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I just wanted to post about our current situation…
As some of you know, Lucas has had sleeping problems since day one, and SEVERE sleeping problems for the last year. He is currently 19 months old. I have been co-sleeping with him for a year. He’s on high doses of zegerid — all his testing showed severe reflux–and we’ve tried EVERYTHING (except for CIO), have even been to a surgeon to talk about fundos.
I removed ALL dairy and soy from my diet when he was 8-9 months old. At 17 mos I was desperate again and removed ALL GLUTEN, very strictly, from both our diets (I’m still nursing). This produced a nearly immediate reaction of him acting tired like other babies act, and going to sleep at more predictable times. He also began sleeping for longer stretches at night. This experiment has been complicated by two intense bouts of teething, but it seems that the better sleep is a new trend. We went to my chiropractor for adjustments two times in the last month, and also started diligently with probiotics. These changes have made MAJOR improvements to his sleep. This has truly been a miracle for us.
I encourage any of you with on-going serious, severe sleeping issues to safely investigate probiotics and other avenues — and if you are comfortable, check into avenues outside of western medicine, meaning pediatricians and ped gis. My chiropractor was the only medical practitioner who suggested removing wheat from our diets (although an allergiest might have, but our ped talked me out of going to the allergist several months back!). I am using Nature’s Way Children’s Primadophilus with Lucas, and seeing a major difference–you can buy it at a health food store. Also, investigate food allergies, problems, etc. just to rule out these issues for your kids, it’s a VERY GOOD IDEA. If I had tried this gluten free thing a year ago, we could have possibly avoided a year of misery and no sleep.
Ironically, as a big fan of Dr. Sears, I never did his elimination diet as he recommends, I did a modification of it as I initially thought Lucas had trouble with rice. In place of rice, I was eating bread. A strict and slow moving elimination diet like Dr. Sears recommends might have sent me in the right direction, but I still may not have realized it was a gluten problem. I am waiting to get more sleep before I add in other grains to find out if this is just wheat, or a gluten thing.
The best lesson from these recent discoveries is to NEVER stop investigating what could be the cause of nightwakings if your gut tells you your child is in pain and something is not right. I hope this is helpful to someone out there!!
some links:
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t042500.asp#T042506
taken from askdrsears.com:
Bugs in the bowels. Billions of bacteria reside in the intestines, primarily in the large intestine. Called intestinal flora, because they are like the plant life of the intestines, they contribute to the healthy life of the colon – and the whole body. These intestinal bacteria are also known as probiotics because they add health to life. (The term “probiotics” is also used for bacteria supplements in a bottle, either in powder or capsule form.)
The two main healthful bacteria in the colon are lactobacilli and bifidus bacteria. They live symbiotically in the colon, meaning in a mutual give-and- take relationship. These bugs give good stuff to the body in return for a warm place to live. The healthy bacteria keep the harmful bacteria in check. They also ferment the soluble fiber in food, forming short-chain fatty acids (SCFA’s), which nourish the cells of the large intestine, stimulating healing and reducing the development of intestinal cancer. SCFA’s are also absorbed from the intestines and travel to the liver where they decrease the liver’s production of cholesterol. In addition, SCFA’s inhibit the growth of yeast and disease- causing bacteria.
http://www.digevent.com/events/client/sideshow/01-06-11_drse ars_ssn/index.asp
another quick search gave me this site on-line, too:
http://www.usprobiotics.org/basics/
Basically, probiotics increase the health of hte gut by introducing the healthy bacteria that we all need in our intestinal system. My chiropractor suggested thsi for Lucas last summer and I’ve used it sporadically, but have seen a marked improvement since removing gluten with the use of probiotics. You can get it at a health food store. There are lots of posts on probiotics on these forums. you want to get acidophilus, bifidus, and bulgaricus (don’t know if this is the right spelling) but these are some of hte names of hte good bacteria. We use Nature’s Way Primadophilus for children, which can be given straight after adding water– I give it to Lucas this way by mixing water and giving with a syringe, or it can be added to formula, etc. It’s very easy to use and might just help you out.
I’ve found with lucas that introducing some foods can really throw him off. It could take two weeks or so for everything to clear Henry’s system, if it was a food thing that has thrown him off. Otherwise, it could be something else that coincidentally happened at the same time you introduced the food. Making sure his ppi drug is adequate is another thing to look into.
Please write if you want more tips on sleeping, we have SO BEEN THERE for SOOOOOO long.
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