Now, Adalyn is 6 months old and I’m really doing my research (on leaky gut in a breast-feeding mother), I can’t believe that it’s taken me this long to fully learn about how healing a leaky gut could possibly make our lives a whole lot easier.

Leaky gut in a breast-feeding mom means that your food isn’t properly being digested and furthermore that the blood barrier in the colon is compromised. This is significant because anything that enters your blood also ends up in your milk, so if you’re not properly digesting foods then you aren’t filtering toxins in your digestive tract either.

The toxins and undigested stuff can end up in your blood supply and thus in your breast milk (when it normally wouldn’t) which can appear similar to food sensitivities and other ailments in you and baby.

This makes perfect sense to what’s going on with myself and Adalyn and that would mean our issues weren’t necessarily related to food sensitivities, but rather she’s just being exposed to things through my breast milk that her body either isn’t ready to handle or shouldn’t have to handle yet.

This is particularly alarming because a child’s toxin barriers aren’t fully formed yet, so toxins that enter the body can harm the brain and body. Plus, if mom has a leaky gut then her digestive bacterias (that are the root of the leaky gut problem in the first place) have already been passed to baby, so baby needs leaky gut healing too.

Many moms automatically assume when their baby has gas or acid reflex or colic symptoms that it’s because of baby’s food allergy and that it’s something the mothers eating. It’s partially true in the case of leaky gut syndrome the difference is that the leaky gut can be healed and prevented.

There are various options when it comes to healing a leaky gut, they’re all very similar to an elimination diet however the end result is not to simply do away with certain foods from the diet altogether rather the goal is to remove them temporarily so they got has time to heal and later function more properly.

I’m thinking once get digestion on track again a lot of these no-no foods for leaky gut healing could be added back in. I was warned that we that healing the leaky gut is long and tedious process and I’m not particularly excited about having to undertake it but I’ll do anything to make Addie feel better.

So, I started my healing process with removing sugars from the diet. I just took an online course that said whatever foods you perceive that you cannot live without or that you crave intensely are likely the foods that cause you the most problems with regards to digestion and the leaky gut. Sugar is number one on my list of cravings so that’s the 1st thing I’ve taken out.

After sugar the other major food to eliminate (for me) would have to be processed foods I guess you’d say. Mainly snack foods that are high in carbs. I tend to go back and forth between sugars and carbs not only for quick energy during the busy day but also to fill me up.

Without the sugars and carbs I tend to always feel hungry and hunger immediately sends me reaching for something sweet or something processed and filling.

So that’s where we have been for the last three weeks. I’m working to improve my diet and to heal my gut/digestive tract so that my breastfeeding child is healed and is not suffering. We are also, finally, getting an evaluation for tongue tie.

If you’d like more resources on leaky gut and nursing you can also check these articles out:

• The Gut, Microbes and Poop
• Healing Leaky Gut: Mothering.com
• 9 Steps to Perfect Health – #5: Heal Your Gut

Updates:

1/3/18 – I wanted update this post with our progress since it was initially written back in 2012…

We are now a gluten free family. We were also a dairy free family until we got our own dairy cow (a Jersey A2 milk cow). We never did get anywhere on the tongue tie and none of my kids (we had a son after this was written) have any speech or oral issues as older kids.

After having leaky gut pointed out to me back in 2012 I was set on a journey to figure out what foods were causing issues. I went on a full blown elimination diet where gluten, dairy and nuts were removed. During this elimination diet I also got a Celiac blood screening done, I reintroduced gluten intermittently for about 3-4 weeks before my blood test. I should have been consuming more gluten before the test but it was making me ill. I found out I was on the cusp of a positive result for Celiac disease (a percentage point away from a positive antibody screen).  I had no interest in allowing the gluten to do any further damage. With proof of elevated levels of antibodies I understood gluten was impacting my health but that I was not a full blown Celiac sufferer, YET. I’m not positive which Celiac genetic markers I carry but I do have a brother and a father with gluten issues and an aunt with Cron’s disease. 

It turns out I was having a “Leaky Gut” due to gluten sensitivities in 2012. 

The post Digestion issues in baby could be leaky gut in the breastfeeding mother. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

She’ll be hanging out at home with N while I go to an all day marching band rehearsal.

N wasn’t jazzed about spending the day hanging around the school taking care of E (so I could breastfeed her on demand) while I am working. I don’t blame him, if I were him would rather spend my Saturday at home relaxing.

Besides It’s better that she’s not out in the heat and blazing sun for that long anyway… So the two of them will be relaxing at home without me all day.

This is why we’ve been trying so hard to get her to take a bottle lately. There are gonna be days when she’s home with him and I am out working. We also would love to have a date night once in a while. If she refuses a bottle it kind of makes it impossible for me to leave her side for very long.

N and E had another successful morning while I was left to catch up on some sleep. I guess N took her down to the nursery where she took her morning nap in her crib. Crib sleeping is not something that happens often as she’s still pretty attached to swing sleeping.

N said after her nap in the crib she took a bottle with hardly any fuss, she even smiled at him while he was giving her it. This is a great change from the frantic screaming she was doing during bottle time days before.

It appears N and Everly are geared up for tomorrow and this makes me pretty happy. I love her to death but it will be nice to go to work and have 2 hands to teach with as opposed to only the one (since I’ve been holding her the entire time I am teaching).

Now I need to get back to my BPA obsessing, I’ll post more about that in a few days though, stay tuned.

The post This mom is flying solo tomorrow. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Things like “douchebag-deluxe” and “breastfeeding like a hunchback” are the most recent ones…

N started it by telling me it was my own fault I had neck and back pain… “you breastfeed all hunchback like, it’s no wonder!” I looked at him all perplexed and mildly amused by the blunt remark.

He goes on to tell me that I used to be all about using pillows for support while I breastfed and now I’ve just resolved to feeding her uncomfortably.

I responded that he could offer to bring me my pillows and to help make me more comfortable when I am breastfeeding instead of being all douchebag-deluxe and leaving me to care for Everly all by my self all the time. We both snorted and went on our merry way.

It’s nice to have some humor back in the house!

In other news I’ve attempted to vlog with Everly, it’s less than eventful (unless you like my leaking boob!) but I know some family and friends will appreciate the shared video.

Oh, Everly took 1.5 oz of pumped milk from a bottle this morning while I slept. Woot, woot!

The post He said I breastfeed like a hunchback… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Plus, I would prefer to leave her with a sitter sometimes while I am working… Anything to keep her indoors and cool as opposed to the 80 degree temps and 50% humidity that I am working in while teaching a colorguard. I am worried about her getting dehydrated, overheated, sunburned and bug bitten.

Anyway, we’ve been working at getting her to take pumped milk from a bottle now that breastfeeding is well established and risk for “nipple confusion” has passed. We’ve read books, stocked up on different nipple/ bottle types and I have pumped breast milk.

N tries to give her the bottle when I am still asleep in the mornings. He takes her in a different room or even outside so she’s away from me and my scent. Everyone says that she’ll be more likely to refuse the bottle or pacifier if she knows the real thing is near.

He would love to be a part of the feeding process and has been eager to begin bottle feeding her. Unfortunately she screams bloody murder like he is torturing her each time her tries to offer the bottle to her.

He’s tried the walking around with her in the facing out position like The Nursing Mother’s Companionsays to, she still wont take the bottle. We also read The Complete Book of Breastfeedingfor advice.

We have both tried our hand at the cradle hold and a few other positions, different nipples, feeding at different times etc. We have both tried everything we can think of to ease her in to bottle feeding. We are even offering her a pacifier to get her used to the artificial feel.

We have the Adiri Natural Nurser Bottle,a Gerber Nuk Bottleand the bottles that came in the Medela Breast Pump Accessory Set. We have a Nuk, a Soothie and an Aventpacifier that she’s also refusing.

She simply will not have any part of bottle feeding or pacifiers! She only wants the real thing, which is a nice compliment but at the same time I am worried I’ll never be able to leave her side till she’s weaned of breastfeeding.

I welcome any advice or tips you might have to help get her to take an occasional bottle of pumped milk every now and then.

The post She only wants boob! appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

Homebirth is not for every woman and every pregnancy which is why there needs to be adequate laws and regulations in place to protect women and midwives (like there are in Tennessee). Homebirth should be an acceptable and viable option for most but thanks to one sided stories, scare tactics and profit driven laws it is not. This is sad and maddening to me.

Another thing that is wearing on my nerves is breastfeeding ignorance. Everly is just over a month old and we are exclusively breastfeeding. We haven’t introduced the bottle or a pacifier because we don’t want to cause “nipple confusion” and disrupt the working breastfeeding relationship (you are supposed to wait until 6-8 weeks). For some reason people who hardly know me can’t wrap their minds around this and it is annoying me. (If you are reading this, it’s not about you I promise!)

Sure bottles and pacifiers would be more convenient but they aren’t best for E at this time (in my mind) and I’ve chosen to commit to breastfeeding, why can’t people understand and respect this? Plus she wont have anything to do with them anyway.

Speaking of respect, my ex-doctors office (remember the bad OBGYN?) sold my info to formula companies without my consent. I’ve been receiving formula vouchers like crazy and I’ve got free formula coming out my ears now!

Sure, free stuff is nice but not when you wont use it and the only reason they are giving it is to get you to mess up with breastfeeding and to get you hooked on their products. It is like they are tempting you to give up on breastfeeding. And don’t even get me started on how little support exists for breastfeeding moms…

Can you tell I am running on major lack of sleep? I am all irritable and full of complaints today.

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