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Thursday, July 4, 2013

What's New??

Guess I'm not the best at this blogging bit... oh well...

Our dietary journey for our little SethMan continues...

It's an almost daily struggle for this Mama... but I am also so thankful to have started on a path that has helped our little boy grow!

As of today, our little man is gluten free, dairy free, legume free, and strawberry free. He is also limited on corn as too much gives him patches of eczema. Orange foods such as pumpkin, carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes are also limited in his diet as it has become apparent that they don't stay in his system long enough to provide any nutrition... Just not sure about their connection... 2 are squashes and 2 are root vegetables...

Our little guy does not have an official diagnosis or label such as 'allergic' or 'intolerant'. All of our findings have been right here at home through carefully watching him and what he eats. One would be surprised at the things you can learn from a used diaper! He went through so much last year with the frequent weight checks and blood draws... the specialist... and he's not quite two yet. Just can't bring ourselves to put him through more of that right now!

Menu planning has become quite the headache and some days I feel like a short order cook! I'm learning to cook many different sides to accommodate everyone... we all eat as naturally as possible avoiding artificial additives, one child has texture issues with ground meats, parents are striving for a low carb diet to control sugar levels, and Seth has many foods to avoid that are a basis for many of our meals... and let's add (just for fun!) the extra challenge of working with a picky toddler's food likes/dislikes!

And Oh! Seth also has frequent battles with a yeasty diaper rash... so I also try to limit his intake of carbs in an effort to help control the yeast growth!

I'm currently investigating and reading up on the GAPS diet & Nourishing Traditions... I'm also looking at more and more 'Paleo' recipes (no grain, no dairy, no legumes).

Meanwhile.... the family is growing well... so well in fact, that there will be a new member come September! A little girl... and we are ALL tickled PINK!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

What About That Gluten Free Trial?

Well, according to Seth's blood tests (taken many months ago!)... he is not allergic nor does he have Celiacs...

That being said... He DOES have an obvious sensitivity to gluten. How do we know this? Just before his blood tests, we put gluten foods back into his diet per the doctor's request... Over the next two weeks, he became a major grump, threw tantrums about EVERYthing, and woke many times a night... I decided to  pull gluten back out just to see what happened... within two days, he was our sweet Seth again and was also sleeping through the night!

That means we treat him as gluten intolerant!

We also noted that his milk intolerance had gotten worse. Since he turned one, his little tummy just did not handle milk very well... but he was able to have cheese and yogurt. However, just a couple of months ago. we noticed that the cheese and yogurt were not setting well with him either.

That means we treat him as milk intolerant!

He eats lots of meat and vegetables! Gluten free flours are not easily accessible (nor affordable) here, but we do have a GF Bisquick that we use about once a week for him. We also tried a black bean brownie recipe. He liked them, but it makes a big pan... and since no one else appreciated the black bean brownies... we'll just make those on special occasions, I guess... just for him!

Guess what?!? When I swapped out summer/fall clothes, Seth had been in 6-9 months clothing (for a FULL year!). I decided to leave out the 12 month stuff & just roll up the pants... well, just two months ago, we had to pull out the 18 month pants!!! Woohoo!! PTL!! That means he's back to where he should be on those growth charts.

Hopefully I'll get back into the swing of regular posts soon... so much going on in our family that we need to share! :)