“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food….” Hippocrates

When Deia was 5 hours old, she started projectile vomiting on me, after she had only nursed and received colostrum. It was terrifying… holding this fresh, pure, just birthed baby at home after a water birth, and she is puking up the only thing she had taken in. It proceeded to happen a few more times that first night. I was scared to put her down on her back. The midwives came back over to the house that next morning, and we were all a little perplexed. How could colostrum be causing this? And maybe she just needs to be burped more, maybe she has acid reflux, maybe maybe maybe?…. We were so blissed out and in heaven with our little girl, and would have her sleep on her tummy  keeping a close eye on her. She would sleep on our chests, propped up. We tried propping up her mattress in the bassinet. And we would burp her for at least 30 minutes after eating. My milk came in a couple days later and it just got worse. It wasn’t like little burps, it was more like vomit coming 2 feet out of that little 8 pound baby.  A doctor told us that it was acid reflux and we should medicate her immediately. But my gut was telling me otherwise.  It wouldn’t happen every time she ate. So I started keeping a journal of what I was eating. Come to find out there was definitely a correlation with the food I was eating. I ended up doing an elimination diet via Dr. Sears. For about 4 weeks, I ate about 12 things. Her vomiting/reflux/stomach issues got SO much better. And I clearly remember at one point about 3 weeks in, I had two bites of Gavin’s granola. And 2 hours later I nursed Deia and she immediately threw up. It was like a lighting bolt. GLUTEN?!! WHEAT?!! ….. oh say it isn’t so?!…. what about the croissants and the muffins and the PASTA that I live on from La Dolce Vita?!…..  I knew it deep down inside… that gluten or wheat was one of the culprits. But I was hopeful it would go away.

When Deia was about 3 months old, I started incorporating additional food into my diet. And it was clear as day what she was allergic to….. or at least intolerant to.

Dairy. Soy. WHEAT. Gluten. Black beans. The list went on. (All this was terrifying because we were living in Costa Rica and I was a vegan). So I started eating eggs. And fish. Taking lots of supplements. Through lots of trial and error, I got myself on a pretty good diet that wouldn’t irritate her tummy while breastfeeding. Some people encouraged me to stop nursing and put her on formula, but that didn’t feel right to me. So I did my best, but didn’t stress if I ate a few bites of beans, or part of a croissant… I just knew that I might have an uncomfortable baby for several hours. As she got a little older, around 6 months, I could eat a little bit of something and then I wouldn’t nurse her for several hours and it wouldn’t affect her as much, And as she got older, it got better, or so I thought. And on the surface she looked so healthy!

When Deia started eating solid foods, I went through many ups and downs and would notice how things affected her digestion. I tried my best and then around 2 years old,  I lost more and more control over her diet. But it also seemed that her stomach was stronger and she would eat a piece of toast or birthday cake and there would be no outward signs, and/or she wouldn’t say anything to me about being in pain. I slowly started letting her eat whatever she wanted, I guess partly out of laziness, but also out of ignorance because I was waiting for her to say something or to notice her stomach in pain or something. Looking back, I don’t really know why I got so loose.

So every toddler and small child really gets exposed to a LOT of germs. And around 2/3 years old she started getting colds/ having hay fever that would immediately settle into her lungs and her coughs would get HORRENDOUS.  Spencer and I would be up all night with her. We tried everything…. steam showers, standing in front of the freezer door, vaporizer, Breathe/ On Guard/ Eucalytus oils, probiotics, every natural and not so natural cough medicine on the market (literally), the nebulizer, steroids, onions on her feet with wet socks, sleeping propped up, chamomile tea, cough drops, no dairy during a cold, open window, shut windows…. the list went on. And every time the ONLY way I could get the cough to stop was to put her on an antibiotic. For some reason that would help stop the mucous from producing and then her air ways wouldn’t be so inflamed. NOTE: I’m sure that a couple of the colds/ coughs needed antibiotics, but there were several times when I am sure that she did not have a bacterial infection or even a cold….. it was just this damn scary weird cough with NO other symptoms. But after several nights of no sleep, and poor Deia crying and asking why she had such a bad cough… I would always end up at the doctors office just begging for the antibiotic. The doctor and I started really digging deep into Deia’s cough and were both leaning to idea that she was struggling with childhood asthma. Because there were several times when she did NOT have any mucous stuck in her lungs. It was just these inflamed airways that were so inflamed and irritated. But even the nebulizer and steroid wouldn’t calm things down. So I was encouraged to put her on steroids and medication for two months to see if that would help. I was not opposed to that, but I really wanted to research on my own and seek out a couple other opinions before I got to that next step.

In my research of googling things like “holistic ways to treat childhood asthma” or “herbs and vitamins to prevent childhood asthma,” I was led to many interesting articles that would talk about:

*food and environmental allergies

*deficiencies in Omega 3 fats

*low levels of HCL  in the stomach. There have been studies done that show a correlation between asthma and low levels of HCL in people…. and Low levels of HCL stem from deficiencies in zinc and iodine.

I felt that I was on to something. And as I was reading one of the articles, the lighting struck….  Did I really think that Deia’s food sensitivities had gone away? Well, I was surely HOPEFUL. Yet, I knew that what had originally manifested in her stomach, was now affecting other parts of her body. She was inflamed!…. Something deeper was going on.

At the same time of all this research, I got overwhelmed and felt like I needed to have an allergy test done. Note: I could have gone and had a blood test done from her regular doctor, but I felt like I needed someone to holistically look at all of Deia… from the inside out and really listen to my (her) whole strory.. So I found a naturopath on the island that can test for food allergies. And I was ready for one other opinion to help me on this path. Deia was EXCITED. Just as much as I wanted to help her prevent these coughing spells, SHE was ready; She loathed them. So we went and saw Dr. Diana Joy Ostroff, a naturopath in Honolulu. (Note, that this post is not in any way a promotion or because she asked me to write this!)

Within 5 minutes of our appointment, Dr. Joy informed me that she thinks Deia has had a parasite and that this is one of the things wreaking havoc in Deia’s body and immune system.  Read more on signs (or lack there of) of parasites in the body. She said she would like to put Deia on black walnut for several weeks, which helps kill and expel parasites.

Then, Dr. Joy proceeded to test Deia with an EAV machine. It was not invasive, and very objective. It basically said which systems in Deia’s bodies were weak. We were given a couple other herbal supplements and asked to come back in a week and bring any food that I wanted to test against Deia’s body.

We came back with a cooler bag of food, and it was confirmed! Deia is allergic to wheat/gluten, dairy, peanut butter, soy, and several other specific foods. So even though she didn’t have any external signs, or stomach problems; all these foods were causing inflammation in her body and her immune system was in over drive ALL THE TIME. Then when she was exposed to a virus, her immune system was so compromised that it couldn’t take care of what it needed to.

I decided to remove all of the things from Deia’s diet that we learned it didn’t like. I appreciated that Dr. Joy reminded me to not obsess about being 100% perfect. Perhaps I could control 85% of it, but the other 15% that I couldn’t would help keep her immune system firing and healthy. So if we are at a restaurant or she is at a friend’s house and has a little bit of cheese or pretzels, I just know to make sure she has a lot of veggies and protein and eats more alkaline the next day. It’s a nice balance for out whole family to strive for.

In addition to the shift in diet and the herbal parasite cleanse, Deia went on a wonderful probiotic, fish oil, and a few other herbs for various things.

About 4 weeks in, several of Deia’s classmates had colds and coughs. I was hopeful, yet terrified because of our history. Normally she would for sure get the cold and then the cough and that would mean several nights of awful coughing and suffering Deia. So, sure enough, Deia came home from preschool with a fever and runny nose one day.  She ate really well that afternoon and went to bed early. And (insert all the celebration emojis here)… she woke up the next morning without a fever and her runny nose was GONE and no cough or anything!!! Spencer and I (and even Deia) were astonished! GONE. No symptoms. This helped validate everything we were doing. And it also inspired us to stay in tune with her diet. About 10 percent of me still couldn’t believe it and thought that maybe it was just coincidence.

A week ago, she developed another little cold or was sensitive to seasonal allergies. Typical runny nose, sneezing, and said her throat hurt. Well, about 5 days later her cold was GONE AGAIN! I heard her cough a few times at night but NOTHING like before and her body took care of itself!

I’m so grateful that we were led to really look deeper at her symptoms and what her body was trying to tell us and that we didn’t just put a bandaid on things. (Even though it took me 5 years to really do that, I’m so happy it happened now, and not when she’s in her 20’s or however long it would have taken.

I hope that this can also serve as some sort of inspiration to look closer at symptoms and really get to know you and your childs’ bodies. Of course there is a time and place for treating such childhood diseases or adult sicknesses with stronger medication. I know that not everything can be healed with a diet change. But it’s a good place to start!

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