Welcome!

Welcome!

As Charlotte says, "Hi!" Welcome to our new blog and thank you for committing to pray for Charlotte and us as we go through the GAPS diet. We know God hears our prayers and we hope He will intervene and heal Charlotte's belly. We hope this will be a valuable tool to help us post current updates and prayer requests so you can pray more specifically, and give thanks as well.

We are calling this the "Happy Bebe Belly Blog" since Charlotte always refers to herself as a "happy bebe." For whatever reason, this is the cross we've been given to bear right now, and believe me, we know it's light in comparison to Christ's and the crosses many other people must bear. This will help to remind me to keep the right attitude and perspective through this journey. We have a million reasons to be thankful, and therefore, happy.

How Did We Get Here? 

Charlotte's had a sensitive tummy since she was born, really. After a few days old she would have bouts of hard crying and typical "colic-y" symptoms. This really contrasted with her mellow, easygoing personality, so we wanted to figure out what was going on. A friend from church had suggested doing an elimination diet to see if the foods I ate were affecting her through my milk. After that, Charlotte was a completely different baby. She ate well, slept pretty well and was just a happy, delightful baby all around- as long as I cut things out of my diet. For the first five months I omitted: onions, garlic, spices, dairy, legumes, chocolate, caffeine, eggs, and lots of fruits and vegetables. My diet was pretty bland, but it was worth it.

At six months my friend mentioned that she had taken Beano supplements when she ate "problem foods" and it seemed to help her baby. I was so excited- this really seemed to work for us for the most part. I would pop a few Beanos and enjoy a little bit of chocolate. Perfect, right?

Starting solids (around 7 months) was when the complication really began. With Parker, we had started with things like squash, sweet potato, apples, and bananas. He developed a handful of allergies and we thought this go-round we'd follow the pediatrician's advice and start with bland old rice cereal. At first, this seemed to be fine. (Phew, we had a "normal" baby who loved eating!.... or so we thought...)

We tried adding in some applesauce and at first that seemed fine. After awhile, she was having reactions- bumps appearing around her mouth, diaper rash, hard crying bouts, etc. The doctor assumed it was the apples, so we yanked them from her diet. Still the symptoms persisted. We cut out rice and she was fine again.

So the dance went- we would add a food, she would react, we would backtrack, try something else. Poor Charlotte went through lots of allergy testing and tested positive for about 15 food allergies-- though we had about 35 other foods we also had to avoid-- we didn't test for everything, and even foods that she was not "allergic" to produced symptoms.

We kept a rigorous food log, an ever-watchful eye on her, and kept forging forward, trying to find the perfect list of her "safe" foods which we could stick to in order to avoid symptoms. The problem was, our list just kept getting smaller every week. She was down to less than 10 "safe" foods and we were getting scared that soon she would have nothing left to eat. She seemed to be reacting to everything.

The fact that I was nursing her further complicated things. I kept getting conflicting advice- keep nursing her, she needs it- wean her, you're making her worse. The guilt I was experiencing was overwhelming. I wanted to do what was best for her-- only I didn't really know what that was.

The symptoms I speak of included lots of rashes around her mouth, diaper rashes, blotchy red cheeks, big eczema patches on her elbows and sometimes on her legs, dry skin, diarrhea about 6 times a day, and the hardest part- nighttime crying. It was often 3 nights a week that she would wake in the middle of the night and cry.for.hours. She appeared in pain and nothing really helped- gas drops, Tylenol, Advil, Benadryl, teething medicine. I would rock her and let her watch Praise Baby DVDs (distraction was the best coping mechanism for her) or on really rough nights, we would just pace in the darkness, hour after hour, until she would finally pass out from exhaustion.

Nobody really seemed to think this was a big deal. Sleeplessness, diaper rashes, dry skin, eh- all par for the course with babies, right? A crazy hypochondriac mother reading into things too much? The pediatrician, allergist, and pediatric gastroenterologist all shook their heads and dismissed these concerns. Looking at her, one would never know anything was wrong. Charlotte was, and is, a very healthy-looking, chubby, smart baby, who has always met or exceeded her milestones. (I attribute this to nursing!) Because of these things, nobody seemed concerned and they thought she would just "grow out of this" and I should just "not worry" about it. This simply wasn't an option- she was NOT getting better- she was moving in the opposite direction. With the lack of sleep, my mamma-bear instincts, and literally having so little things to feed her (at that point she was eating chicken, turkey, beef, pork, sweet potato, potato, peas, apples, avocado) I knew we had to figure something out- quickly.

I finally asked for prayers on an online group of former Bible-study friends from Okinawa. Right away a few of them mentioned that I should look into the GAPS diet. I skimmed some sketchy-sounding web pages, reluctantly ordered the book, and didn't think much of it. When the book arrived, I doubtfully started reading- but then I couldn't put the book down. Finally something made sense- Charlotte was described on those pages!

We made an appointment with a GAPS-practitioner, a nutritionist about an hour away. Regardless of whether she has more medical problems going on (we won't know without more invasive testing), GAPS is the solution that should help get her on the path to healing. Without any other hopeful solutions, we started GAPS on a Sunday morning, after meeting with the nutritionist the previous day. Full steam ahead. We were going to give this our best shot.

The Theory is...

Charlotte has GAPS syndrome, more commonly called "leaky gut." Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, a doctor in the UK has come up with this theory and treatment, and it's slowly becoming more known in the US. Basically, when Charlotte eats foods, they are not being broken down and digested properly. This creates inflammation, which creates literal holes in the lining of her intestines, amongst other problems. The foods she eats seep out through these holes. The body senses something amiss and sends the blood to attack- by creating antibodies against the food-invaders. (This makes sense as to why Charlotte was tolerating foods for awhile- sometimes a week, a month, many months- until her body created antibodies against it.) According to Dr. Natasha, she would have continued on like this until there was literally nothing safe left for her to eat.

The GAPS diet offers hope to heal and seal her gut, reversing allergies, allowing her to eat more foods, and thrive. Anything non-nutritious is cut out of the diet, and there are many rules-- and reasons behind those rules. There are two main parts to the GAPS diet- the "Intro" and "Full" GAPS. The "Intro" diet is the true healing part, and is what Charlotte is undertaking. You start slowly, and work your way up to the "Full" GAPS diet, testing each new food before introducing. I am continuing to nurse Charlotte, so I am following the "Full" GAPS diet, to ensure my milk has the right variety of nutrients, without anything harmful for her.

The chief components of GAPS include broth, broth, and more broth. Your grandmother or your mother may have made you chicken soup when you were sick- this truly is liquid gold- filled with healing, soothing, nutrition. Therapeutic strength Probiotics help repopulate the gut with good bacteria. In GAPS, the flora of the tummy is off balance- often full of bad bacterias, yeast overgrowth, parasites, etc. Fermented foods like sauerkraut also help to add good bacterias back in and stimulate proper digestive juices and breakdown of foods. Later things like Fermented cod liver oil and essential fatty acids, supplements, and enzymes are sometimes added too. GAPS is about detoxification (getting rid of the bad stuff which keeps our bodies functioning as they should and eliminating extra work of breaking down toxins). And of course, it's all about food!

Our culture thinks food is anything you can get at the grocery store. Our body thinks of food in a different way. Our body craves food in the whole, unprocessed, complete, nutritious form. The "Full" GAPS diet (what I eat) includes: meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, pastured eggs, fermented foods (sauerkraut, homemade yogurt, kefir), honey, and lots of natural healthy fats from animals, ghee, butter, coconut oil and olive oil, natural sea salt. I cannot eat any grains, anything processed, sugar, anything with preservatives, additives, colorings, or chemicals.

This means absolutely everything is made from scratch, from the cleanest food possible. I can't always buy organic, but we try to get the best eggs, raw milk for yogurt, and meats we can afford, without any hormones, antibiotics, etc. (Especially since the toxins are stored in the fats which we must consume, and meat and broth is all Charlotte is eating right now.) This accounts to an astronomical grocery bill, lots of time spent cooking and cleaning, and lots of time researching, brainstorming, and watching her for symptoms.

Charlotte is going through the "Intro" diet, and we're 10 weeks in. So far the only things she is tolerating are broths and meats. We are giving her 1 drop of sauerkraut juice daily and a probiotic supplement. We have tried unsuccessfully to introduce vegetables, egg yolks, yogurt, etc. She simply is not ready for these foods, and more healing must take place before she is able to. I'm continuing to nurse her and we're doing the best we can, hoping and praying we're on the right track.

We're trying to cut down the extra work our bodies are dealing with- less toxins in mean our bodies can more successfully focus on healing and dealing with the toxins already in our bodies. Everything from commercial body products, cleaning products, plastics, etc. we are starting to take into account. I can't make all changes overnight, but slowly we are trying to make more educated choices that will reduce the toxic load on our bodies. Every day we try to give detox baths which consist of epsom salts, baking soda, or apple cider vinegar. Even the water we drink and bathe in affects us- right now we can't do a lot about the things like chlorinated water, but in the future, that will be a priority.

I jokingly say that every day we're moving farther away from "normal" American ways of life and more towards "hippy." Things we have always taken for granted as "safe" may not be. Heating food in the microwave, for example, is not recommended on GAPS (I must admit I sometimes break this rule- I'm trying!) Even the ways we have been taught to eat (avoiding natural fats, fearing cholesterol, etc) are worth a second glance. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has a book specifically about heart health, and since heart issues run in my family, I plan to read this soon. It's worth contemplating that we are the sickest nation by far, and what we eat directly affects us- mind and body. The GAPS diet has healed thousands of people with leaky gut, autism, Asperger's, schizophrenia, eating disorders, anaphylactic allergies, heart problems, etc. Healing through food? Not drugs? Real healing, not "management?" This is the hope I'm clinging to.

The tricky thing is that life is complicated. I can't control everything. If Charlotte finds one of Parker's stray Cheerios and eats it, we backtrack. If she eats dirt, we backtrack. If she's around someone who is sick, she always gets it, and then we backtrack. The rest of the days we are functioning at an even-keel. She doesn't seem to be getting worse, but she doesn't seem to be making any gains (hopefully she is healing beneath the surface?). Sometimes it's just hard to guess what she is reacting to, even with food logs and being careful. She may just be having an off-day, or teething, or simply being a baby. Trying to decipher everything from a baby who can't explain how she feels is like trying to read a foreign code.

Sometimes this gets me down- will she get better, is this worth it, are we crazy? This is exactly why we need this prayer support. It could take years for her to heal. (Typically 1.5- 3 years). I pray it won't. But I hope this will all be worth it (however long it takes) and that someday we'll be looking back on this time in our lives, thankful for having gone through it (ideally while watching Charlotte happily sinking her teeth into plenty of healthy foods)!

Stay Tuned!

I'll do my best to post updates on here as to how she is progressing, and I'll ask you to pray her through food trials, or for God to help us meet needs, etc. Then hopefully you'll be able to rejoice with us when she improves. Comment if you have questions, thoughts, or want to say hi. We appreciate you! Sending love and hugs from Charlotte!