I've wanted to write this for so long but I have no idea where to start! Let's see... My beautiful, handsome son was born in August of 2010. He arrived almost a full two weeks late and after 3 failed inductions I finally agreed to a c-section (something I had adamantly not wanted!). As the doctor pulled him out of my belly he actually grabbed onto the forceps and wouldn't let go. Everyone in the room laughed and it was a glimpse of his strength and determination to come. He had no desire to come out of hotel Mama.
The weeks and months after his birth were awful. He cried 12+ hours a day. He refused to sleep anywhere except in someone's warm arms. He only slept in 40 minute increments. It was exhausting and overwhelming and I knew something wasn't right. I kept taking him into his pediatrician who kept assuring me he was in perfect health and this was just colic. The pediatrician and nurses said I just needed to let him cry it out, but that seemed absurd to me considering he cried in my arms 12 hours a day already. This kid did not get cried out. Finally at 5 months old after he had cried all night long without sleeping I called the pediatricians office in tears when they opened the next morning. Our regular pediatrician wasn't in but I could see the dr on call. She was amazing! She listened and she validated that as my child's mother I knew best what was normal and what wasn't. She said we wouldn't stop until we figured out what was going on.
She recommended probiotics which I had tried but they take many weeks to really help so I put that on the list. She asked me what I thought was going on and I suspected silent reflux so we tried a reflux med. It didn't help. She said we could try another one and this one helped tremendously. Of course as time went on he fought the medication more and more.
I stopped the medication for a brief time and he did fine without it! Apparently the probiotic was doing its job. We kept up with the probiotic for another few months and when he turned 1, we stopped. I didn't know it at the time but everyone should always be getting probiotics into their diet. You can do this with supplements or with probiotic rich food and drinks like kombucha, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and more!
Anyways, Joe's gut issues were not over. Stopping the probiotics and feeding him a standard American diet left him vulnerable to more issues. When he received his first vaccination around 1 year old he stopped talking 3 days later. He didn't say one word for three months! His pediatrician assured me this was normal as he was working on a different skill. So when he started talking again at 15 months old I thought she was right. By 18 months he had 30 words, could count to 12 and recognized half the alphabet. He was a little genius! So it was heartbreaking when he had his second round of shots at 19 months and started losing his ability to speak. It was a fast decline of skills with a huge increase in crying over the next few months. He was diagnosed with autism at just 2 years of age when he had lost all his ability to speak and couldn't even use his own hands to work his iPad.
Although this story may sound very sad, I assure you it has a happy ending. The journey to get to the happy ending was not easy but it was absolutely worth it. I'll write about it on this blog! So welcome!
The weeks and months after his birth were awful. He cried 12+ hours a day. He refused to sleep anywhere except in someone's warm arms. He only slept in 40 minute increments. It was exhausting and overwhelming and I knew something wasn't right. I kept taking him into his pediatrician who kept assuring me he was in perfect health and this was just colic. The pediatrician and nurses said I just needed to let him cry it out, but that seemed absurd to me considering he cried in my arms 12 hours a day already. This kid did not get cried out. Finally at 5 months old after he had cried all night long without sleeping I called the pediatricians office in tears when they opened the next morning. Our regular pediatrician wasn't in but I could see the dr on call. She was amazing! She listened and she validated that as my child's mother I knew best what was normal and what wasn't. She said we wouldn't stop until we figured out what was going on.
She recommended probiotics which I had tried but they take many weeks to really help so I put that on the list. She asked me what I thought was going on and I suspected silent reflux so we tried a reflux med. It didn't help. She said we could try another one and this one helped tremendously. Of course as time went on he fought the medication more and more.
I stopped the medication for a brief time and he did fine without it! Apparently the probiotic was doing its job. We kept up with the probiotic for another few months and when he turned 1, we stopped. I didn't know it at the time but everyone should always be getting probiotics into their diet. You can do this with supplements or with probiotic rich food and drinks like kombucha, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and more!
Anyways, Joe's gut issues were not over. Stopping the probiotics and feeding him a standard American diet left him vulnerable to more issues. When he received his first vaccination around 1 year old he stopped talking 3 days later. He didn't say one word for three months! His pediatrician assured me this was normal as he was working on a different skill. So when he started talking again at 15 months old I thought she was right. By 18 months he had 30 words, could count to 12 and recognized half the alphabet. He was a little genius! So it was heartbreaking when he had his second round of shots at 19 months and started losing his ability to speak. It was a fast decline of skills with a huge increase in crying over the next few months. He was diagnosed with autism at just 2 years of age when he had lost all his ability to speak and couldn't even use his own hands to work his iPad.
Although this story may sound very sad, I assure you it has a happy ending. The journey to get to the happy ending was not easy but it was absolutely worth it. I'll write about it on this blog! So welcome!