Damen’s Progress Report (I am adding to this blog on a regular basis so it may be a bit all over the place feeling at times but i wanted to keep his journey in one blog post as opposed to multiple ones)
As many of my ‘readers’ know we have had what the world
defines as a “colicky” baby. I have always hated that word, and will continue
to hate it because I don’t like it! I think there’s always a –reason- for
discomfort and distress, it’s just a matter of finding out what it is and how
to address it. Granted in babies, it’s harder because they can’t communicate
outside of their constant crying.
Some backstory: I had a terrible pregnancy mentally and in
some cases physically (but mostly mentally), and I had my worst delivery as far
as delivery goes between the 3 boys. So frankly I’m not surprised I have a
“negative” baby out of the mix. He didn’t have much a chance being his entire utero
experience was negative. He spent the first 2-3 days of his life basically just
straight sleeping. I don’t blame him... what an experience it is for them
coming from the womb! He “growled” his first three days. Sounded like a little
motorbike. I suspected it was gunk in his throat, etc from swallowing or
something. Then the days went on and the SCREAMING and crying started. Damen
has a voice like no other. And he is 0 to 100. That’s how he rolls... no in
between lol
Well as the weeks went on I was aware of his fussing, and I
could tell it was definitely gastro-intestinal discomfort with the way he moved
and wriggled in pain. I decided to wait until 6 weeks to “do” anything about it
because there’s a lot of development that happens that first 6 weeks of life.
(outside of doing some Bowen therapy on him of course and I took him to the chiropractor
that I see). Then the 6 week mark hit and he was still in just as much
discomfort as before. Now I started to get a game plan in place. So over the
next 2-4 weeks we did the following at various times:
1.
Chiropractor – I found my chiro when I was
pregnant with Carter. She has worked on me and all of my children and she uses
a machine (and manual when needed) that taps. It’s gentle yet effective and I
love it. She made sure that Damen was aligned. He had some restrictions that I
noticed in his neck and hips so with her help we got him loosened up.
2.
Baby Bowen & Meridian Massage – I of course
do Bowen Therapy, so I when I could did baby bowen on Damen. I, after the fact
learned that it is safe to use any of the bowen procedures on babies, which I
didn’t know. I assumed the baby bowen moves were the only approved ones for
infants. Interesting about the Meridian Massage: it is something from my Touch
For Health training. My sister in law mentioned her colicky baby had some
meridian issues which relieved his colic, so I thought why don’t I “run” Damens
and his neurovasculars, neurolymphatics, etc. He strangely enough was very
uncomfortable when I did this work, especially if I did anything energetic
around his head. In fact, I could not
even hold certain spots on his head because he just screamed in agony! I was
shocked at how sensitive he was to the energetic work. I stuck at that point to
just “running his meridians” as I didn’t’ want to overdo it on his poor body. (The image is called the time of day balance but it is the only picture I could find that displayed all the meridians in one photo)
3.
Kari Rose – she is a practitioner that does not
have a “title” per say, she has a ton of different energy work styles she does
including craniosacral, visceral, etc. It’s a hands on therapy that uses energy
to balance the body. She got Damen’s organs “in place” and he had a few
releases with these 2 sessions.
4.
Naturopath – Carrie Mitchell got me committed
and motivated to do the “breastfeeding diet” as I have been calling it. This
consists of eating a whole foods diet which includes the rules of no corn, no
wheat, no dairy, minimal carbs (rice, potatoes), and minimal or no
gas-producing vegetables/fruit (cucumbers, zucchini, onion, pineapple, etc).
Outside of that I did not find a natuopath helpful as she didn’t really have
much information for me that I didn’t already know or was already doing.
5.
Infant Massage – Damen really enjoyed his infant
massage. I took him to Rosanne deBeautrap and I did not notice any profound results
from it per say, but Damen just was very happy and content to be professionally
rubbed. J
and considering his state up to this point I think that was a very important
experience for him to have – something positive and enjoyable that feels good
to his body
6.
Live&Dry blood analysis – in February 2015,
this blood analysis appointment was a real turning point in my knowledge base
of what was really going on with Damen. I am quite well versed in this because
I host Wendy (the practitioner) at my home this past year, plus have been receiving
blood analysis yearly for over a decade myself. I’ve seen a large variety of screen shots.
Damens was TERRIBLE! He has major digestive problems. He is NOT digesting well,
and his colon and intestines and entire digestive tract are completely
inflamed. Also he is full of mucous – which isn’t shocking because mucous is a
self defense of the body when there is distress or injury, etc. He also has
intestinal bacteria. candida, stress and parasites due to the state of his poor little
body. Then March 2015 (6 weeks later) he was mildly improved. Parasites were
gone, but his digestive tract was still enflamed with minimal improvement. I
listed below some of the supplements I used based on our findings. (Sadly with
Damen being an infant there’s not many proven or tested products, so we have
been truly trial and error)
7.
Body Talk – March 12th we did this
latest modality. When I called around looking for a practitioner, I was
specifically looking for someone to tell me if I was eating any foods
specifically that were causing Damen his discomfort (kind of like in touch for
health you can use muscle testing to determine sensativities). At the Amarylis
Center here in Cochrane a lady named Martha was recommended. I had never met
this lady and it was a true experience! She is VERY energetically driven and I
believe she truly has a great gift. Some of it was beyond my belief system and
was a little ‘out there’ – and coming from me, that means something haha! She
told me that Damen is an old soul type personality, and very sensitive to
others and their energies. She told me that he seemingly felt obligated to some
spirits (on Michael’s mom’s side of the family). She told me (by name) that a
boy I babysit named Grayson combined with Carter (on days that they don’t get
along) that it really affected Damen’s energy field negatively. She was able to
tell me about how my negative birth really affected mine and Damen’s bonding in
the beginning (which it did), and she told me how Michael’s inability to
communicate through conflict really ‘hurts’ him on a deep level. She said that
alot of this negative stuff was bogging down Damen’s digestive system. (which take
it how you will, but combined with my knowledge and experiences with various
modalities, alot of this stuff makes sense to me and I felt very good about the
information she gave me).
-Side bar: Earlier I mentioned Damen’s head and not being able to do any work
around it. That was one of the first things Martha picked up on and she said
even SHE wasn't going to work on it. She says that she feels almost all of his “issues”
are based around his head – physically and emotionally and energetically. She
said she could work on it but she felt strongly that a colleague of hers who is
an osteopath would be better suited for Damen’s case. So we have him booked in
for a session with Dr. Jeffrey next week.
8.
Young Living Oil – Digize. We just started this
March 16th – here’s the information I have about it:
9.
Osteopath: March 26th, 2015 I took Damen to see Dr Geoffrey's who is an osteopath from England who was in town that Martha the Body Talk lady referred us to. No idea what an osteopath is going in, still really no idea what one is going out of it LOL but I am pretty open to trying new things in the holistic world. Dr Geoffrey's used tuning forks to balance Damen. First he did some energy craniosacral stuff on his head to release some of the incredible tension in his skull, then moved on to the forks. Basically he tapped them together and moved them around different energy fields searching for an imbalance. The tune of the forks would make a different sound in an imbalanced field (and it's true, his small intestine area made a twangy sound at the beginning of the session). So he finished his session and sent me home with some great information (gonna post about it further down regarding how to start feeding him solids) and said give him 3 days and see what happens. After 2 days I was feeling like it was a total waste of $100 and then the next day I was (oddly enough) pleasantly surprised by a big huge bright yellow poop! Up to this point his poop has been green and murky and mucousy and smelly, and then BAM - yellow! The green stuff is a sure sign of improper digestion and poor liver function, etc and it should be the yellow stuff, so I was (for one of the few times in my life I can say this) excited to see that! And then his nose... he has had a hugely runny nose now for just over a day - which to me is exciting because he must be draining some of the mucous that I mentioned previously was ALL over his insides! So, I am pleased with the tentative outcome :)
Kari Rose and the Chiropractor and Bowen worked on Damen’s
physical self – “realigning” his structural self, which had some definite
misalignments, and he had some success with these practitioners. Meridians and Martha with her body talk worked on the emotional/energetic front more. Unfortunately,
It’s sadly trial and error because there is not much you can give a child in
the supplement world. What we've come up with is:
1.
Aloe vera (I have a tasteless liquid brand) – a
few drops for a few days then a few days off
2.
D-drops continued
3.
Probiotic – I use baby Gaia drops twice a day
4.
Me: Herbasante Parazap for the parasites –
hoping it crosses the milk barrier
5.
Me: Fenugreek for the mucous – hoping it crosses
the milk barrier
6.
Me: Probiotics, omega 3s, multivitamin/min, B12
– promote extra healthy milk
So the theory we are going with is that Damen will get what he needs from these
things through my milk to help his digestive tract. I do realize that maybe he
is just under-developed in the digestive tract, and “time will heal all wounds”
so to speak. Damen stopped crying at the 3 month mark but he still groans and
grunts when eating, and has smelly diapers (for someone on “perfect milk”) and
has a lot of dirty diapers – more than I’d say is normal but not enough to cause
a doctor to be concerned.
My worst case scenario thoughts are that Damen has crohnes
disease or something along the lines of that (it runs in my family which is why
I suspect it at all). Tho, if we get that far to need to see a doctor, I will
still look for other alternatives because I don’t want to put my baby through
that kind of invasive testing if I can help it. My doctor is not on the same
wavelength as I am. I saw him to get a note for Damen to receive massage
treatments (for our benefits we require a note), and upon inquiring his
thoughts on colic, he blatantly said to give up nursing and bottle feed
‘that’ll fix it’. So, going to see my doctor isn't top on my list.
Anyways! Here’s praying my newest info and journey lead us
in the right direction and I can help my poor sweet baby feel better and be the
happy baby I know he wants to be!
Feeding my baby solids when the time comes: Dr Geoffrey's suggested I look into www.gaps.me to look at the diet she recommends when starting babies on solids. Now the site is a bit over the top for me, but -generally- I am very pleased with the food program for starting new babies. Basically it's a bone-broth diet. You start your baby on broths, then eventually add vegetables to it, then eventually meat, etc. I plan to keep Damen gluten and dairy free for his first year (at least) since he's had such a tough go. (Which is another blog in itself as I am planning to make our household gluten free and dairy limited). The broth diet is easy on the digestive system while introducing some great nutrients into the body at the same time, so I am excited to give it a go!
April 9th 2015
so here I am about to write how good Damens bowels have been doing after his osteopath appointment, and about 3 days ago I notice the scent and mucous are starting to creep bacK minor. So almost 3 weeks isn't bad! The color is still yellow at least. But then thIS morning I change his diaper and there is blood in his stool :(. Called health link and they said monitor it for 3 days and if the majority of his stools contain blood then take him in. Anyways! Here's hoping it's an isolated incident.
April 12th:
We had two diapers on the 9th with blood then none the next few days and then more today. I see a pediatric doctor tomorriw for Carter so I will inquire there but my current suspicion is "allergic colitis" - fits the bill in many ways.
April 24th:
Last week we took Damen for another Body Talk session with Martha Birkett. It was amazing! Damen was sound asleep the entire session. She worked on him right in his carseat (touching his head and tummy and arms, etc) and he slept through the whole thing. Then I felt inspired to ask her to 'talk' to Damen about his sleep and if there's something wrong with his room/crib because ALL our kids have rejected sleeping in the crib (Carter the least). What she found that it was something linked to Michael. Whether it was him or something/someone linked to him she wasn't sure but Michael needed to be cleared. By shear fluke (or maybe not?) Michael came to the appointment with us. She started to clear him using tuning forks and Damen suddenly starts thrashing in his carseat and instantly screaming! HE was not wanting to let it go whatever it was. I picked him up and soothed him and he very intently, furrowed brow, watched Martha over the next 12 minutes while she cleared Michael. Michael all the while said he felt tingly. By the end Damen slowly calmed and settled and relaxed, and just before Martha finished Damen let out a big sigh and totally relaxed. I even got emotionally out of the blue mid session (which SO isn't me). It was a phenominal experience with amazing results! The demeaner of our family and Damen changed and it was like a huge weight lifted off multiple shoulders in our home. And! the relationship between Michael and Damen improved drastically!
Tuesday this week (three days ago) Wendy came and did blood analysis, and Damen's blood was HUGELY improved. The first dry sample had no trace of bowel issues, and the second hugely better. Still there but it's finally some big changes that make me happy :) I look forward to continuing to see Martha and still keeping my diet dairy/wheat/nut free, and doing the broth diet, etc.
Heres the big healthy boy! Apr 24-2015
