Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Diet for Little Bear's Gut

Little Orson is now 16 days old. At his two week appointment he proved that he is living up to his name, (which means "bear cub,") by weighing in at 9 lbs, 9 oz. Also at his two week, the subject of gut issues was discussed.

Our older son, Eli, has had horrible gut issues in the past which were related to his condition.(Now that we have found correct information and good medical help, Eli's gut has been much happier these last couple of years!) Naturally, we have been doing everything we can to help our newborn to not have to go through the pain our older son had to.

Imagine our distress when we brought home our well-adjusted newborn, to have him start randomly screaming at 12 days old. It was a pain cry to us, and so I talked to his doctor about it. (Orson's doctor is also Eli's DAN! doctor.) I felt that it had to do with gut issues, mainly because my doctor required me to be on an anti-biotic when I was in labor. So, even though I was determined to have an unmediated labor, I found myself on an IV and worrying about my baby's gut. Despite taking pro-biotics the following week after his birth, the sudden screaming cry has made it appear as though his gut was struggling.

The plan to help little bear's gut is this: yeast protocol diet for me, the breastfeeding mom, along with an anti-fungal, along with pro-biotics for both of us. Let me just say, this diet is extremely challenging for me, who already has many diet restrictions. Now in addition, no starches, limit vinegars, no sugar, no fruit, no fruit juices for the next two weeks. I am trying very hard to keep on top of all of this, and I am finding it very challenging as an exhausted mom of a newborn. My little bear seems to be happier already, though. His random cries have been smaller in quantity and volume.

A recent happy discovery is that I can now tolerate gluten-free oats! I could not resist a gluten free oatmeal raisin cookie that my sister-in-law offered me last weekend, and that is how I discovered I can now tolerate them. So now on my yeast protocol diet I very happily eat a bowl of gluten-free oatmeal with stevia, vanilla extract powder, and cinnamon. Pretty wild for someone who grew up hating hot cereals. :)

2 comments:

Cristina said...

Hang in there, CJ! This, too, shall pass. I'm sorry. I can relate to not wanting to have to cut out one more dang thing...and I don't even have a newborn! At least you're getting him taken care of early, and you know the steps to take, now!

Best wishes.

Autismland Penny said...

What an awesome mom for doing this for him! Kudos to you for being willing to do the hard stuff.