 |
My youngest, little J, had a rocky start to life in her infancy and toddler years. We were in the constant battle against diaper rash, cradle cap and thrush. We tried everything- traditional diaper creams (which now seem absurd on a two week old baby), expensive sensitive skin products, Calendula oil, you name it. It seemed that we were plagued with her sensitive skin from the get-go.
The thrush was finally managed with drops for her and pills for me so we didn't keep passing it back and forth during our nursing sessions. Diaper rash came and went in the first couple years and was not without helpful suggestions from everyone we knew. We heard to try baby oil, cut out milk products, switch to cloth diapers and wipes, give her hiney lots of "free time". Relief didn't come until potty training.
The worst was the cradle cap. Since all the doctors told us not to worry about it- that it's normal, all kids have it when their little, we did very little besides what was recommended from the general medical consensus. Their best advice is to brush it with a soft comb so the flakes come off and keep it clean. Others told us to use Calendula or baby oil to soften it before you brush more aggressively to remove it. These were important suggestions and would remove the flakes, but not solve the underlying problem, and it would quickly return within the week. Her scalp continued to be plagued with the yellow crust until she was well over 2 years old. One day I brushed her hair, and clumps of it started falling out. We were shocked. More and more fell out every day. We went through several consultations and were finally seen by the Chief of Dermatology. He jumped at the teaching opportunity and we became quite the spectacle. She and I sat in a tiny room full of nearly a dozen interns while they examined and studied, hummed and hahhed.
We left with three prescriptions for both topical and internal remedies hoping that it would respond to one of them and clue us in to what was ailing her. After several follow-up visits, a simple prescription strength dandruff shampoo did the trick. Her hair stopped falling out, and began to grow again.
 |
| Hats were all the fashion that spring! |
 |
| Nearly at it's worst. |
What I have finally realized is that all these ailments are connected. However, each was treated as an isolated incident. Which is very common in the medical community, they treat the symptoms and not the whole body. What connects these all is Yeast. They are all one form or another of different yeast.
So, what happened to her? I realized that late in my pregnancy the doctor ran a test to see if the early contractions I was having would lead to preterm labor and also did some sort of other cultures at the same time. They said I had a small amount of yeast (something very common in pregnancy) but since I wasn't having symptoms and didn't want to go through unnecessary treatment, I opted out from taking a cautionary course of Monistat or whatever.
What they didn't tell me was that the yeast is passed from Mom to baby during childbirth and can result in a barrage of problems like we experienced with her. As you can see, there was no quick fix. Many of the treatments aren't available because they can be harmful to such tiny babies. My own ignorance of the risk and the lack of information caused this whole fiasco.
Given the fact that we never want to experience all the rashes from head to tush, I am becoming much more proactive about what I eat. We have to control the yeast at it's source- with me and what I am ingesting. Sugar grows yeast. It's also best to cut out anything white (white flour, sugar, rice) and opt for whole grain whenever possible. Since I may be more susceptible to yeast overgrowth, I have to be especially careful and cut back even farther. I noticed in my own personal health I have never felt better as when I went Gluten free earlier this year. I should probably just stick relatively close to a GF diet permanently to operate at my best health.
I did read up on the Yeast Connection, and while I don't consider it gospel, it could be an underlying cause for some of the problems I have personally that I shrugged off as "unrelated and isolated incidents". Again, sugar and cheap carbohydrates are black-listed (but they're so much fun!!).
No comments:
Post a Comment