. You know your kids and it is not normal.
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