Category: breastfeeding

April 8, 2022

Should You Take Vitamin D Supplements?

Wondering if you are Vitamin D deficient? Most people think they are these days. But before you start taking supplements consider the potential risks. Is Vitamin D supplementation really good for you?

Vitamin D. You certainly hear a lot about it these days.

As in everyone is all of a sudden deficient.

Whether you are into natural health or you stick to western medicine, Vitamin D supplementation is constantly growing in popularity. It’s a miracle cure for everything it seems.

But before you nod your head in approval and accept that we all need more, let’s take a deeper look at this essential “vitamin.”

What is Vitamin D?

The first thing you need to understand is that Vitamin D is not a vitamin at all. It is a hormone, or pre-hormone some say. More specifically it is a group of secosteroids. I will still refer to it as Vitamin D throughout the post, but it is really hormone D.

Vitamins are nutrients the body can not create; that you must ingest. Vitamin D, however, is synthesized by the body when sunlight hits your skin. Your body creates it. Just like your body creates estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, etc. We don’t load up on “high testosterone foods.” We might eat foods that help our bodies create testosterone. Or there may be other ways to help our bodies make the process run smoothly. But we don’t have to ingest a hormone.

That alone should tip you off that nation-wide Vitamin D supplementation is not a good idea.

Should We Consume Vitamin D?

I find it almost comical how much bad information is available on Vitamin D. An article by Everyday Health states:

Nature provides many great sources of calcium, but only a few that are high in vitamin D — including fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel; fortified foods, like orange juice and milk; and some cheeses, liver, and eggs.

Thankfully, food companies have fortified many foods with vitamin D2, making it possible for anyone, regardless of whether they eat fish or dairy, to get some amount of vitamin D through their diet.

Did they really just say that nature provides fortified orange juice?

Also, if you really read what they just said, you’ll notice a huge point – nature only has a few foods with Vitamin D. If you are into natural health this should be significant. If we are meant to consume large amounts of Vitamin D, it would be in a lot of food. But it’s not.

It is not natural to have access to large amounts of cheese and liver. If a family has a few cows for milk and beef they might make a small amount of cheese and would only have enough liver to eat a few times a year. Just because we now have access to these things on a daily basis does not mean we should consume them that way.

Any nutrient that we are told we can only ingest enough of through supplements is the sign of clever marketing. How did people survive this long if Vitamin D supplements are necessary for health?

In other words, we are meant to get Vitamin D from the sun. Not our food. So get out in the sun. Don’t start popping pills.

Are Vitamin D Supplements Safe?

Vitamin D is fat-soluble. This means excess is stored in fat instead of in water. So extra is not flushed out through urine or sweat. Your body must find a place to store it so as to not create an imbalance in your blood.

So while it seems like a little extra Vitamin D is no big deal…it actually is a really big deal.

Hypervitaminosis D is a very serious condition of toxicity.

Excessive amounts of vitamin D in the body can cause calcium levels in the blood to rise. This can lead to a condition called hypercalcemia (too much calcium in your blood). Symptoms include:

fatigue
loss of appetite
weight loss
excessive thirst
excessive urination
dehydration
constipation
irritability, nervousness
ringing in the ear (tinnitus)
muscle weakness
nausea, vomiting
dizziness
confusion, disorientation
high blood pressure
heart arrhythmias

Long-term complications of untreated hypervitaminosis D include:

kidney stones
kidney damage
kidney failure
excess bone loss
calcification (hardening) or arteries and soft tissues

In addition, increased blood calcium can cause abnormal heart rhythms. [source]

Take note that the above says calcium levels rise IN THE BLOOD, not in your bones. Calcium is actually pulled FROM your bones to balance the high levels of Vitamin D in your blood.

I am thankful that many doctors actually test Vitamin D levels these days (though MANY people still supplement blindly). The problem here is that they use faulty ranges. So someone with a healthy Vitamin D level is still told to supplement.

The ideal range of Vitamin D blood level is about 25 ng/mL – 50 ng/mL. This range is linked to the best health outcomes and longest life span. And yet somewhere along the way someone told everyone this isn’t good enough (maybe supplement companies??).

Some doctors now say 50 ng/mL – 100 ng/mL is ideal. There are still others (even in the natural health world) that advise levels above 100 ng/mL!

There is no way that is normal or natural. And definitely no way it is healthy!

Blindly taking Vitamin D supplements is a dangerous practice. And yet so many people do it. They even give it to their kids (multi-vitamins, fortified foods,…).

Is Vitamin D Good for Your Bones?

The common belief is that adequate Vitamin D levels are necessary for strong bones and to protect against osteoporosis.

According to Medical News Today:

Excessive consumption of vitamin D (hypervitaminosis D) can lead to over calcification of bones and hardening of blood vessels, kidney, lungs, and heart.

The human body is smart. It does everything possible to keep a very delicate balance of calcium and Vitamin D in the blood. If you have an imbalance the body will take the extra calcium and store it places you don’t want it and/or pull stores from your bones. So you can get hardened blood vessels and weak bones from too much Vitamin D.

Sadly most doctors prescribe either a high calcium diet or calcium supplements along with Vitamin D to treat osteoporosis. As you may have guessed this does not work. In fact it has the opposite effect, causing more harm than good.

This is a great article showing just how much damage Vitamin D can do.

Vitamin D supplements are also linked to gallstones. Again, the body has to move excess around to maintain balance. It will do this at all costs to stay alive (short-term survival)…even if it creates disease (slow death).

Why We Need Sun Exposure

One big factor in the Vitamin D issue is sun exposure. We NEED sun. That is how we are meant to make Vitamin D – through sun exposure.

But these days people (even kids) spend so much time inside.

On top of that we have all been convinced that we need sunscreen on day and night year round for fear of the big, bad sun.

The sun is such an important part of life and health. My kids and I studied chemistry and physics this past year. One of the first lessons taught to elementary students is that the sun is our source of energy. It feeds the plants. The plants then give that energy to us and to animals (which then give it to us as well). The sun is a vital part of our health.

Somehow we’ve been convinced that sun exposure is dangerous and sunscreen is the answer. Quite backwards.

When you wear sunscreen you prevent your body from producing Vitamin D (nullifying sun exposure).

Not to mention the ingredients in most sunscreens are toxic, actually contributing to skin cancer. Your skin absorbs whatever you put on it. In fact, what you put on your skin may have more impact than what you eat! It is absorbed instantly instead of being filtered through the digestive system. So if you wouldn’t eat the ingredients in your health and beauty products, don’t put them on your skin.

How many people do you know that slather toxic suncreen on every time they go outside to “prevent skin cancer?” Really they are just preventing their bodies from detoxing and from making Vitamin D. The complete opposite of what you want to do to prevent cancer. Maybe that is why everyone feels Vitamin D deficient?

If you are sensitive to the sun, wear sun-protective clothing if you are going to be out for a long time. You should still get in the sun daily for at least a little exposure for adequate Vitamin D.

The only time our family wears sunscreen is if we are going to be outside near water for several hours. And if that is the case we use quality sunscreen without toxins (here is the best list of how over 100 natural sunscreens measure up!).

Our whole family is naturally very fair-skinned. Yet my kids are quite tan! They play outside for hours every day without sunscreen and haven’t gotten a sunburn once.

Does Vitamin D Deficiency Exist?

Although hypervitaminosis D is more common, it is possible to have a truly low Vitamin D level (below 25 ng/mL). But even in this case I don’t believe Vitamin D supplements should be used.

A low Vitamin D level means there are other things out of balance in the body. You need to test and figure out what they are. Hair Tissue Mineral Aanalysis will tell you what other minerals are out of balance to help your body produced proper Vitamin D levels.

How Vitamin D Supplements Ruined My Health

I don’t write all of this to be judgmental or criticize. I write it because I wish someone had written it for me years ago. I wish I wouldn’t have made the mistakes I made.

In 2013 I was really struggling health-wise. I’d been doing the whole real food/WAPF thing for a while, but was still struggling. I finally decided to bite the bullet and see an osteopathic doctor, even though it meant paying out of pocket. She ran all sorts of blood work and did a hair analysis.

The results were quite overwhelming – food intolerances galore, candida, low thyroid, low Vitamin D,…

I wasn’t as knowledgeable back then as I am now. So I just listened and took her word for everything she advised. Food restrictions, tons of supplements…and of course high dose Vitamin D. I think it was 50,000 IU once a week.

I was still breastfeeding, had just come off GAPS (big mistake to do that diet!), my adrenals were shot, and my metabolism was almost non-functional. What I needed was more sleep and more food. Instead I got a super restricted diet, unnecessary supplements, and a lot of anxiety.

My Vitamin D level was 28 ng/mL, which I now know is PERFECT (and where my body tends to settle when I’m feeling my best). Just where it should be. But she had me supplement…and I got my levels up to 75 ng/mL!! So much damage and imbalance from that one recommendation.

In June of that year I had a miscarriage. Following the miscarriage I gained 25 pounds in about three months. I also had to significantly increase my thyroid medication.

I wasn’t sure how it all related. But now I know it was Hypervitaminosis D. It impaired my thyroid and messed up my hormones. It was one of the hardest years of my life, feeling like I was trying to do everything right while quickly seeing my health decline. I could only find ONE picture of myself from that time because I was so embarrassed by my declining health and how I looked. If you’re looking for a quick way to gain weight, add a Vitamin D supplement to your routine!

In 2016 I found a new Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and did HTMA (who also inspired me to become an NTP myself!). Thankfully she was smart enough to advise me to avoid all sources of Vitamin D because supplementing had messed up my calcium so badly.

Three years after stopping the supplements (2019), I was STILL dealing with toxicity from Vitamin D. My hormones and thyroid are still not functioning well. I still have all of the symptoms of hypervitaminosis D.

Now in 2022 my body is finally starting some healing. But we are still suffering the consequences. My body is detoxing through the skin, which is showing up as eczema-like patches. Also, I was taking D supplements before and while pregnant with my youngest daughter. She just had her sixth cavity filled. She also struggles with extreme bone pain in her legs at times. In addition, she had the most severe food reactions and feeding issues as a baby of all of my kids. Not only did the suppelments impact me, they impacted her as well…and still do today!

So if you have been convinced you are deficient in Vitamin D, please reconsider before taking a supplement. Get your levels checked. Are they truly low? If so, treat the root issue. Are they actually high? You need a detox.

Have you ever supplemented with Vitamin D? Have you found it helpful or have you noticed the negative impact over time?

September 6, 2020

How A Rotation Diet Helps With Food Allergies

When it comes to food allergies, one of the biggest mistakes parents make is feeding their kids the same foods over and over. While it may make life easier, it could cause more problems in the long run. Implementing a rotation diet is a great strategy for feeding kids with food allergies.

“You should try a rotation diet.”

I first heard those words when I went through a whole assortment of tests a few years ago and the results showed a lot of latent food allergies.

My first thought: “You want me to not eat the same foods two days in a row?”

How Leftovers Impact Gut Health

I am a creature of habit and the queen of repetition. I am an Analytical Eater after all! I could eat the same food for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for a week and not mind one bit. And if I really like something, I often do eat it every day. Plus I LOVE leftovers. I’m odd but I like cold leftovers better than freshly made food. So the idea of not eating things two days in a row was crazy to me.

My second thought: “How is that going to help?”

Turns out it helps a lot. Though I didn’t fully realize it at the time.

I went home, did more research and got started. I only had one child eating solids at the time. So it wasn’t that tough to modify meals for the family and work around my new diet. I stuck with it for a while and had fun experimenting with new recipes.

Then life got busy. I gradually fell back into old habits. I had a one year old that was always on the move. And a very smart four year old that needed lots of stimulation and always wanted to learn something new. Plus I was tired and struggling with adrenal fatigue. Back to eating the same foods all the time and feeding my kids the same foods.

Rotating Foods for Allergies

Fast forward a year and my son was diagnosed with along list of food allergies. All the allergist told us to do was avoid the worst offenders. That was it for advice.

Ok. We can do that. No dairy, eggs, rice, beans, peas, grapes, pears and a few other foods. Not fun. But we’ll manage.

Six months later we went for a retest. The allergies were worse, and new ones had popped up.

It was then that I learned how a rotation diet can help with allergies and just how important it is.

Can you guess what foods my son now reacted strongly to?

All the foods he ate frequently and foods we used to replace his allergens. Oops. Mom fail. Lesson learned. Sort of.

We’ve gone through this up and down cycle of sticking to food rotation and then getting busy and slipping back into old habits many times. And almost every time we pay for it by adding new allergies.

Knowing just how important rotation is, I was very strict about enforcing it with my youngest daughter from the start.

How A Rotation Diet Works

That’s a little background. I hope I didn’t lose you at the mention of a rotation diet.

It’s kind of a strange concept. Basically you eat foods on a four-day rotation. So if you eat an apple on Monday you can’t eat an apple again until Friday.

How does that help? And why four days?

Allergies can start or worsen with repeated exposure to an allergen, especially in allergy-prone people and those with leaky guts (which includes many of us). So if you are consuming the same food day after day, any reaction to that food will gradually intensify. It’s kind of like picking at a cut. The more you pick at it, the worse it will get.

When you eat a problem food, your body produces “masking” antibodies. After four days those antibodies are gone (if you aren’t eating the food). So you can better assess if a particular food was bothering you. If you eat the same food every day those antibodies do not clear out and you’re left guessing and having reaction upon reaction. Been there, done that.

Food Rotation on a Restricted Diet

Ideally you should rotate food families. But this is not always possible. My youngest daughter did not even have enough safe foods to span four days with rotating families. So we stuck with rotating individual foods and tried not to have food families span more than two days. You have to do what works for you.

An added bonus of rotation is that it forces you to have variety in your diet, which leads to a broader spectrum of vitamins and minerals. This is beneficial for the whole family, not just those with allergies. So get everyone on board!

Sound like a good theory but impossible to implement? It’s not. I promise. It just takes some planning.

How to Start a Rotation Diet

Make a list of all of the foods you can eat. You can do this for the whole family or just for the individuals with allergies.
Group the safe foods into food families.
Now start filling in four days, including foods from each food group (fruits, vegetables, grains/starches, fats, proteins) in each day.

I also like to group foods that we commonly eat together. For example, beef and tomatoes are good on the same day for making spaghetti with meat sauce or tacos with salsa. I include peppers and onions on those days too. Rice tends to go well with chicken or pork. I put lettuce and a few favorite salad toppings on the same day.

Rotation Diet Meal Plan

Play around with it until you find a rotation that works for your family. Then start planning! Oddly enough a rotation diet can actually make meal planning easier. A lot of the decisions are made for you. The other day I was planning a meal for a day with pumpkin, rice, lettuce and cucumbers. So we had pumpkin pasta (rice noodles) and salads. Perfect!

I even manage to use leftovers by making my “day” go from dinner one day to lunch the next. So dinner leftovers can still be eaten for easy lunches. Then we start our next day with dinner again.

One down side to a rotation diet is that it can be hard to eat seasonally. It just depends on how restricted your diet is. We’ve been eating asparagus all year because my daughter likes it and tolerates it. Normally we only eat it in the spring when it’s growing in our garden. But having food options wins over eating seasonally. Not to mention on a rotation diet you can’t eat cherries every day for two weeks straight while they are fresh. The rotation is more important.

An Easy Way to Identify Food Reactions

Since starting a rotation diet with my kids, it is a lot easier to keep new allergies to a minimum and to spot an offending food right away. Sometimes people think I’m crazy when I say I can pinpoint food reactions in a couple days. But I can. It is because we use a rotation diet. This is also very helpful when re-introducing foods. It’s easy to tell right away if my child is still reacting or not. So we can try one new food a week when I think they are ready.

Before dealing with allergies, my diet was about the farthest thing from rotated. I ate the same foods day after day after day. And I paid the price with a long list of latent allergies. And I have seen firsthand how not rotating foods has negatively impacted my children.

Using a rotation diet is one of the most important things you can do for someone with allergies. And it is just one of the many topics I cover in my book Why Won’t My Child Eat?!. I’ve got tips on how to observe your child for food reactions and how to deal with picky eating. I’ve even got a tried and true method for feeding a child that refuses to eat anything (I’ve been there…for months). Plus lots more.

Get your copy of Why Won’t My Child Eat?! so you can take the guess work out of behavior issues and picky eating and start enjoying meal times again.

Do you have kids with allergies? Do you use a rotation diet or are you stuck in a rut with a handful of safe foods?

Get out of the rut and get on the road to better health with a rotation diet. Then take the next steps to having great eaters with the tips I share in Why Won’t My Child Eat?!.

September 4, 2020

Natural Remedies to Help Breastfeeding

When it comes to feeding baby, breast is best. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy! Breastfeeding a baby can be a big struggle. Here are some simple natural remedies to help breastfeeding go more smoothly.

When my first child was born I knew I wanted to breastfeed. But I didn’t know much about how. I learned as I went. She nursed fine, but would nurse for 1 – 1 1/2 hours at a time. I had no idea that wasn’t normal (though now I know it’s related to her oral sensory issues). She also spit up a lot. Both things we just dealt with. It was a full time job feeding and cleaning up after her!

Then came my oldest son. He was a champ when it comes to nursing. Twenty minutes and done. Eat every two hours. Easy. I did change my diet a bit for his reflux, but overall he did great. And his growth proved it! In fact he didn’t even want solid food until he was about ten months old. No pacifier, no thumb, no blanket. He just liked to nurse.

I had two decent breastfeeders. I felt confident I knew what I was doing. So when my third child was born I could tell something was off from the start. The longest she would nurse was about three minutes. I had to feed her very often. Eventually we found out she had a tongue tie. She also reacted to many foods I was eating. She even got to the point that she was barely eating at all (read how we resolved it here).

After three different breastfeeding experiences I thought I had it figured out. Wrong. When my fourth was born it was back to square one. He would resist nursing most of the time. I tried all the tricks I knew, but nothing worked. I didn’t want to relive what I went through with my daughter.

After four weeks of stress I waved the white flag and met with a lactation consultant (something I now think all new moms should do!). I learned so much from her and from my son. I’m so happy to be able share all of my natural remedies to help breastfeeding with you!

Common Breastfeeding Problems

For something so “natural,” there is a lot that can go wrong with breastfeeding! Here are some of the common breastfeeding challenges.

baby won’t latch at all
baby frequently unlatches
baby fusses with nursing/refuses to nurse
baby nurses for a long time (over one hour)
baby only nurses for short periods (2 – 6 minutes)
baby is overly gassy
baby spits up a lot (reflux)
baby is in pain before or after a feeding or when laid down, baby gets hiccups often (silent reflux)
low milk supply
fast letdown/oversupply
baby refuses to nurse while teething

Breastfeeding Tips and Natural Remedies

My first piece of advice is to not give up! I know it can be hard. Feeding your little one can consume your life at times. But it’s worth the effort!

Aside from sticking with it, here are some tried and true natural remedies to help breastfeeding.

Body Work

Both in utero and in the birthing process baby’s spine and muscles can get out of place and tighten. This can lead to tension in the body where it shouldn’t be, restricted head and tongue movement, torticollis and plagiocephaly (flat head). As you can imagine any of this could make breastfeeding both uncomfortable and challenging for baby.

One of the best things to do for baby (really for all babies, even if they are nursing fine) is body work. Craniosacral therapy, chiropractic care and occupational therapy can all help get things back in place and relieve tension. Be sure to find a therapist that is trained to work with babies.

Tongue and Lip Tie Revision

Tongue and lip ties are quite common these days. And they can make breastfeeding very difficult as baby has limited tongue movement and can’t latch properly. It also often causes mom a lot of pain. Anyone would feel like giving up if baby isn’t latching and mom is in pain!

Find a preferred provider that does laser revision for a proper evaluation and revision if necessary. The first few days or weeks after a revision can be challenging. Baby might be in pain and will have to relearn how to latch. But the long-term benefits are so worth it. Not only for breastfeeding but for proper tooth development, overall mouth structure and speech.

Elimination and/or Rotation Diet

I know not everyone will agree with me here. I’ve read so many sites that claim it is rare that mom’s diet can have any impact on baby. But it’s just not true! What you eat can absolutely cause problems for your little one (learn more about why HERE). I have had to alter my diet for all four of my kids. Whether it’s just one food that causes more reflux or a whole host of foods that cause rashes, hives and blood in the stool. Changing diet can make a world of difference.

This does not mean your little one necessarily has allergies or that they will have allergies when they get older. It’s more a sign of poor digestion and possible vitamin and mineral imbalance. The good news is that it is usually very temporary.

Start by cutting out all common allergens and any other foods you suspect could be a problem (acidic foods, gassy foods, etc.) until you have a more content baby. Then rotate foods on a four day rotation (learn more about rotating foods here). Gradually add food back one at a time and watch for reactions. Once you have pinpointed problem foods, keep them out for a few months before experimenting again. This will give baby’s gut time to mature and heal.

Improve Gut Health

Babies are born with an immature digestive system. Many breastfeeding struggles like reflux, excessive gas and food reactions are a reflection of that. Not to mention many babies are exposed to antibiotics and other drugs from the moment they are born. Also, if mom has food allergies or intolerances and eats one of her problem foods, baby can react to it as well. But on a larger scale. So it is very important to focus on gut health for both mom and baby.

A good quality probiotic daily is a must (I like this one and this one for babies. I use this or this for myself). For baby I simply mix the probiotic with a small amount of expressed breastmilk and administer it with a syringe. You can even put a small amount directly on the nipple at the start of a feed. If you bottle feed, mix it right into the bottle.

There are a few other natural remedies that can be combined with probiotics. Digestive enzymes (I like this brand) will help both mom and baby break down food properly. Mom can take the pills with each meal. A little powder can be mixed with breastmilk for baby.

Cell salts can be helpful for getting minerals into the cells. Mag Phos is great for gas and colic. Nat Phos helps many babies with reflux.

Essential oils that help digestion can be beneficial. Make sure you use one safe for babies, administered properly with a carrier oil.

Nursing Positions

Sometimes something as simple as changing positions can have a huge impact on breastfeeding success. Many moms find that laid back nursing works well. This is especially helpful for babies with reflux and for moms with a fast letdown. In a laid back position gravity helps instead of hinders.

Some moms enjoy lying on their side for nursing. This makes night time feedings easier. A football hold might work too.

My little guy with reflux does best when I’m bouncing on a balance ball or standing and bouncing. It’s a bonus that I get a little exercise!

You can also breastfeed while wearing your baby (a skill I have yet to master!). This keeps baby upright (great for reflux) and keeps you from getting sore arms. This is really helpful in the early days when baby is the most fussy.

If you’re wondering what else besides a great carrier is a must for those first couple months check out Think Baby. They’ve got all sorts of great info on pregnancy, feeding, infants and toddlers. Even some tips for surviving sleepless nights and the benefits of baby wearing.

Try all different positions to find what is most comfortable for you and baby. There is no right or wrong way.

Breastfeeding Diet and Milk Supply

Even with all of these natural remedies to help breastfeeding, sometimes it’s still a struggle! I totally understand. There comes a point where you have to take a step back and look at the big picture. The most important thing is keeping baby healthy.

You may have to pump and bottle feed either part time or full time. It takes some extra work, but baby is still reaping the benefits of mom’s milk. Which is the most important part.

Some women have success using a nipple shield. Often it is only necessary in the early months and baby can transition off of it.

If baby does very short feeds and is not getting the hind milk try block feeding. Continue to offer the same side at each feeding until it is drained. You can also massage your breast while nursing to mix the fat in. You are basically homogenizing your milk. This actually makes it easier for baby to digest!

Having a fast letdown or oversupply can be just as challenging as low supply. Your body produces new milk ducts with each pregnancy. So the milk flow gets faster with each child. This can be hard for baby to manage. Try taking baby off the breast when the letdown starts and use a towel or burp cloth to catch the milk. Put baby back on the breast after the flow has slowed. This will help baby not to swallow so much air and become extra gassy. You can also pump for a few minutes before a feed to soften the breast and make it easier for baby to latch. This will also help you work around the letdown.

If your supply is low try eating lactogenic foods and teas and drinking plenty of water. It is also critical to take care of yourself. Eat plenty of nourishing food, including sufficient carbohydrates. Sleep when baby sleeps. And do not do any strenuous exercise. Undereating, eating low carb, and overexercising are all stressful to your body and can prevent it from producing milk.

If you simply can’t produce enough try to find donor milk or make your own formula.

Natural Teething Remedies

Sometimes what appears to be a latch issue or refusal to nurse is actually just teething! Many moms are shocked to hear that teething can begin at birth! How do I know this? That was my fourth child. By six weeks old he was a slobbery mess, chewing on his hands non-stop. By eight weeks old I could see his first two teeth!

While some babies aren’t bothered by teething, some really struggle. The pain while suckling can be very intense. Three out of four of my kids had a very hard time with teething and would go on a nursing strike due to pain. I’m thankful for my oldest son that was the opposite. He wanted to nurse more while teething!

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about natural teething remedies until I was three kids in. My oldest daytime weaned at 11 months due to teething pain. I tried and tried and cried and cried, but it just wasn’t happening. I pumped to keep her exclusively breastfed until one year old. But it was very hard for me emotionally.

On the flip side, in spite of our struggles, my youngest daughter nursed until she was two and a half years old! My youngest son is two and still going strong with breastfeeding.

My favorite teething remedies include:

Copaiba essential oil rubbed along the jaw line
Boiron Camilia homeopathic drops
Gentle Baby essential oil
Amber teething necklace
Bach Rescue Remedy flower essences

All combined they ease the pain and help baby feel calm.

Understanding Your Child’s Eating Style from Birth

A fun way to improve your breastfeeding experience is by understanding your nursling’s Eating Style. Even at such a young age you can use this knowledge to meet their needs.

If you have an Intuitive Eater, she probably needs a lot of sleep, a lot of comfort, and may be a thumb sucker. However, if you have an Adventurous Eater, he may sleep sporadically and get easily distracted by noises and his surroundings.

You can learn more about your baby’s Eating Style HERE.

Breastfeeding Benefits

Many women quit breastfeeding because of challenges. I know just how hard it can be. I’ve struggled through it too. But I encourage you not to give up! Many struggles improve significantly after the first few months when baby’s digestion and body control are more mature. And when your supply regulates.

Some obstacles like teething and reflux are temporary.

Keep in mind that this is not just about breastfeeding. Resolving many of these issues now – like tongue ties and poor digestion – will help create good eaters down the road.

Nursing your little one into toddlerhood is an amazing experience that has both physical and psychological health benefits. I hope you use some of these natural remedies to help breastfeeding and find success on your journey.

What have been your biggest breastfeeding struggles? What has helped you the most?

If you’ve tried many of these and you’re still struggling, I’d love to help! Let’s hop on a chat and see if we can work together to find a soltion HERE.

July 13, 2019

EMF Protection During Pregnancy and Childhood

EMFs are all around us, yet we don’t know their full impact. I’m sharing my EMF protection tips for pregnancy and as kids grow. A few simple changes could have a big impact!

In the digital age we live in you’ve probably heard the term EMF – electromagnetic frequency. It is something that is all around us both from natural and man-made sources.

Why Worry About EMFs?

It’s hard to say. The data is still inconclusive. Though I tend to err on the side of caution. I’d rather be proactive and find out I was overcautious than to do nothing and find out I could have prevented some harm.

Some EMFs are low frequency, such was microwaves and WiFi. Others are higher frequency and are known to potentially cause problems, like X-rays (i.e. no x-rays while pregnant!).

Wellness Mama has a great post with more info on EMF exposure and the potential impacts to our bodies…that are actually electromagnetic systems themselves! I strongly encourage you to do more research on this topic.

Especially with the recent development of 5G networks that could have some profound health consequences, EMF protection is more important than ever!

Protecting Babies From EMF Exposure

What I want to talk to you about today is how to protect your baby before and after birth from too much EMF exposure. Little ones are going to be impacted the most by EMFs simply due to their size. So it is important to take precautionary measures when they are young.

There are some simple ways to reduce EMFs in your day-to-day life:

Turn off WiFi at night or any time it’s not in use.
Keep your cell phone on airplane mode.
Keep electronics out of the bedrooms.
Replace your smart meter with an analog meter.
Hard wire electronics instead of using wireless.
Use EMF-blocking cases and pads for cell phones, tablets and laptops.
Keep wireless devices off of your body (laps, pockets, etc.). This is especially true for children!

One of the biggest step I took in my last pregnancy was to use a Belly Armor blanket.

RadiaShield® Fabric make this blanket a convenient and unobtrusive way to protect your child within against the risks of everyday radiation. Easily portable in your handbag, this maternity blanket is ideal for both the home and the office. You’ll forget this breathable protector is even there while having the peace of mind of RadiaShield® protection.

Safe to use for mom and baby – products are free of heavy metals, toxic chemicals and common allergens.

During pregnancy, simply drape over your midsection while sitting or lying down to create a soft, protective barrier from wireless radiation.

Working with Wireless While Pregnant

The Belly Armor blanket has 99.9% shielding effectiveness. As a blogger I spend a lot of time at the computer. I feel so much better knowing that baby is protected while I work. I love that I’m getting more protection too!! I just lay the blanket over my belly and legs. So simple.

Since my son was born I have continued to use my Belly Armor blanket on a daily basis. I drape it over him while he’s nursing or sleeping on me and I’m at the computer or using my cell phone. It basically travels around the house with us!

I already do my best to keep cell phones and tablets away from my kids. But now I can go one step further for protection.

If you are expecting a baby or have a new little one I highly recommend Belly Armor. I wish I had found it sooner! I would have worn the belly band the whole pregnancy. Their baby monitor looks amazing as well. Yes, baby monitors generate EMFs too! I know some people go without for this very reason. I’d never hear baby without one. So I do my best to keep it at a distance in both my bedroom and the nursery so I can still hear baby without too much exposure.

Cell Phone EMF Protection

I love my Belly Armour blanket. But I can’t keep it draped over a busy toddler all day. So I have also taken another step to protect my kids from EMF exposure.

I use an Aires shield on my cell phone. It drastically reduces EMFs. Let’s be real – there is no way around using a smart phone around kids sometimes. We use it to look up information or watch videos while homeschooling. And I often use my phone while nursing my son to sleep.

I feel so much better knowing I have added protection.

The best part is how easy it is to use!. Seriously. Just peel it off the card and stick it on your phone. Done.

I’m planning to use more of them on our other wireless devices, like our laptop. The things my kids use. It gives me peace of mind.

Are you worried about how to protect your kids – whether in utero or after birth – from EMF exposure?

Check out all of the cool Belly Armor products. If you’re like me you’ll have a hard time choosing just one! The little bunny hat is so adorable!

And consider getting an Aires shield for your devices. I’m actually really intrigued by their other products that can be worn by individuals or used for entire rooms. I’d love to get something like that for my kids and their bedroom. EMFs can really impact sleep!

Interested in ordering some EMF protection devices for your family? Use the code justtakeabite10 to get 10% off AiresTech products HERE!!

Taking a few simple steps can help you rest easier knowing you are doing your part to reduce EMF exposure for both you and your growing little ones.

I am working with Belly Armor and Aires Tech and have been compensated for my time commitment. All opinions are my own. I have not been paid to post positive reviews.

June 19, 2019

How to Come Off the Vitamin A Detox Diet

Before starting any new diet you need to know if it is a permanent lifestyle change or a temporary situation. Find out how to come off the Vitamin A Detox Diet before you even start!

NOTE: I no longer support the Vitamin A as poison theory. All information in this article is purely to help you understand what it is based on. It is possible to get too much Vitamin A by overdosing supplements or liver. But that doesn’t happen often and can be quickly remedied if it does. Vitamin A from animal sources is an essential part of the diet. Beta Carotene can cause carotenemia (as my son had) but will not overload the body with Vitamin A. I encourage you to research and make your own decisions. You can read our update/why we turned and ran from the Vitamin A Detox Diet HERE.

My last post introduced the Vitamin A Detox (VAD) Diet. And here I am a week later telling you how to come off the Vitamin A Detox diet.

I did this because I know it is a big hangup for many people. Before starting a diet they wonder how quickly they can go back to eating “normally” or if the dietary changes have to be a permanent lifestyle. I want to ease your worries and give you some guidance.

First and foremost any new diet should be experimental. If at any point you feel like it’s doing more harm than good, scrap it. Don’t stick something out because it’s supposed to work. Do what works for you and your child.

The VAD Diet is quite different than any other healing diet out there. And it isn’t easy. So it’s natural to want it to be as short as possible.

For some kids it could be as short as three months. For others it could take six months or more. It just depends on the severity of the toxicity and how well you adhere to the diet.

Start With Symptoms

Taking note of symptoms and their severity throughout the VAD Diet is very important. What are you hoping heals or is totally eliminated? What are your goals for the detox? Assess them when you start the diet and then every couple months throughout.

When you feel like your child is sufficiently detoxed and the toxicity symptoms are gone it is time to come off the Vitamin A Detox Diet. Start experimenting with adding foods back.

This will be a very gradual process. And the end goal is not to go back to “eating the rainbow” and loading up on liver. The ultimate goal is to find balance where your child can eat a variety of foods without getting back to a saturated state. What this looks like will be different for everyone.

How to Reintroduce Foods on the Vitamin A Detox Diet

Start by making a list of foods you would like to add back to your child’s diet. Then add them one at a time, starting with the foods with the lowest Vitamin A content. Starting with green vegetables is a great way to do this. Even vegetables that you have been eating peeled are great for starting. Leave the peel on and see what happens.

I’ll give you an example of an introduction. You may want to add green beans, red peppers, peanuts and milk. Start with a small serving of green beans and see how it goes. If symptoms flare you know that your child needs more time on the VAD Diet to fully clear the liver. If no symptoms return move on to the peanuts. Give each food a week or two before adding anything else. Again, you are watching for Vitamin A Toxicity symptoms. If they come back with even small amounts of Vitamin A added your child needs more time on the VAD Diet.

There are no rules about how to reintroduce food. But try to go slowly and observe.

The Goal is Moderation

Keep adding back new foods as long as your child’s symptoms do not return. Remember that the end goal is moderation. Even after detoxing you can’t expect your child to be able to eat anything any time. He may be able to tolerate a glass of milk or a dish of ice cream here and there. But drinking milk with every meal will build up the Vitamin A stores again quickly. In fact, you may decide to stick to a dairy free lifestyle.

This will be a lifelong experiment. There may be periods of time where your child can tolerate more Vitamin A and times where she can tolerate less. You have to make adjustments over time to keep the liver from becoming saturated again.

As a child becomes a teen and an adult his storage capacity will continue to change. Teach him how to monitor his own symptoms.

Remember that the end goal is moderation. You never want to go back to a high Vitamin A diet. It will not go well. We are not meant to eat that way. And living in a world loaded with glyphosate makes it even more complicated. It’s hard to change your mentality about what is healthy (lots of brightly colored veggies). But hopefully after enough time on the VAD Diet and seeing your child’s health improve you’ll make the mental switch.

Maybe you will want to remain on a relatively low Vitamin A diet permanently. That’s ok too. See how you and your child feels once the detox phase is over. Create your own new normal.

Vitamin A Testing

There are some tests to check Vitamin A levels. Currently they are limited. Serum Vitamin A checks blood levels. If your child’s liver is saturated, then the additional Vitamin A dictates the blood levels. Unfortunately Vitamin A in the blood will not start decreasing until the liver is fully cleared. So your child may be close to clearing the liver, but blood levels will remain the same.

It is good to check serum Vitamin A at the start of the VAD Diet to get a baseline. Then if a retest shows a decrease you know that the liver is detoxed and working to now clear the excess from the blood.

If you don’t do testing you can simply watch for symptoms. It should be obvious when your child reaches the point of clearing the liver. Symptoms should quickly reverse at that point.

As you can see this is all individual and experimental. But it could change your child’s life forever. Stick with the diet until symptoms are gone. Then gradually add foods back, one at a time, watching for the return of Vitamin A Toxicity symptoms.

What is the Best Diet?

In the end you have to do what works for you and your family. My kids have seen a significant health improvement in less than six months on the VAD Diet.

But that doesn’t mean we’re jumping ship now. My kids are still dairy free (except for butter and a little sour cream here and there). We still avoid peanuts, cashews, nightshades, most red, orange, and yellow vegetables, and dark leafy greens.

My kids seem to do ok with green beans and peas. They eat a little bit of pork and egg yolk, though definitely not daily. We are even starting to experiment with sourdough bread (made with wheat) after six years of eating gluten free.

We know what symptoms to watch for now. And we can quickly adjust our diet if need be.

A strict low Vitamin A diet is not necessary for life. But you will always have to be conscious of Vitamin A levels in our toxic world.

Are you considering the Vitamin A Detox diet? Have you already started?

June 9, 2019

How to Overcome Vitamin A Toxicity: The Vitamin A Detox Diet

NOTE: I no longer support the Vitamin A as poison theory. I do not recommend it to anyone, especially children. All information in this article is purely to help you understand what it is based on. It is possible to get too much Vitamin A by overdosing supplements or liver. But that doesn’t happen often and can be quickly remedied if it does by stopping the supplements. Vitamin A from animal sources (retinol) is an essential part of a nourishing diet. Beta Carotene can cause carotenemia (as my son had) but will not overload the body with Vitamin A. Retinol is required for regulating both copper and iron. I encourage you to research and make your own decisions. You can read our update/why we turned and ran from the Vitamin A Detox Diet HERE.

Today we’re discussing what you’ve all been waiting for – how to overcome Vitamin A Toxicity.

It’s really quite simple.

I also wanted to note that I will be focusing on the Vitamin A Detox Diet in relation to children since that is my area of specialty. That being said, everything will be applicable to adults as well.

Finally, know that this is VERY NEW information. So new things are coming to light left and right. I will do my best to keep up with anything that changes and give you the most up-to-date information.

How Does Your Child Get Vitamin A Toxicity?

A person becomes toxic when the liver is saturated with a particular toxin and can’t handle any more. Too much toxin = toxic. Once your bathtub is full of water it will start spilling over the edges. You can’t truly drain the tub until the faucet is completely turned off.

In other words, you have to stop taking in Vitamin A (intox) in order for your body to get the built up Vitamin A out (detox). You need the Vitamin A Detox Diet.

To clarify I do NOT mean detox in the sense of a juice cleanse or starving yourself. I’m using the word detox purely to mean the act removing the toxin. Not the widely held beliefs about the methods of detox.

The idea of no more in, drain the stored amount out is pretty simple and straight forward. I’ll go into more details on how specifically in a moment.

First I want to address how we got here in the first place.

Why Are Children so Loaded with Vitamin A?

If you’re like me you’ve been trying hard to nourish your kids and make sure they are eating lots of fruits, veggies and whole foods. Maybe you add extra egg yolks to smoothies or some desiccated liver to your meatballs. Your kids take cod liver oil weekly, drink raw milk or organic whole milk, eat sweet potatoes, carrots, avocados, peppers, beets, spinach and kale. An assortment of healthy food.

How about a multi-vitamin added in for good measure? Just to “fill in the gaps.” Some whole food Vitamin C too?

Well, maybe not. Each of those things contains Vitamin A in the form of retinol, beta carotene or other carotenoids. And they add up. Quickly.

Humans did not eat this way thousands or even hundreds of years ago. Nobody ate the rainbow 1,000 years ago (I think we’ve forgotten how healthy white fruits and veggies are!). It just was not an option. There were no supermarkets with produce from around the world shipped in daily. People ate what was available.

Or maybe you’ve raised your kids on a typical diet these days of processed foods and pasteurized milk. They are all fortified with Vitamin A. Did your child ever drink formula? Fortified. In this case the government is dictating that your child needs large doses of Vitamin A on a daily basis.

How our Food and Diet Have Changed

I’m going to get technical just for a second here to explain some things on a deeper level.

Our bodies have a variety of receptors (molecule that responds to/”receives” specific substances like neurotransmitters, antigens and hormones). These substances are called ligands. Scientists have labeled one of the receptors RXR (Retinoid X Receptor). It is a poor name since this receptor can, and should, accept more than just retinoic acid.

RXR can also accept DHA (docosahexanoic acid) and phytanic acid, two types of fatty acids (there are others it accepts as well). These are actually the intended ligands for the RXR. Think of them as keys that unlock the RXR. And when they are present, they block the RXR from accepting Vitamin A.

DHA and phytanic acid should come from our food, specifically from ruminant animals. Ruminants eat grass, break down chlorophyll into DHA and phytanic acid. Then we consume them in beef fat and dairy fat. Both DHA and phytanic acid speed up the enzyme that breaks down Vitamin A in addition to blocking it from the RXR.

But this process has been interrupted. What are animals fed these days? Grains. No chlorophyll. On top of that the grains are usually covered in glyphosate. So there is much less DHA and phytanic acid to breakdown Vitamin A. And there is glyphosate that prevents the breakdown of Vitamin A (read all about the glyphosate Vitamin A connection here). A double whammy.

The popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets has also been a factor. We need red meat and animal fats from grassfed animals to get sufficient protein (to make retinol binding protein), DHA and phytanic acid. But those are missing on these restricted diets. Then add Vitamin A supplements on top of that “to prevent deficiencies.” It’s a recipe for disaster. If you know anyone that has gone on a vegan or vegetarian diet and felt great for a bit and then all of a sudden started to feel awful…this is why. They may actually be inducing an autoimmune disease!

As you can see our food supply and recommended diet has contributed greatly to this imbalance of Vitamin A. Plus the abundance of glyphosate is preventing us from detoxing Vitamin A.

How My Children Became Toxic

I’m right there with you when it comes to having children with Vitamin A Toxicity.

When my son was two he started itching his legs like crazy until they would bleed. Eczema. I did not know it then, but eczema is actually classified as an autoimmune condition. We had him tested for allergies. Oh boy. A laundry list of foods, including dairy and nuts. Time for big diet changes.

So over the years I got creative and made everything dairy free (or tomato free when avoiding nightshades) using pumpkin or squash as a replacement. He also couldn’t have potatoes. So he always got carrots instead.

When he was five (after multiple rounds of testing and we’d had to carry an epi-pen for a year due to a severe nut allergy) he had more allergy testing. The new allergist took one look at him and noted that he had orange feet!! Carotenemia…an overload of beta carotene…Vitamin A Toxicity. I’m sure he was overloaded before that (why he had the eczema in the first place). But this took it to a whole new level.

We’ve struggled for years with him having stomach aches, up and down eating, skin issues, minor fevers, mood/behavior issues. Now we know why!

Vitamin A Toxicity in Pregnancy

When I was pregnant with my third I was being so “good” eating every nutrient dense food possible…with liver added. And a multi on top. I’m sure I was getting extremely high amounts of Vitamin A. And it’s passed to baby both in utero and in breastmilk. God designed babies to detox the Vitamin A from mom since baby’s liver is healthier. Great design. But not so nice for baby in this world we now live in.

So my daughter had a tongue tie, feeding issues and extreme vaccine reactions as an infant. She basically stopped eating. And of course I tried to get her back to health feeding her squash and liver smoothies!! She is now 4 1/2 and still struggles. She has complained of bone pain since she was old enough to verbalize how she felt. She has frequent stomach aches and a low appetite. Again, now we know why!

Thank goodness after a short time on the VAD diet and using our simple magnesium lotion her leg pain is gone, and she eats so well!

Of course I did not know anything about Vitamin A Toxicity back then. So when I became pregnant with baby #4 I ate the same way. So much nourishing food…or so I thought. Salads piled high with a rainbow of vegetables, avocado, fried eggs and desiccated liver. Washed down with a big glass of raw milk.

Now I’m dealing with the consequences again. Or should I say my son is. Feeding troubles from birth. Food reactions. Flat spot on his head. Weak bones. Horrible teething pain. Body tension and tongue restriction. All because I tried to follow current health advice.

Are We All Overloaded with Vitamin A?

But it didn’t even start there. Like most people I’ve been overloaded with Vitamin A my whole life. My parents probably were too. Maybe my grandparents were too! I was born in 1980. Processed food was what everyone ate. And all processed food, infant formula, and pasteurized milk are fortified with Vitamin A.

Then glyphosate was added to everything, making it much harder for our bodies to detox Vitamin A.

So it didn’t matter which extreme I was in – I was filling up on a toxin. And then passed that on to my children. Even my oldest. She was born before I had ever heard the term Real Food. But she still got the Vitamin A overload from me, then compounded with vaccines. And it impacted her neurologically.

All this to say, many people are overdosing on Vitamin A whether they realize it or not. Plus nobody is able to detox in our toxic world. That is a big problem. And it needs to stop.

How Do You Stop Vitamin A From Coming In?

The easiest way to start the process is by eliminating all supplements containing Vitamin A or D and foods fortified with Vitamin A or D from your child’s diet. Immediately. They can be sneaky. Alternative milks and yogurts, flours, cereals, crackers. Not sure why our government thinks we are all Vitamin A deficient and we need it added to every food.
The next step is removing Vitamin A foods from your child’s diet. Well, mostly. Unless you go to extremes like eating only beef and rice for the next six months you will be getting some Vitamin A. But the goal is to make that as minimal as possible. The less comes in, the faster it gets out. I will talk more about particular foods later.
Then you have to look at what you put on your child’s body. Soap, shampoo, lotion. Even essential oils. If it comes from brightly colored plants (even green herbs) it has carotenoids and your skin will absorb it.
Another critical aspect of your child’s food is to make sure it is organic. Glyphosate amplifies the effects of Vitamin A in the body. Try to avoid it as much as you can. This is particularly important when it comes to grains. Washing your produce well is also helpful.
Finally I highly recommend doing HTMA (hair tissue mineral analysis) with a skilled practicioner to find out what supplements your child truly does need short term to get in balance and to help the detox process.

Vitamin A Detox Diet

So what exactly does the Vitamin A Detox Diet look like? And how do you get started?

That’s where my new book comes in! I have created a guide for parents to walk them through the process of detoxing their children.

The diet does not eliminate any major food groups. You can still eat meat, veggies (all these white ones are awesome!), fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, beans and fats. So in that sense it is quite easy. You definitely won’t go hungry!

But it does eliminate a lot of foods you are probably used to eating. Like most red, orange, yellow and green veggies, pork, fish (due to contamination), dairy, egg yolks, olive oil, lard and unrefined coconut oil. In that sense it’s a big change from the traditional food diet we are used to. It’s hard to make that mental shift. And it can be hard in social settings.

My book has a long list of recipes and sample menus to help get you going. And it has the approved food list.

One critical aspect of the VAD Diet is protein. Your child must get adequate protein. Remember that Retinol Binding Protein we discussed in an earlier post? It is the only way to safely transport Vitamin A out of the liver. And it is a protein…so you need protein to make it. There are many sources of protein, but meat from ruminant animals is an essential one of the VAD Diet (read why here).

Getting Started on the Vitamin A Detox Diet

If you want to jump in now, a general rule is that if it’s colored it’s out and if it’s white it’s OK. This does not apply to all fruits as many get their color from substances other than beta carotene. But some do, like peaches and nectarines. Most grains are OK and most meat is OK (except pork). There are also some foods that don’t contain Vitamin A but do impact the body’s use of Vitamin A, like certain nuts and fats. So it is important to get the full diet.

The Vitamin A Detox Diet is generally a very short process for kids. I’d say a few weeks to a month or two is all that is needed.

Kid-Friendly Vitamin A Detox Diet Foods

I’ll keep sharing some new Vitamin A Detox Diet recipes.

My four-year old has been the easiest to feed on the VAD Diet. She asks for my food all the time.

Some of our favorites right now are:

roasted parsnips
rutabaga fries
crinkle cut homemade french fries (yes, you can eat white potatoes!)
peeled cucumbers or rice crackers dipped in homemade hummus
rice and beans
baked or roasted chicken dipped in honey
roasted cauliflower
roasted green cabbage
gluten-free banana bread topped with sunbutter or butter
fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, bananas, pears, apples, cherries, white peaches)
grassfed beef meatballs

February 17, 2019

Teething, Tongue Ties, Flat Spots and Growing Pains: How Mineral Imbalance Impacts Bones and Tissues

What do teething, tongue ties, flat spots and growing pains all have in common? They are all related to proper bone and tissue development…and mineral imbalance.

My kids are horrible teethers. Horrible. My oldest went on a nursing strike at nine months old because of teething. We managed to work through it. But then at eleven months old, while working on molars, she daytime weaned.

I tried and tried and tried. But nursing was just too painful.

Fast forward ten years to my youngest. He has basically been teething since birth. The non-stop drool and fist eating started around six weeks. I could see two teeth under the gums already at two months. At nine months old he already has eight teeth. And they hurt! Even in the middle of writing this post I had to stop because he woke up screaming in pain from teething.

Coincidentally my mom says I stopped breastfeeding at nine months old too. I just refused. My guess is that it was teething pain.

Thankfully I’m a bit wiser now and know some natural remedies like homeopathy (this is what we use) and essential oils. So we can get through without too much trouble. Plus I’m too stubborn to quit breastfeeding because of teeth. I wish I had known this stuff ten years ago!

But having teething remedies doesn’t change the fact that my kids have had a lot of pain from teething. And I know I’m not alone.

Why is Teething Painful?

Let’s just get the obvious out of the way here. It hurts when your teeth are poking through your gums. That’s a given. So teething is going to be at least somewhat bothersome for all kids.

But there is more to it. Mineral imbalance may get in the way of proper tooth development.This includes the teeth as well as the rest of the mouth.

Anybody else have kids with a narrow mouth and high palate? Does it make sense that if your mouth is misshapen and your teeth are not developing properly that it would be harder for them to come in easily? Which would then make the process more painful? I’d say so!

This is also likely the cause of mouth breathing. I wrote about how I helped my oldest overcome mouth breathing. She has had a high palate since birth, and it impacted her eating and breathing. The constant open mouth then made the narrow palate even worse.

What is a Tongue Tie?

Tongue ties, lip ties and cleft palates are all referred to as mid-line defects. Basically something went wrong in the womb with structural development form the center of the body (brain, mouth, spine, etc.).

I’m specifically addressing tongue and lip ties. All four of my kids have had them. But I didn’t know anything about them until my third was struggling with feeding. So my third and fourth have had theirs revised. My oldest also had her lip tie revised at age seven.

A tongue tie is when the mucous membrane attaching the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is too large or connected in the wrong place. In some children it is very obvious as their tongue is completely restricted. At the other end of the spectrum is a posterior tongue tie where the membrane is only visible when the tongue is lifted and the tissue pulled back. It is harder to diagnose. All of my kids have had posterior tongue ties.

We now see more and more babies being diagnosed with tongue and lip ties. Some say it is genetic or related to the MTHFR genetic mutation.

As I was researching tongue ties I also came across a post about one mom’s story where her tongue tied son was a thumb sucker. It was a light bulb moment for me. Both of my daughters have been thumb suckers. They both have had the hardest time with nursing. I was also a thumb sucker! Until age five. My oldest went on a nursing strike at nine months. My third had her tongue tie revised a second time at nine months. And I self-weaned at nine months. I see a pattern here. Not a coincidence.

Last year when we started seeing our new chiropractor he immediately commented on my four year old’s thumb sucking. He told me kids don’t just do that. There is a reason behind it. At the time I wasn’t sure why. But now I get it. Nursing was HARD for them due to their ties. So their thumbs became comforting instead of me. So if you have a thumb/finger sucker you may also have a tongue-tied child.

What Causes a Flat Head?

Let’s stick with the head for a bit longer here. There is another infant development issue that has risen in recent years – flat head, or plagiocephaly. This is another case where there is improper development on one side of the body.

But in addition to an imbalance in the neck and spine we get into the bone formation of babies.

Overdoing on vitamin D can cause high tissue calcium, which robs the bones of calcium. Use caution when considering Vitmain D supplements. Vitamin D is actually a hormone.

Does “Back is Best” Cause Flat Head?

I believe it is a myth that the recent increase in flat head syndrome is caused by babies sleeping on their backs. I have four kids. Two had flat heads – my oldest and youngest.

My oldest was often in a car seat, swing, etc. I didn’t know that it wasn’t good for her. After we noticed the flat spot we tried to take measures to fix it by positioning her certain ways when she slept, nursing in different positions, etc. It did improve some over time. But not fully.

My youngest was the total opposite. From birth he was so rarely laying with his head against anything (I’ve been overly paranoid since my experience with my oldest). We don’t have a removable car seat, so he was only in his seat for a few minutes here and there (we don’t go away often). He was never in a swing or other contraption. I held him or wore him in a carrier, even while napping. And yet he had a flat spot (and has painful teething, and a tongue tie,…).

Contrary to my oldest, however, his flat spot is now almost completely gone. I don’t think anybody besides myself would even notice the slight imbalance that is left. By releasing his tongue tie and working with a craniosacral therapist to release his body, his bones were able to shift.

What Are Growing Pains?

Let’s take a trip all the way down the body to the legs. Has your child ever woken in the night with leg pain? We just chock it up to “growing pains.”

But if you ask a doctor what growing pains are…they don’t actually know! A basic Web MD search shows that doctors think they “might” be just muscle soreness. And they “might” not be related to growth.

Growing pains are more likely due to a mineral imbalance. Read about how we use magnesium for growing pains!

I have experienced this first hand with my third child. Since she was very little she would wake in the night crying in pain. All she could say was that her legs hurt. She still does it now after being active. Her bones are so weak that it doesn’t take much for them to hurt. Even just gently grabbing on to her arm to pull her away from a sibling argument causes her to cry in pain.

If your child complains of leg pains, you may want to consider his diet. Need help in this department? I can help with nutritional therapy!

Have your kids struggled with difficult teething, tongue ties, flat spots or bone pain?

January 6, 2019

Is Vitamin A Really a Vitamin?

Are There Vitamin Impostors?

I will preface this by saying that you need to have an open mind. Forget what you know about nutrition for just a moment and listen.

We’ve all been taught since grade school that we need vitamins. They are important for our health. There are water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins (A, B, C, D, E, K, etc.). There are lots of important minerals as well (calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, etc.). We get these vitamins and minerals from our food. Our bodies use them to function well. Pretty straight forward.

But what if I told you there were a couple impostors in that list?

It is well-documented that Vitamin D is actually not a vitamin. It is a hormone. [source] Yet, people are supplementing with “Vitamin” D left and right. Somehow we’ve been told that everyone is Vitamin D deficient. Here’s a little secret…you’re not! And if your Vitamin D truly is low (you can find out with a blood test), supplementing is not the solution. A low level of Vitamin D (low is below 25 ng/dL. Ideal is 25-40 ng/dL…don’t think you need sky high Vitamin D levels) is an indicator that something is not working properly in your body (often times a Vitamin C deficiency). So you need to figure out what that is and fix it. Supplementing is like putting on a band aid. It might change your symptoms, but it’s not actually fixing anything. Here is what is actually happening.

Supplementing with Vitamin D is like taking hormone replacement therapy. And people are doing it to their children!! Even infants. Vitamin D drops, cod liver oil, multi-vitamins. You don’t need it. The excess fills your liver and then gets stored in your tissues (joints, digestive tract, kidneys, skin, etc.). You wouldn’t give your baby estrogen or testosterone drops. So why give hormone D drops?

Think about DHEA. Most people consider it good for health…but that doesn’t mean we call it a vitamin!

Isn’t Vitamin D Good For Your Bones?

Wrong again. Actually quite the opposite. One of the roles of Vitamin D is to maintain calcium levels in the blood…not the bones [source]. So it does whatever it takes to maintain that balance, including drawing calcium from your bones. All that extra Vitamin D you’re taking displaces the calcium in your bones. So if you want to guarantee that you have weak bones and teeth and that you will develop osteoporosis, keep taking Vitamin D supplements. Or keep drinking tons of Vitamin D fortified milk…and see if you develop arthritis or kidney stones.

Ok, that was kind pf a tangent. I just wanted to give you an example of a common health claim that is totally bogus. This post is really not about Vitamin D. It does relate to the rest of the post, though. If you want to learn more here are some great articles.

Is Vitamin A Really a Vitamin?

Now for the real heart of the matter. Vitamin A. Is it really a vitamin?

Let me start at the beginning.

After my fourth was born I started having some odd symptoms. I was already experimenting with my diet to help my nursling feel better and nurse better. So I was very observant of how I felt and how he felt in relation to what I ate.

I started noticing the symptoms appeared when I ate desiccated liver. That was odd. I’ve always thought liver was a super food loaded with nutrients (like Vitamin A and D). Knowing that it is one of the highest sources of Vitamin A I started to wonder if you could get too much Vitamin A.

I stopped eating liver and felt a little better. Ok. Maybe I didn’t need it or I wasn’t tolerating it. No big deal.

Then I happened to see this post from Matt Stone…all about Vitamin A. Good timing I thought. It was interesting. And helped me decide to stop the desiccated liver completely. Back to my crazy life trying to figure out why my kids won’t eat.

Then I saw Dr. Garrett Smith, ND post on Facebook about how Vitamin A is toxic. I started following him a few years ago at the suggestion of my Nutritional Therapy Practicioner (NTP), but hadn’t seen any posts from him in well over a year (and you know how picky Facebook is…why would I happen to see this one?).

I watched one of his videos and thought it was interesting, but a little out there. Carrots and spinach are bad for you? Avoid egg yolks? I don’t know about that. Those are super nutritious!

I was elbow deep researching histamine intolerance and methylation. So I focused on that and figured I’d ignore the Vitamin A stuff. It just sounded a little too strange for me.

Breastfeeding Challenges

At the same time my son continued to struggle with breastfeeding. My four-year old was not doing well either. She had an eye infection, followed by a month of full body hives and then stomach aches and poor appetite. She was back to hardly eating. It was getting so bad we had her pediatrician order a bunch of blood work.

I was praying daily for wisdom. I was on a low histamine diet since many of my symptoms match histamine intolerance. But I knew that was just a temporary fix. Not a true solution.

God Gives Wisdom if You Ask!

Over the next few weeks I saw daily posts about Vitamin A toxicity. I tried to ignore it. But God wouldn’t let me. It was on the top of my feed every time I got on Facebook. Ok, ok. I’ll listen to the information.

And that started our new journey of healing. The more I read and listened, the more it made sense.

And it explained all of my symptoms, all of my son’s symptoms and every other feeding challenge we have faced over the last ten years. Every. Single. One.

What is Vitamin A Toxicity?

So this is where I’m starting (hopefully you made it this far to get to the heart of the post!). Today I’m telling you a little bit about Vitamin A Toxicity (Hypervitaminosis A) and giving you some resources in case you want to dig in for yourself. If you want to hang back and just watch how it goes for us, that’s fine too. I’m not trying to tell you what to do. I’m just giving you the information.

And I will forewarn you…once you read about it you can’t unread it. And it could change your views on health and nutrition forever.

A quick Dr. Google search will tell you that hypervitaminosis A is a real condition[source]. You can have hypervitaminosis of any vitamin (true vitamin or substance called a vitamin) really. Yes, hypervitaminosis D is very real too! The list of symptoms hypervitamimosis A is lengthy. It includes:

Drowsiness
Irritability
Abdominal pain
Nausea
Vomiting
Increased pressure on the brain/headaches
Blurry vision or other vision changes
Swelling of the bones
Bone pain
Poor appetite
Dizziness
Sensitivity to sunlight
Dry, rough skin
Itchy or peeling skin
Cracked fingernails
Skin cracks at the corners of the mouth
Mouth ulcers
Yellowed skin (jaundice)
Orange skin (carotenemia)
Hair loss
Respiratory infection
Confusion
Softening of the skull bone
Bulging of the soft spot on the top of an infant’s skull
Double vision
Bulging eyeballs
Inability to gain weight
Coma
Fluid-filled cysts
Autoimmune disease
Autism
ADD/ADHD
Picky eater/refusal to eat
Oily skin and hair
Osteoporosis
Eczema
Food intolerance/food allergy
Cradle cap
Asthma

Did you catch all that? Crazy, huh? And those aren’t even all of them.

Another search will tell you that pregnant women should not get too much Vitamin A because it can cause birth defects. I wish I had known that! Sadly I listened to the WAPF pregnancy guidelines that claims you shouldn’t worry about too much Vitamin A. Just one example of something they got SO wrong.

Where Does Vitamin A Come From?

Vitamin A is found in many common “healthy” foods today:

sweet potatoes
carrots
liver
egg yolks
dairy
brightly colored vegetables
pork and lard
avocado

Really most foods have at least a little Vitamin A. Meat and grains are probably the lowest in Vitamin A. And the body can handle a little.

The problem arises when the liver gets saturated. Which, you can see, won’t take long if you eat a healthy diet by today’s standards or from a traditional diet. The WAPF dietary guidelines for pregnancy would give a woman an overabundance of Vitamin A! Truly excessive amounts.

Initial symptoms usually impact the skin (dry skin, eczema), hair (thinning, graying), eyes (dry, red, itchy, poor vision) and bones (osteoporosis, weak bones and teeth, joint pain). But as the toxicity continues it will gradually break down other systems. The inflammation reaches the intestines (think Crohn’s, Colitis, IBS, leaky gut, food allergies), the brain (cranial pressure/migraines, ADHD, Autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s) and other important organs (thyroid, kidneys and heart).

Does that sound like you or anyone you know? Or everyone?

Where “Healing” Diets Fail

And what is the solution these days? A “healing” diet like GAPS, AIP, Keto, Nemecheck. Where you load up on brightly colored fruits and veggies, bacon, lard, egg yolks, liver, sweet potatoes, unrefined coconut oil. Are you seeing the irony here?

What if our “Eat the Rainbow” mentality was actually doing more harm than good? In the plant and animal world bright colors are a sign of poison (called aposematism). Plants are brightly colored to keep animals from eating them (should we be doing the same?). Animals that are poisonous are often brightly colored (think snakes and frogs). It is a warning sign. Yet we have come to see them as the holy grail of nutrition!

You may be thinking, “But we have soil nutrient depletion and other factors now.” True. But they aren’t enough to cause such a drastic increase in health problems and autoimmune diseases and conditions like autism in recent years.

Is a Standard American Diet Less Toxic?

And what about people that don’t eat healthy? What about people on the Standard American Diet?

Well, they don’t have it much better. Somehow the government has thought they know better than we do what our bodies need. For the past fifty plus years now our foods have been fortified. All pasteurized milk must be fortified with Vitamin A and D. Most grains/flours, cereals, milk alternatives, yogurts and snack foods are fortified. We’re all told to take multi-vitamins and random supplements without any kind of testing.

Everyone worries about not getting enough vitamins and minerals. But we are bombarded with them…certain ones at least. And it’s causing so much overload and imbalance. Excessive supplementation will not fix anything. It will just make problems worse. God designed our bodies to get nutrition from food and to maintain balance. Our bodies now have to compensate for all of the over-supplementing and it is causing big problems (you can read more about the dangers of supplements HERE).

Unless you and your children somehow fall in the middle (no processed/fortified foods AND no abundance of veggies and traditional foods) you probably have Vitamin A Toxicity. That’s right. Just about everyone has it.

What About Vitamin A Deficiency?

But wait. Isn’t Vitamin A deficiency really serious? That depends on your view. IF Vitamin A is actually a vitamin and IF the established symptoms are truly from a deficiency, then yes. The problem is those could both be false assumptions.

Are you still with me? Do you think I’ve lost my mind yet?

In the 1930’s when Vitamin A, the first vitamin, was discovered, the experiments were done incorrectly. The scientists were actually loading the rats with Vitamin A instead of depriving them! They were poisoning the rats instead of inducing a deficiency.

If you look at the symptoms of Vitamin A deficiency and the symptoms of Hypervitamonosis A (listed above) you’ll notice something odd…they are the same! Whether or not that’s possible I’m not sure. Whether Vitamin A deficiency is actually a condition I don’t know. I’m not sure there have ever been any true studies to prove it. Would you actually go blind without Vitamin A? I don’t know. It would take a long time to actually get it all out of your system (could be 5+ years!). How did everyone not go blind hundreds of years ago without supplements and without orange veggies?

It turns out that Vitamin A may actually not be a vitamin at all.

Our bodies can handle some. But too much is toxic. Where that threshold lies is different for everyone and depends on the health of your liver (this is key!).

That rainbow we’ve been told to eat…could be acting more like poison if you are overloaded. (side note – the “five a day” and “eat the rainbow” campaigns were completely arbitrary recommendations).

Now What?

I don’t like to leave you hanging. I just told you that you could be poisoning your family after all! But I also don’t want to overwhelm you with information. And this could take a while to digest.

Plus I’ve got homework for you.

I’ve got more posts coming on other factors that contribute to Vitamin A Toxicity, what happens to Vitamin A in your body and what you can do about it. That’s really what we all want, right? A solution!

There is one. And I have a new book that will help guide you through it. This could be the definitive guide to solving all of your feeding challenges. I know that is a bold statement. But I truly believe it.

I also want you to do some reading and research of your own. And you may know just about as much as I do if you actually do all the reading. So if you just can’t wait, get started!

Engineers Are the Best Problem Solvers

All of this information started with some personal experimenting from an engineer named Grant Genereux (I truly believe engineers make some of the best doctors since our passion is finding root problems and coming up with a solution. Yes, I am an engineer too). He was diagnosed with eczema, an autoimmune condition, and told he would have it for the rest of his life and there was nothing he could do for it.

Not an acceptable answer for an engineer.

He healed his own autoimmune condition and wrote two very detailed books about his research on Vitamin A.

They are totally free and totally worth reading every word. I could not pull myself away. If you really want to understand Vitamin A Toxicity I suggest you read his books. At the very least his second book, Poisoning For Profits. It will blow your mind.

To be fair, I also wanted to point out that often times engineers are Analytical Eaters (see my Eating Styles for more details), myself included. Analytical Eaters tend to get in food ruts and cause excesses and deficiencies. So whether or not Grant had created a severe Vitamin A Toxicity in himself I don’t know. Just an observation on my part. So he may just be one more extreme case, not the norm.

Here are his FREE books:

Poisoning For Profits

Extinguishing the Fires of Hell

I know, not everyone has the time or interest to read 400-page books on vitamins.

Here is another great blog post from Butter Nutrition about the symptoms of Vitamin A Toxicity.

So, Is Vitamin A a Toxin?

I applaud you if you made it to the end of the post. And even if you do now think I’ve gone completely mad I hope this at least got you thinking. Let it sit a while and come back to it if you need to. That’s what I had to do. And lots of praying for wisdom. But I feel this is truly where God is leading me.

Big changes are always hard. Changing your perspective on health and nutrition is very hard. But change can also be good.

As I said at the start of the post, I’m always researching, learning, and experimenting. After a year on the Vitamin A Detox Diet I’m still not fully clear on my views on Vitamin A.

I truly believe that it is toxic in certain doses (and probably lower than people think) and that a state of toxicity is quite easy to reach these days with fortification, supplements, superfoods, glyphosate, and other toxins.

I also think the health of your liver and your body’s ability to detox is of utmost importance and a key factor in the whole equation. But whether or not Vitamin A is a toxin I’m not sure.

Unfortunately most scientific studies are done in the extremes. They are either trying to prove the impacts of toxicity or deficiency. But we are supposed to live in balance. There are no studies in the balance zone. What that balance is, I’m not sure. Do we need certain amounts of Vitamin A to balance other things? Does eliminating all high Vitamin A foods create other imbalances? There is a LOT we still don’t know. Just because there are studies that show the seriousness of Vitamin A Toxicity does not mean there can’t also be a deficiency? I’m not sure a true Vitamin A Deficiency study has ever been conducted!

Bio-individuality and listening to your own body is also critical. Regardless of any scientific study or prescribed diet, you have to do what works for you and makes you feel your best.

After a year on the Vitamin A Detox Diet we are learning that we have developed some serious vitamin and mineral deficiencies and most symptoms have returned. We are adding in foods that we tolerate and finding a new balance.

What is Vitamin D?

Should We Consume Vitamin D?

Are Vitamin D Supplements Safe?

Is Vitamin D Good for Your Bones?

Why We Need Sun Exposure

Does Vitamin D Deficiency Exist?

How Vitamin D Supplements Ruined My Health

Have you ever supplemented with Vitamin D? Have you found it helpful or have you noticed the negative impact over time?

How Leftovers Impact Gut Health

Rotating Foods for Allergies

How A Rotation Diet Works

How does that help? And why four days?

Food Rotation on a Restricted Diet

How to Start a Rotation Diet

Rotation Diet Meal Plan

An Easy Way to Identify Food Reactions

Do you have kids with allergies? Do you use a rotation diet or are you stuck in a rut with a handful of safe foods?

Common Breastfeeding Problems

Breastfeeding Tips and Natural Remedies

Body Work

Tongue and Lip Tie Revision

Elimination and/or Rotation Diet

Improve Gut Health

Nursing Positions

Breastfeeding Diet and Milk Supply

Natural Teething Remedies

My favorite teething remedies include:

Understanding Your Child’s Eating Style from Birth

Breastfeeding Benefits

What have been your biggest breastfeeding struggles? What has helped you the most?

Why Worry About EMFs?

Protecting Babies From EMF Exposure

There are some simple ways to reduce EMFs in your day-to-day life:

Working with Wireless While Pregnant

Cell Phone EMF Protection

Are you worried about how to protect your kids – whether in utero or after birth – from EMF exposure?

Start With Symptoms

How to Reintroduce Foods on the Vitamin A Detox Diet

The Goal is Moderation

Vitamin A Testing

What is the Best Diet?

Are you considering the Vitamin A Detox diet? Have you already started?

How Does Your Child Get Vitamin A Toxicity?

Why Are Children so Loaded with Vitamin A?

How our Food and Diet Have Changed

How My Children Became Toxic

Vitamin A Toxicity in Pregnancy

Are We All Overloaded with Vitamin A?

How Do You Stop Vitamin A From Coming In?

Vitamin A Detox Diet

Getting Started on the Vitamin A Detox Diet

Kid-Friendly Vitamin A Detox Diet Foods

Why is Teething Painful?

What is a Tongue Tie?

What Causes a Flat Head?

Does “Back is Best” Cause Flat Head?

What Are Growing Pains?

Have your kids struggled with difficult teething, tongue ties, flat spots or bone pain?

Are There Vitamin Impostors?

But what if I told you there were a couple impostors in that list?

Isn’t Vitamin D Good For Your Bones?

Is Vitamin A Really a Vitamin?

Breastfeeding Challenges

God Gives Wisdom if You Ask!

And it explained all of my symptoms, all of my son’s symptoms and every other feeding challenge we have faced over the last ten years. Every. Single. One.

What is Vitamin A Toxicity?

Where Does Vitamin A Come From?

Where “Healing” Diets Fail

Is a Standard American Diet Less Toxic?

What About Vitamin A Deficiency?

It turns out that Vitamin A may actually not be a vitamin at all.

Now What?

Engineers Are the Best Problem Solvers

So, Is Vitamin A a Toxin?

Have you ever heard of Vitamin A Toxicity? Have you ever wondered about over-supplementing?

Pin It on Pinterest