Autism, according to Dr. Natasha, begins in the gut flora of the parents. My generation of mothers and fathers is at a clear disadvantage for several reasons:
1.) Most of us were not breastfed, which contributes to abnormal gut flora.* I was nursed for 4 months, then put on straight cow’s milk. I nursed both my sons til 15 months, and they self-weaned and wanted no more boobie.
2.) Many of us mothers have been on the pill since the teenage years, which DESTROYS the beneficial flora of the gut. Yup. I was put on the pill for my migraines in high school. Of course, no one looked at gluten or casein for migraines back then in the ancient 1990s. I stayed on them until I was married, and then realized that “the pill” actually worsened my headaches. **Dr. Natasha didn’t touch on the fertility treatments which are also in the same category!
3.) Most of us have been raised on antibiotics, which totally wipe out all good and beneficial gut flora. Yup. I LIVED on the pink stuff. Antibiotics were a food group in my house.
4.) Modern foodstuffs. We were raised on frakenfood. The wonderbread years, sugared 80s cereals, and processed crap of my youth + the antibiotics, pills, meds, crap diets in the 20s, stress, etc…all created a poor environment.
Dr. Natasha goes on to describe the sterile environment of the newborn’s gut, and the newborn inherits the good and bad flora from the mother via breastfeeding. {Which I did until 15 months with Moose…imagine how much worse he’d be if I didn’t!}
In our situation:
Moose had thrush, diaper rash galore, and he spit up after every feeding until I quit all dairy products. When I introduced solids, he didn’t poop for ten days! I remember running to the store frantic, hoping to find a means to help him poop. Prunes and pears!
Moose developed a few ear infections after weaning from the boob, because he was on cow’s milk. Hindsight is 20-20! Why the hell did I put him on dairy?! Because I listened to my pediatrician, whom doesn’t know jack about nutrition. One class in med school, people, One freaking class.
Then, a few rounds of antibiotics to close to his MMR, dTap, and flu shots, and bam.
Autism developed over the course of a few months.
By age 2, Moose no longer played, pointed to body parts, or responded to his name.
At age 4, here we are.
That, folks, is truly what I believe in my gut what happened.
Even if my gut is damaged. Had to make light of the situation!
So now what? Moose and I both have screwed up digestive {and immune} systems. What else can a mama do?
We’ve been GFCF {gluten casein free} for two years. The kid still had massive diarrhea. I am still loaded with food intolerances. But we are healing…
GFCF isn’t enough. I’ve been learning TONS about the GAPS diet, SCD diet, fermented and probiotic rich foods, the real food movement, and slowly we’ve been making changes.
Namely, Moose and I are kombucha-addicts now. Kombucha is a probiotic and fermented tea. He loves it.
We’ve had solid poops for two week now. It’s a MIRACLE.
Now, back to you:
If you’ve ever been on the pill, tons of antibiotics, eat a processed diet, and especially WANT KIDS you need to learn from my mistakes.
My advice before you have babies:
Make sure your gut is in perfect shape {you can find this out via stool tests and blood work}. Eat tons of probiotic rich and fermented foods. Stay off the pill! Stay far away from the standard American diet.
When you have a baby {what I wish someone would have told me}:
Breastfeed until at least 2 years of age, but bare minimum one year. When you are nursing, load up on the good fermented and probiotic rich foods.
If you have to formula feed for medical reasons, then look into adding fermented and probiotic rich foods to your baby’s diet when they start solids.
With autism rates at 1 in 110, I feel it is my life’s work now to help the next wave of parents coming into this hot mess.
Stay tuned for more ideas to heal and seal our guts. Amazing how a little thing called autism can really change your life…
Linking up to:
Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday
Butter Believer
I hope you continue to find solutions and that your baby boy can one day recover as well.
<3
M
Kudos to you for learning all this. It’s hard to wade through the flood of information, but I’m confident it’s for the best. My 23-month old son self-weaned by 12 months and has developed gluten, dairy, egg and nut allergies in the last five months. My mom has been into Nourishing Traditions, GAPS, real food, fermenting, etc. for a few years but I didn’t pay much attention til just recently. I so wish now that I had learned about prevention before the problems arose! Now I’m loading up on the good stuff while I breastfeed my 4 month old daughter. Moose is so blessed to have you as his mom. Keep up the good work!
What a blessing you are to so many people! To yourself, your family, and so many of us readers. Thank you again! As I try to help educate others about healthy eating and the importance of eating healthy, I’m always recommending your blog. Thank you, thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I have started my son on the GAPS diet for his allergies! Visit me at http://raisingdieter.blogspot.com/ for recipes and a giveaway!
Nicolette, you should consider writing a book about your experiences with how this developed and Moose’s progress now.
Love that you are sharing all of this and I agree about the book {previous comment}!
Hi Nicolette. Great post. Stumbled it. I am with you on all points. Haven’t done GAPS yet, but we’re working on the metal detox still. I am getting so much better.
Hope to connect w you in Chicago some day. Or feel free to visit me here
. We actually were there on Tues to get a used van but we couldn’t stay.
Hope you are well!
nothing to say really…I’ve done all those things and have perfectly healthy babies, thankfully, but I definitely believe in what you said here, and I just felt like I needed to sort of pat you on the back if that makes sense…I feel silly cause I have nothing to say, but I couldn’t not leave a comment…if that makes sense…just keep moving forward I guess is the jist of it…you’ll get there…
wow thank you for sharing this. it was so interesting to read. Thank you so much for linking up to last weeks show and share. Make sure to come back and link up this week with your latest project.
A mommy’s life…with a touch of yellow
tyandwhitneyulrich.blogspot.com
AMEN!! I was audibly yelling out, “YES!” as I was reading this! Especially at “GFCF IS NOT ENOUGH.”
Oh, man! So glad to have found you and your blog. And SO very glad to see an ASD parent who *GETS* it! (I’m a former ABA specialist and pretty passionate about the subject).
I have no doubts that once you go full-force into GAPS, your son is going to continue to make leaps and bounds in his healing. Because you know and recognize that healing from autism is possible! Especially with a child so young.
I’m going on GAPS as soon as I get back from visiting family over the holidays. Wanna join me?
(Oh and thanks for linking to Sunday School, by the way!)
Amen Sister!! I know the feeling, you just want to warn future parents where all of the corporate sponsered food and corporate spondered medicine is going. Our babies have autism and most of us have autoimmune issues that generations before us never knew. I wish you the best. We were very fortunate with the SCD, our son responded well, and so did my aches and pains.