I believe there are several reasons we are seeing this so frequently these days.  First of all, to quote Dr. Kotlow (and this quote makes me laugh out loud every time I hear his voice saying it in my head), “You see, it all started with the hippies!”  As he said this to me, I wondered to myself, “Does he really know who I am and what I do for a living?!”  Ha!  Anyhow, his point is this, for decades, moms bought into the lie that formula was as good as breastmilk.  So, we had generations of moms who did not nurse their babies.  Nursing is one of the biggest things that will clue moms in on their babies being tongue tied.  Moms know when they are nursing if the latch isn’t right and is something is off with their baby’s anatomy.  Trust that motherly instinct!  He went on to explain to us that as more and more moms were educated and eventually returned to nursing, and wouldn’t settle for anything better than the best- breastmilk- for their babies, that when it (nursing) was uncomfortable, they sought answers.  Therefore, tongue tie started being discovered more and more, and they’d have it corrected and their nursing pains relieved.

Now, we didn’t delve into this with Dr. Kotlow, but here are my thoughts after our conversation…  If you don’t use it, you loose it.  Right?  How sad!  I think over so many generations and years of so few moms nursing their children, we lost proper function.  Many people are familiar with Sally Fallon and Dr. Price.  They teach that what we have eaten for generations is so far from what we were created to eat that we have literally changed our facial structure; hence, the wisdom teeth removals, fillings, braces and weird teeth alignment.  Makes sense to me that this could also be the case for extra tissue and tissue placement where it shouldn’t be.

In addition, there’s research that shows when moms use cocaine there is a higher incidence of tongue tie in their babies.  After Mellanie mentioned this research to me the other night, when I quote it to moms they get the weirdest look on their faces.  ”I’ve never used cocaine!” some will quickly blurt out, to which I chuckle.  I’m not accusing you of wild behavior, but this study brings up some interesting points too.  If one researched chemical (cocaine) can cause this abnormality, what other chemicals- that no one has yet researched- might do the same?  Furthermore, one of the most prescribed drugs in our society are stimulants to treat conditions like ADD and ADHD.  Cocaine is a stimulant, and these prescribed stimulant drugs many times work on the same areas of the brain and cause some of the same side effects.  Countless studies have shown that many drugs- and several different types- have been found in our water supply.  Are we seeing increase in abnormalities due to all of this?  In my opinion, possibly so.

And, we can’t deny that with more education, there will be more awareness and more diagnosis and correction.  Again, no matter what the cause (or prevalence for that matter), we are so grateful for the cure!

Lifetime Family Wellness Center will be hosting Dr. Kotlow to speak on Saturday, May 14th from 9am-12pm.  Please spread the word, and I’ll share more details soon.  You will not want to miss his presentation!

When I asked Dr. Kotlow to show me exactly how to diagnose these ties and what specifically to be looking for, he quickly grabbed my paperwork…  ”You checked off every symptom on here.  What else could cause all of this?”  This statement so put my mind at ease.  Listen to mom, mom knows her body and her baby best!  If you, or a mom you know, is checking off every symptom that I mention in this post, then chances are your/her baby is tongue tied.  See, what I used to check for is that baby could protrude his/her tongue past his/her bottom gum line.  I also made sure that the frenum didn’t pull on the end of the tongue, causing a heart shaped looking tongue.  As seen in this picture: To easily check the tongue for a tie, put your index finger under your baby’s tongue and sweep across the floor of the mouth from one side to the other.  You should be able to slide the finger under the tongue across the mouth floor from where the molars will eventually come in without running into any tissue.  If you feel a smooth mouth floor, then there’s no problem.  However, if you run into what Dr. Kotlow describes as a “small speed bump”, you may have an issue.  If there’s a large speed bump, then there’s definitely a problem.  If the membrane under the tongue (that attaches it onto the floor of the mouth) feels like a very thin and strong- like a fine wire- then push on it and look to see if the tongue’s tip indents or bows.  This suggests baby has a tie under the mucous membrane in the back.  Remember that most of these ties whether presenting as small, medium or large bumps will usually turn into problems if not addressed.

Ellington has a very long tongue, and she could move it way past her bottom gum; these two factors led me away from diagnosing her as tied.  However, she was unable to move her tongue properly when nursing and never could really press it against her palate.  As she nursed, she’d gum at my breasts, which of course made me sore, caused me to peel, blister and develop and itchy rash with crack on my skin.  Her upper frenum- as the ENT in Dallas has shown me- came down into her gum line.  Therefore, she could not move her upper lip effectively, which also greatly affected our nursing.  Additionally, you could never see her gums when she smiled- something we didn’t really notice until after the surgery.

As we researched and found this to be congenital and genetic, we discovered that JB is pretty severely tongue tied too.  He was adopted and never breastfed, therefore it stands to reason that his issue was never discovered.  Interestingly enough though, his family always talks about what a colicky baby he was and the constant digestive issues he had from that.  It turns out that Harper- our toddler- has a maxillary tie too.  I went through my guilt stage over this; but, in the end, even though we missed it on him I’m so grateful that we’ve walked this journey.  Because of everything we went through with Harper, I really feel I have a whole new level of understanding for families with this, and I look closely for it now.

You see this diagnosis is so important because if a person is tied- baby or not, breastfeeding or not- he/she can not move their tongue and lips properly.  So much is affected by this!  Nutritional problem arise.  Why?  Because food can not be extracted properly (especially in the case of breastmilk), and it can’t be properly placed and digested completely.  Colic can occur because of this improper function more air is swallowed.  Babies tend to drool a lot, again because their mouth/tongue doesn’t work properly.  Gagging may occur.  You might see sleep problems like snoring and apnea.  And, it’s common for teeth/jaw issues to arise later because the teeth are pulled inwards toward the tongue or there might be gaps where the frenum comes between the teeth.  Speech problems have also been noted from this.

Even though Harper is weaned, we are still looking at possibly having his clipped.  We will still choose the laser, but it gets a little more complicated with older children.  The younger you can do this the better!  When a baby is only a few days old, there is very little blood flow to these frenums and hardly- if any- sensation.  Therefore, not only is it less painful- if at all painful- to cut, but it’s easier because newborns are swaddled and don’t fight the procedure as much.  Not to mention their nursing patterns and habits don’t have to be re-trained.

Looking back, we believe Harper wouldn’t have had as many sleep issues had we known about this and had it addressed.  He nursed around the clock, and once he fell asleep, he’d quickly wake up after very little sleep to nurse again.  Also, he was always very small for his age, especially for as much as he ate.  I now wonder if he’d have gained a lot more and faster too.  As his teeth came in, he developed deep notches with brown spots on them on two of his front teeth.  This bothered me so much.  How could a child raised mostly on vegetables and no sugar- outside of fruit- have this problem?  Well, Dr. Kotlow has now educated us on that too.  Even though he is not against co-sleeping and night nursing, he explained to me that when Harper nursed since his upper lip is tied tightly to his front gum line that lip and tongue don’t move normally.  They are unable to clear and clean milk (and now that he eats solid, foods) from his teeth.  You risk high chances of anterior caries (rotting teeth in the front) with this condition.  What’s that saying?  ”Hindsight is 20/20!”  Oh how I wish I’d have known!

Share with me: Have you or anyone in your family dealt with this?  I want to hear your stories!

Stay tuned, I’ll continue the series tomorrow!

Let me start with our second born, Ellington, even though this story really starts with Harper our firstborn.  When Ellington was born- three whole months ago!- I was still nursing her toddler brother.  In fact, he’s only been weaned for a couple of months now.  Therefore, suffice it to say, I didn’t get as sore starting a new nursing relationship as a lot of new moms often do.  In fact, the pain was nothing in comparison to when I started nursing Harper.  Now, it may surprise you since I nursed for such a long time, that nursing is one of my least favorite activities on the planet.  If I didn’t believe in the importance of it for every single aspect of development, I’d quit nursing my children before I even started…  As in, not do it at all!  I hate it!  However, I do it because I know there’s really not a better choice I can make for my children.  Nursing does so much for them; yes, so much that we have discovered about it in research, and so many benefits I believe we don’t even know of.  How could I, knowing all this, rob them of something just because I don’t enjoy it?  I couldn’t, so I press on!  The first two weeks with Ellington’s and my nursing were relatively easy.  I mostly just had her to worry about, we recovered from birth together in bed, slept the days away and ate when we felt like it.  Having 2 kids really wasn’t all that hard!  Then came back to reality with week 3.  What’d reality look like?  Well, lets just say it was feed a newborn around the clock, bounce and wear a newborn to try to keep her happy, and chase a toddler constantly.  Man, it sure was different nursing newborn #2 with big brother to worry about!  The positions you will settle for in order to do this while entertaining a toddler, it takes major talent!  I definitely wasn’t as strict with Ellington’s perfect positioning and latch as I was with Harper’s.  As long as she ate, I was okay.  Over the course of a few days, my happy little girl became this miserable baby. I was shocked when she got a really red diaper rash, especially since we cloth diaper.  Then, my breasts started peeling and they looked weird after a feeding.  Nursing hurt worse and worse, it wasn’t getting better as our relationship progressed.  Certain hours of the day- especially early evening- we could pretty much wager on the fact that Ellington would be screaming her head off.  She would nurse and nurse and nurse, then we’d be so happy when she finally fell asleep, only to have her wake up a few minutes later ready to nurse and nurse and nurse some more.  One day, I noticed that she was getting white patches inside her cheeks.  Oh no!  The dreaded “thrush” I had diagnosed so many babies with.  Could that be why my breasts hurt so badly and looked so weird?  I quickly ran to the health food store for some natural remedies.  I was praying they’d work fast to fix this because I knew the strict diet I’d have to go on if they didn’t remedy it, and I was dreading that!  We tried the remedies we knew of, and when nothing worked I called a lactation consultant.  I set up an appointment for her to come work on latch with me.  The other thing about Ellington is that she would spit up more often than Harper ever did, and it didn’t matter if I changed my diet, it didn’t affect it.  Also, she wouldn’t take a bottle, and we even tried to have her take a pacifier (which we never did with Harper) during one of her screaming periods.  She could never seem to grasp how to do a paci.  JB commented with the bottle that if she didn’t finally latch on to it if he barely moved the bottle she’d slide right off the nipple.  This was nice for me to have him see because I’d been trying to tell him how hard she was to nurse because I couldn’t make the slightest movement without her falling off the breast.  Again, so hard and frustrating to try to feed her while worrying about Harper!

So, Mellanie came over to help me with Ellington.  She agreed that Ellington did indeed have thrush, but was very surprised that everything I was doing wasn’t changing her condition.  When she examined her, she was also very perplexed with all we were dealing with.  ”Normally I just send babies with all of this to you guys.” She told me.  ”I know”, I chuckled and told her we’d already been adjusting her and working on soft tissue and treating me with supplements and diet changes.  Also, we’d taken her to one of our mentors and chiropractic colleagues.  I couldn’t say anything was changing her condition at all.  Mellanie informed me that she was going to a conference with a bunch of lactation experts, and that if I wanted to send her with some video footage of me nursing Ellington, she’d get some opinions for me at the conference.  I was so grateful to her!  I love people who will work hard to seek answers when they don’t know them!  We also agreed that I’d go see an Ear Nose and Throat specialist in Dallas to check Ellington and make sure we weren’t dealing with something we hadn’t caught that he could see.  We both said- because Ellington’s tongue is so long and she moves it well- that we’d be very surprised if she was tongue tied, but agreed he should confirm that for us.

I drove to Dallas with Ellington, and loved the staff, doctor and his office.  But, I was so disappointed in the answers I got from him.  Basically, he told me that we were dealing with a problem that was causing her nursing issues but that he wouldn’t really do anything about it.  What was the problem?  You guessed it, ankyloglossia or tongue tie.  He really didn’t feel that her tongue was tied to the floor of her mouth (the usual, common tie you hear of often), but that her maxillary frenum (band of tissue attaching upper lip to upper gum) was longer that what he would call normal.  However, he said he’d recommend not doing anything until she was older- at which time a dentist would probably be the one to recommend cutting due to possible teeth/speech issues from it.  He explained that he has to use sutures in that area and it’s a lot more involved, therefore he’d just leave it alone at this point.  What was I to do with this information?  I left there just so frustrated because I knew in my gut this band of tissue was causing our issues.  Especially since I could never get Ellington to flare her upper lip out, this explained it if there was tissue keeping that lip from moving properly.

Mellanie called me, exhausted from her conference, but excited to discuss with me what people at the conference had said from watching my video of Ellington nursing.  They were all convinced she was possibly tongue tied.  And, a name of a doctor in New York kept coming up.  Mellanie kind of laughed as she said, “New York”, when we talked about my options, but the other specialist whose name had come up was in Japan.  I told her I’d mention New York to JB and see his response; I honestly didn’t know what JB would say, but I was so ready to have an answer I wanted to go right then.  Why would I fly all the way to New York for something as simple as a tongue tie?  Well, you saw the results I got from the expert we refer to in our area, secondly Dr. Kotlow (New York) uses a laser with no anesthetic or sutures, he’s an expert who has been doing this for over 30 years, he’s written many studies on this condition, and he believes in the mother/child nursing relationship and desires to make that a successful/enjoyable relationship.  I was so happy when I mentioned him to JB that my loving hubby said, “Let’s go!”  No hesitation at all, and that made me feel even more peace about this.  I started researching and scheduling.

Tongue ties occur when embryological tissue does not disappear at birth.  Dr. Kotlow’s site is very helpful in diagnosing these ties.  However, when I questioned him about diagnosing these, I loved his response!  ”Look at your paperwork, you have all the symptoms.  What else could it be?”  It is so nice to have a doctor who listens to the mom!  Check out the list he was talking about on his paperwork:

Infant- no latch, un-sustained latch, slides off nipple, prolonged feeds, unsatisfied after prolonged feeds, falls asleep on the breast, gumming or chewing on the nipple, poor weight gain and/or failure to thrive, unable to hold pacifier

Mom- creased or blanched nipples after feeding, flattened nipples after feeding, cracked/bruised/blistered nipples, bleeding nipples, severe pain with latch, incomplete breast drainage, infected nipples, plugged ducts, mastitis, thrush

Sound like us?  Yep, I checked off all but like one symptom on those papers!  We flew up to New York a few days after talking to Mellanie.  I’ll share our journey up there with you in my post tomorrow.  And, remember how I said the story started with Harper?  Yep, my two year old has it too…  You guessed it, it’s a congenital/genetic condition.  But, like us, you may wonder why we are seeing so many of them lately?  I’ll talk about that in tomorrow’s post too.

If the question isn’t about what to feed an infant just starting solids, obviously the other popular one is when to start them on solids.  I’ll admit, there is a lot of fun to be had with this milestone of food introduction.  Who doesn’t enjoy snapping pictures of their baby’s funny grimaces as he/she takes his/her first bite of solid food?  I even really enjoyed being able to eat more of my meal because Harper was now entertained with trying to pick up peas off his tray instead of needing me to nurse him while I tried to eat to nourish both of us.  Like many new parents though, we anxiously rushed into that new stage with excitement.  As soon as we could fill his lil’ tummy up on all those yummy solids, we just knew he was going to sleep through the night  more than his typical one hour stretch at a time.  Well, remind me, and I’ll tell you the rest of that story- the eating helps sleep one (yeah right…)- another day, and what the research really says.  Hint:  If you are banking on solids helping you get some extra sleep, don’t throw all of your eggs into that basket.  It definitely wasn’t the sleepy happy ending we had hoped for!  And, like many parents often say, we sure are cherishing the stages this second time around.  With Ellington, you won’t see us as excited to rush into the solids stage.  No, in fact, we really enjoy being able to walk out of the house simply carrying her and a diaper.  There’s no huge bag stocked full of water bottles, peas, apple, clementine, almonds and seaweed like we have to lug when Harper comes along for the ride.  Plus, if Ellington’s appetite is anything like Harper’s, I’m not looking forward to the extra job I’m going to have to take on to help pay the increase in the Whole Foods bill!

Most major health organizations (WHO, AAP) and breastfeeding experts recommend that baby’s diet consist primarily of breastmilk for the first year of life- specifically that babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life.  Many parents are unaware of the latest research that shows that introducing solids before six months of age- like in the case where babies are given rice cereal around 2 to 4 months- has been shown to increase risk of high blood pressure and heart disease later in life.  Breastmilk is the ultimate, perfect form of nutrition.  If you and your baby are unable for whatever reason to have an exclusive breastfeeding relationship, I recommend a homemade formula recipe instead of commercial formulas (due to commercial formulas content of sugar, corn syrup and/or poor quality milk- often containing hormones/antibiotics).  As long as mom’s nutritional intake is adequate for her and her baby, baby is gaining weight and continuing to achieve normal developmental milestones, it is fine to continue exclusively breastfeeding a baby through his/her first year of life, waiting until 12 months to introduce solids.  As a baby ages, his/her gut continues to mature and gaps in the stomach which are meant to allow breastmilk to move freely into the body slowly close up.  These gaps, with which a baby is born- a natural “leaky gut”, are important for breastmilk to travel easily into the body.  However, if a baby is given formula or solids before these gaps close, harmful substances may get into the body.  You really want this leaky gut closed and mature before introducing anything other than breastmilk, and waiting on solid introduction accomplishes this.  Furthermore, baby’s enzymatic function develops as he/she ages so as they aquire more enzymes- and different types of them for different foods- they are better able to digest foods.  One interesting fact about enzymes: The enzymes that digest carbs do not develop until babies are at least 6 months old, but some argue that it may not fully develop until 18 months of age.  So, remind me why some doctors recommend starting rice cereal (A CARB!) at 4 months- or earlier to help w/ reflux/sleep- and why so many baby foods (Puffs, teething biscuits) have carbs?!  It is important to remember that even though iron in breastmilk is lower than in formula and certain solid foods, it is a more readily available and digestible form of iron; therefore, there is a lot less chance of a baby being anemic while being exclusively breastfed.  Additionally, the brain is growing and maturing at a faster rate than it ever will in a lifetime during a baby’s first 2 years, and the immune system is also developing and maturing.  During this stage where such vital systems are perfecting themselves, why would we want to feed our babies anything other than the perfect food.  Breastmilk is that perfect food, and even when it’s not their exclusive diet, it is vital that is it their primary nutritional source…  Don’t forget that as you rush into the solid stage !

What do you watch for in your baby to show you that they are ‘solid ready’, since BLW is allowing them to lead this fun, new process?  The two most important things, given that you have waited until they are at least 6 months of age, to watch for is that baby can 1) sit up on his/her own unassisted, and 2) that baby can take things to his/her mouth.  These not only give us signs that baby is moving towards ability to eat solids, but it will make this stage a lot safer too.  Watch as they develop further and start to put things in their mouth and make smacking motion with their lips and chewing with their mouth.  To quote the book, “The very best sign that a baby is ready is when she starts to put food into her mouth herself- which she can only do if she is given the opportunity.  When the child on your lap grabs a handful of dinner from your plate, chews it and swallows it, then it might be time to push the plate nearer to her.”  I find that a lot of parents tell me that they feel it’s time to start solids because their baby “keeps looking at me like he/she wants to eat what I have”.  The more children a parent has, the earlier this comment arises.  Remember, babies are curious by nature, it’s how they learn!  And, the more siblings in the baby’s environment, the more the baby has to watch (hence those earlier comments).  Just because baby is fascinated by what is going on around him/her, does not mean he/she is necessarily needing solids yet.  Research also, counter to popular thought, has not shown that the addition of solids helps babies sleep through the night, and it doesn’t show that adding it to a baby’s diet is warranted simply because baby is underweight.  Solids are not warranted before six months, and weight shouldn’t be an isolated indicator for their addition (reaching normal developmental milestones and experiencing normal brain maturation tell us a lot more about health than weight does).  Many things can be done to increase a person’s- or baby’s- weight, but it doesn’t mean those things will increase their health!

One of the most important things I can emphasize about the when is that when a baby starts solids, they are mostly learning.  The actual eating part will take weeks to months to develop.  I think there is this idea in our heads early on in our babies lives that they need food, solids.  When you do start this food, they will be learning- learning what it looks like, how it feels, where it’s at in relationship to them, how to get to it, how to grab it, how to bring it to them, how to place it in their mouths, what texture it has, how that texture changes how it moves in their mouth, how to chew and swallow it, and so much more.  This new food will do way more for their brain than it initially will do for their stomach.  So please don’t buy into the fact that you need to feed them soon to simply give them food.  Breastmilk is the best food for your baby, homemade formula second to that- if breastmilk is not an option/choice; and, one of these needs to remain their primary food until they are at least a year old.

You may be new to the term “baby-led weaning”, and on seeing it may be wondering, “What is she talking about?  What is this ‘baby-led weaning’? ”  Well, contrary to what some may think, it really isn’t a new concept at all.  Like with many other parenting and child-rearing concepts, it’s something old and basic- innate really- that we’ve complicated and come away from.  However, I think many parents listening to their instinct- especially in our busy society where we need as much ease as we can get out of our day- are quickly gravitating back to this natural concept.  In a nutshell baby-led weaning is this: Babies will feed themselves when they are ready.  The authors explain, “Weaning is the gradual change that a baby makes from having breast milk or formula as her only food to having no breast milk or formula at all.”  The first solid food that baby has is the beginning of this weaning process.

Now, why should baby lead this process?  Well, several reasons really…  First, it plays an extremely important role in baby’s development.  Babies develop at their own pace, when they are ready, and we don’t want to rush this.  It’s just like other milestones- take crawling- because each one stimulates the brain, shouldn’t ever be skipped, and will lead to the next important stage.  Baby-Led Weaning, shortened ‘BLW’- will help with these vitally important skills:  Facial muscle development, chewing, swallowing, speech development, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination.  Just to name a few!  I feel like so much focused has been placed on the when and what of solids…  But, there’s an important reminder of the why!  In addition, BLW helps baby develop his/her self-confidence and independence.  It also helps make eating more enjoyable- whether that be snacks or family mealtime.  It allows baby to control what they eat, how much they eat and how quickly it’s done.  And, there’s a lot of money saved when families choose to do it this way too!

Also, like so many other aspects of parenting, starting solids and choosing BLW can be very convicting for the parents.  ”Convicting? Why and how so?”, you may ask.  Well, with BLW, most parents choose to let their babies eat what they eat.  If that image gives you a lump in your throat, maybe some change is in order.  Again, to quote the authors, “As long as your own diet is healthy and nutritious there’s no need for separate recipes.”  On this note, let me say, you may choose not to change your habits now and still do some aspects of BLW by allowing your baby to feed him/herself but still making seperate food items for him/her to choose from.  Let me encourage you to make the change now.  Move the family diet to something that you’d be happy for your baby to eat.  The change will need to happen at some point; otherwise, you’ll be looking at a toddler who is begging for pretty unhealthy choices!  Make this a positive move closer to health and wellness for the entire family.  The latest research is showing that our babies health has been affected by what our grandparents ate!  Isn’t that amazing?  So this food thing has so much more to do with a large picture we are just painting a tiny part of…  It’s so sad to me where we are at as a society when it comes to food, but it gives me so much hope to look at where we could be!

Stay tuned, we’ll soon look at the rest of the story…  What should babies be fed, when should it start, and what do the specific how’s look like?

I am loving the world of Twitter!  You can find so many great people, blogs, ideas and recipes just from all the connections one of your contacts has.  It has made cleansing so much easier .  Because I am still nursing, I am trying to keep protein and calorie intake up while on the SP 21 Program.  On Friday, I tried this recipe, and really liked it.  You can leave out the sesame seed oil and soy sauce (replace with sea salt to taste).  I used fresh ginger, and loved the addition!

Also, I love this new blog!  Her menu planning for the week inspires me.  And, I have been able to pull some great, new recipe ideas to try while cleansing.  She did a guest post for this blog, on keeping your kitchen clean when you are constantly cooking.  I feel like that is one of my big struggles on the cleanse.  I will be visiting this site more often now. 

We are almost through Week 1, 2 more to go!  Happy Cleansing!

One of the most frequent things new parents talk about is their baby’s skin. 

“Oh, there skin is so soft!”

“This is awful!  Have you ever seen any worse baby acne?!  What can I do?  I feel so bad for her.”

“What perfect skin color!”

“Sure wish I could go back to having baby skin!”

“Their skin is so sensitive.”

And on and on the comments and questions go.  Shouldn’t the skin naturally be a big topic of discussion?  After all, it is the largest organ of our bodies, no matter how old or cute we are or are not.  Therefore, since this organ is exposed a lot and absorbs even more, hopefully we are concerned about what we are putting on it.  And, remember, it tends to express a lot and when left alone, it tends to tell us how well it is or is not tolerating what we are doing to it.

Baby acne (which isn’t like adult acne!) scares a lot of parents.  They want their precious, new baby’s skin to remain perfect.  This can often be an alert that something needs to be changed (frequently diet), but it can also be normal.  Remember that baby’s skin was just in a perfect, cozy, protected environment for close to ten months; then, abruptly, it was brought into and exposed to this crazy world outside.  Sometimes, the skin needs some time to get used to this world.

What can be done to get and keep skin healthy, especially baby’s?  Start out with the simplest recommendation:  plenty of water.  Breastfed babies don’t need water, but make sure the nursing mom is drinking plenty!  Half of her body weight in ounces of water is a great goal, and then once that is achieved work up to 75% of her body weight in ounces of water.  Also, make sure mom is taking a good quality, mercury free, fish oil from a reputable company.  I like Innate Choice’s Omega Sufficiency the best.  This can also be given to baby (even nursing babies), and you will probably be surprised that most children love the taste of it.  A good probiotic is also important, again nursing moms absolutely need to take, and babies can have some directly too.  You can mix it in a bottle, their table food (if they are eating solids), or put some on your finger and let them suck it off.  Again, I love Innate Choice’s products, and feel their probiotic is superior to any others on the market.  If baby is on formula, fish oils and probiotics are a must because they will be a lot more deficient in these vital nutrients than breastfed babies.  Avoid food allergens, I will post more- in detail- on this later.  However, the top allergens tend to be dairy, soy, wheat, corn and processed sugars.  See my post on “Happy Meals for My Children”.  Additionally, the skin can be sprayed with colloidal silver or breastmilk can be applied topically on the problem areas.

Bathing and moisturizing is another big subject that comes up when baby’s skin is being discussed.  One important thing to remember, babies don’t need to be bathed on a daily basis!  Baths tend to wash away the natural, good oils that baby’s skin produces.  So, especially initially, the less they are bathed the better their skin does.  Vernix, the cheesy coating that babies are usually born with on their skin, is extremely important for skin health.  Many people are grossed out by this and quickly try to wash it off of their newborns.  This should absolutely not be washed away!  In fact, the World Health Organization recommends delaying the first bath and rubbing the vernix into the skin.  They recognize the health benefits of it.  Vernix lubricates and protects the skin, it also contains antibodies for things like group B strep and e coli.  Don’t let it gross you out, use it to benefit and protect your baby- rub it in, don’t wash it off! 

What products should you use on baby when it does come time to bathe?  I can tell you which are most popular in mainstream circles and which I would definitely NOT use on myself or my precious child.  Two of the most common are Johnson’s ”Head to Toe Baby Wash” and Phisoderm’s “pHisoderm Tear Free Cream Wash”.  Why wouldn’t I use these?  Check out the Ingredients: 

Johnson’s: Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, PEG-80 Sorbitan Laurate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, PEG-150 Distearate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, Polyquaternium-10, Fragrance, Quaternium-15, Citric Acid

 Phisoderm: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Mineral Oil, Disodium Ricinoleamido MEA Sulfosuccinate, Cocamidopropylamine Oxide, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Disodium EDTA, Propylene Glycol, Fragrance, Diazolidinyl Urea, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Triethanolamine.

Pay careful attention to ingredients when it comes to your kids, especially babies.  Just because it’s “pediatrician recommended” or “dermatologist approved” does NOT mean it’s good for you!  Both of these contain sodium lauryl sulphate; SLS removes oil and when applied to skin or ingested is a carcinogen (causes cancer).  Both also have EDTA, which is made from formaldehyde, and has been shown to be an environmental pollutant and can cause reproductive and developmental problems.  Mineral oil is a petrochemical that essentially suffocates the skin and doesn’t allow it to breathe or the cells to regenerate (so it may speed up the skin’s aging process).  Parabens have an estrogenic effect, and can disturb the hormonal system; also, they can be a carcinogen too.  Propylene glycol is antifreeze, definitely not something I care to lather on my child!

I know now that you are convinced you would rather use something else too, so what?  Luckily, many are looking for better options today, and the market is giving us several.  Dr. Bronner’s is a great choice.  We love Chae Organics, their “Baby Shampoo & Body Suds” is great!  It is a foaming cleanser, so it lasts a very long time.  We have not even used a whole bottle up in Harper’s first year of life.  Also, I use their “Baby Lotion” as my facial moisturizer.  And, their “Thera-P Foam“ is wonderful for eczema.  I can’t say enough about how much I like their products.  Evan’s Garden carries a good baby soap too, called “Dream Baby Soap and Shampoo“.  We also use many of their household cleaners, and are very pleased with the company.  As a moisturizer, coconut oil (the kind you use to cook with) works really well too. 

What about you, any natural products you have switched to for your family that you really like?  Also, we are carrying more of these products in our office, please contact us for more information.  Happy Bathing!

I love my job, and I love that I am surrounded by precious little kids all day long.  They make life so fun!  I don’t know how people go through life and only surround themselves with adults, how boring!  Kids say and do things on a constant basis, which continuously keep us entertained and smiling.  Today, I am still laughing about a funny kid story that happened just a little while ago.  All of you nursing moms will appreciate this.

This Christmas, we went to celebrate with Jim Bob’s family, like we do every year.  At lunch, I went in his cousin’s bedroom- since everyone else was in the living room- to have some quiet, down time and nurse Harper.  His 4 and 2 year old cousins quickly followed us into the bedroom.  Shortly, their mom came running around the corner, “Girls, let’s give Cindy some privacy.”  I told her, “I don’t care if you don’t mind.”  To which she responded, “Well, she (pointing to the 2 year old) won’t notice anything, but this one (pointing to the 4 year old) is about to have a lot of questions.”  Then, she walked back out of the room, leaving the girls behind.  Harper was happily eating at this point, with only the back of his head visible, as he covered his face in my shirt.  “When will he be done?” asked the 4 year old.  “I often wonder the same thing!”  I responded to her.  She stood there intently watching him eat for a little while longer, and then quickly replied, with a precious, deep Southern accent, “He sure does like your shirt!”

This was lunch-  A salad with a simple dressing of fresh lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt.  Eggplant, baked, which I will give you the recipe for in a minute.  And, a large serving a steamed brocoli with butter and fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Here is what the eggplant looks like while cooking:

What you do- pick out a firm eggplant and slice.  In a shallow plate or pan, combine balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  You don’t need to do specific amounts, just mix it how you like to taste (like making a dressing).  Press several cloves of garlic into the mixture and add sea salt and pepper.  Soak the eggplant slices in the mixture- making sure both sides of the slice get covered.  Place slices on a baking sheet (I use my Stoneware) and bake in the oven at 4oo.  I flip once- takes about 10 minutes per side.  Enjoy!

As you can see, Harper is enjoying the cleanse too:

Here he is enjoying avocado and brocoli with us, before enjoying my new, clean breastmilk : )…  Which I made sure is ample by adding a little chicken to my lunch.  JB stuck w/ the regular cleanse plan and is doing no meat until after the first 10 days.  Also, on the Harper note, I am so amazed at  how many people freak out when they hear you are cleansing while nursing.  Would I get the same reaction if I went to eat at McDonald’s while nursing and/or pregnant or if I decided to down a Coke?!  I think not!  What is wrong w/ our culture?  It drives me absolutely crazy!  All the cleanse is, is committing to change your lifestyle as far as food goes for 3 weeks.  I am choosing to avoid sugar, eat tons of veggies, eat a lot of fruit and drink only water (and a lot of it).  In addition, I am taking high doses of whole food supplements- meaning pills made up of dried fruits and veggies (more than I could ever eat).  It is totally safe and healthy for you!!!

Enough ranting…  Another cool recipe?  This one cracks me up because I got it off of a friend’s blog who generally post nothing but unhealthy, delicious recipes.  It is so good!  And, in my usual fashion, I can’t leave well enough alone so I changed the recipe up a bit.  I add some organic Italian dried seasoning and bay leaves.  A huge trick to being successful on this cleanse is not letting yourself get hungry.  So I set this recipe out with tons of fresh veggies, and we munch all day.  It is great!  Click here for the recipe, and here’s what it looks like: 

Rinsing the tomatoes while the oven heats.

Looks good enough to eat now, huh?  Headed to the oven.

The final product, ready for the dippin’- YUM!  For dinner we’ll have this sauce on spagetti squash, delish!!  For those who don’t know what that is or how to cook it, I’ll explain later.