Posts
Just so I never forget just how gorgeous my little girl is.... gave her dinner, she is sitting at the table eating away "Thank Mum, no one has a Mum like mine!" and then after dinner, snuggled up together on the lounge "Mum, you are my most favouritest person in the whole world" *kiss and squeeze* I love her so much... such a spunky little muffin. No one like her in the whole world :) She is just amazing...
The last few days she has been amusing herself so well, I barely have to do a thing. On a forum I frequent, someone asked how I have encouraged her to play so well by herself. My post got quite a lot of thanks/nice comments so I thought I would cross post it here for anyone who is interested.....
"Everyone has their shit days J.... seriously. Some days I think if I hear one more word come out of L's mouth I will run away from home lol. She seriously does.not.shut.up. All day. And I have day's where I would gladly palm her off on anyone! Those days I usually take her to the park so she can find someone else to talk to and leave me alone for a bit. But for the most part I do really enjoy it (post was in response to the question "Do You Enjoy Parenting?") I have a lot of support around here though, lots of other SAHM's in the area plus my parents around the corner now. It makes a HUGE difference. Plus I have always liked my own company. Even when I was at school, by the time term was over I just wanted to be alone lol. I would just have had enough of people. My school friends used to ask where the hell I disappeared too. But I would just take off to the beach alone for swims or long walks or with my camera. Or hole up in my bedroom with my art stuff and the music on. Or hang out in the hammock for hours with a good book.
L does most of the activities off her own bat, she really doesn't need much encouragement. I leave her to her own devices for the most part. I don't actually have to do that much iykwim? I have a cupboard set up with trays of activities for her and she just goes at it. And a huge box full of egg cartons/boxes etc. I am very lucky that she loves all the arty-crafty stuff. She also has a very fertile imagination. It keeps her amused for HOURS every day. Right now she is off taking photo's with her kiddy camera. She has been taking pics for the last 2.5 hours! I am just really lucky she has such a great attention span. The food has helped with that though, diet has made such a huge impact on our day to day. She is so much more content in her own skin these days. It really is amazing.... totally different kid.
One day she spent hours with egg cartons and crayons, just colouring them in lol. My friend L was visiting at the time "Egg cartons? Who'd have thunk it?" And then she went off and got her glue stick and started gluing bits and pieces all over them as well. And then gave some small toys a ride in it when she was done. She seriously blows me away... I was NEVER like that as a kid, I always wanted Mum to amuse me. Probably because she always did though. I have always pushed Laura to amuse herself.
It is the age too though, when she was younger it took a lot more to keep her amused, as things wore off a lot more quickly.The other morning she spent AAAAAGES making "cakes" for her possum toys out of all the crud she collected on her bike ride with TH. Pine cones, pine needles, paperbark etc. She raided the kitchen cupboards and put it all in a mixing bowl and pretended to mix it all with her beaters and wooden spoon. Then baked a "cake" (aka as an upturned container on a tray) in the "oven" (aka, under the table)She loves to go and water the plants in the garden too. She has her own little watering can, and can now turn the taps on and off. She loves to do that. She also loves a couple of tubs to wash and rinse her dolls clothes in, then hangs them on the cheapo washing line from the warehouse. Filling up the sink and giving her a few containers to wash and play with always keeps her amused for ages too. Mum does that with her a lot, me not so much. She makes waterfalls etc. She will play for an hour like that, just pouring and changing the containers around.
Tis all cheap stuff mostly... we have had to get a lot more inventive with the lack of $ around here atm. I try to remember what Mum did with us, we had bugger all money growing up, but we always had fun times.
And today all I have done is snuggle in bed with her, pour her cereal & pop the batteries into her camera. We are both still in our jammies. House is a sty and I am on here instead as usual I think she is finally done with the camera. I can hear her chatting away in her bedroom and she is putting music on. It is so much easier to be patient and do the occasional activity with her during the week when she isn't at me non-stop to do stuff 24-7 ."
"The tray activity I set up with a wooden tray/lentils or other grains and a small dustpan and brush (montessori child) so she could learn sweeping (montessori activity) but she got frustrated with it at the time. Instead she started drawing in it. Which was awesome. I was so proud of her! Sitting there practicing her letters in an old school magnadoodle lol.
I also did up the coloured/dyed rice for her. She layered it into jars etc. Did a lot of that. Then when it was all mushed up I chucked it all into a big bowl (tin with handles, also from montessori child) and she has been playing with that a lot. Pouring with it, hiding and finding things in it, making cakes/pies etc with it (pours it into various containers, gets her kiddy beaters on it lol.)
Getting L to amuse herself was hard consistent work. And changing over to a more montessori approach. She has free access to the cupboards/fridge to get her own snacks as she needs. Has a tray of cloths/dustpans etc to clean up after herself (doesn't always work, need's to be encouraged a bit) and has trays of different activities in the cupboard. I try to keep it all relatively neat and not have other stuff around, just those activities. That way she doesnt get overwhelmed with too many options. Linen cupboard has a shelf with the activity trays and then we have a craft cupboard with colouring books/jars of pencils/jars of texta's/container for beading/containers with buttons/paddlepop sticks/etc for gluing, glue sticks (of course...) and a shelf with paper and cardboard.
Under her easel we have a cardboard box (which I covered in white paper and got L to paint lol... another hour or so amused) which I pop the egg cartons/boxes/loo rolls etc into.
This week she made a pirate ship out of a box, a cardboard roll (came out of a box in incense... random) the yellow flyer out of an egg carton and a roll of masking tape. Then she made loo roll people to go in the ship, and dragged out the blue blanket to be the ocean and a brown towel to be the sea shore. All without any direction from me. Happy days!
The linen cupboard activities rotate when I can be bothered lol. Mr Potato Head, different shaped blocks that have cards and a torch so you can match the shadows, matching numbers game/puzzle, matching letters with sounds puzzle (I have put these into groups so there are not too many at a time to do, makes it less overwhelming for her. I started by putting out only 5 or so on the tray. Now I put the whole bag onto the tray, but the are in groups of 5 in the bag- she likes to do them all now) Letter tracing pages (print them off the net- she likes learning letters/numbers atm) I have a tray with random things she can do crayon rubbings with (lace, coins, leaves, different textures stuff- she now goes and finds different things around the house once she starts) puzzles, lentil trays etc.
I have 3 activities set up at a time, so not too much choice. At first I had to sit with her and teach her how to do the activities, she would get frustrated. But after a lot of positive reinforcement she is starting to learn that you need to practice at anything to get good at it. She still gets angry sometimes lol. But I try to remind her and redirect her back to the task she is trying to do. But mostly she can do these things herself now, with just the occasional question. I also try to enforce that an activity should be packed up before another is brought out. That requires a lot of direction lol... she knows I will take stuff away from the cupboard if she doesn't though. Having the activities readily available is a priveledge, not a right. Might seem harsh, but I firmly believe kids need to learn some responsibility. Especially once they start getting a bit older.
I try to get her to do most things for herself these days, from taking her dinner plate to the sink, putting away her own clean clothes, tidying her room, making sure she washes her own face/brushes teeth/finds her own brush and hairties/dresses herself etc. Hoping to instill some self sufficiency in her. Mum always did everything for us, and as much as that was very pleasant at the time, I really dont think it has been a good thing long term lol. Some days she is not as keen as others, but she has been especially good this week. I always make sure I thank her for the effort she puts in, and also comment how good it feels when we do things for ourselves. It makes a huge difference in her attitude. Did 2 whole loads just of her clothes (slack on the washing the last fortnight.... poor kid was down to size 3 clothes pmsl) and folded them all into groups for her. Got her to get her basket (montessori child again... woven basket with handles) and got her to pop her undies and socks into it to put away. Then, undirected, she came back to the laundry several times to get the other piles of clean/folded clothes on the bench and put them all away too while I cooked dinner. It was great lol. I think she was just happy I had cleaned them and that her favourites where in the pile pmsl....
Some days it is a fight though. But I always do fight it, not just let it slip. Which can be hard work when you really dont want it...."
HTH with idea's for keeping the little people amused :) It can be darned hard work!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Chemical's in the home and in our lives.....
Fabulous post from a most eloquent Earthy Mother. Everything I think and agree with, but written in a much more succinct fashion than I could ever muster! I hope you all enjoy it too....
"Is it a huge leap to consider that perhaps chemicals are negatively impacting on our health so dramatically? The evidence against chemicals is stacking up, and the companies selling them aren't going to withdraw their products or suggest you buy something less toxic. Our governments aren't doing anything about it........."
http://earthymotherhood.blogspot.com/2010/06/living-in-world-where-everything-is.htmldy
These are the reasons we eat organic, clean organic and dress organic wherever possible....
I have suffered from thyroid disease (hashimoto-'s hypothyroid) for the last 6-7 years. Recently, my incredibly healthy, personal training, body sculpting SIL has been diagnosed with the same disease. After moving from a house with filtered water (no fluoride) to a house without a filter. Which had brand new off-gassing paints/carpets etc. Within 3 months she was so sick... no great leap to make the connection. Especially as she is pint sized, and drinks about 3 times the volume of water of the average person.... Fortunately she is taking control, going organic and has switched to untampered water which is helping immeasurably. But the moral of the story is DO NOT TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART!
I hope you enjoy Earthy's blog post as much as I did....
"Is it a huge leap to consider that perhaps chemicals are negatively impacting on our health so dramatically? The evidence against chemicals is stacking up, and the companies selling them aren't going to withdraw their products or suggest you buy something less toxic. Our governments aren't doing anything about it........."
http://earthymotherhood.blogspot.com/2010/06/living-in-world-where-everything-is.htmldy
These are the reasons we eat organic, clean organic and dress organic wherever possible....
I have suffered from thyroid disease (hashimoto-'s hypothyroid) for the last 6-7 years. Recently, my incredibly healthy, personal training, body sculpting SIL has been diagnosed with the same disease. After moving from a house with filtered water (no fluoride) to a house without a filter. Which had brand new off-gassing paints/carpets etc. Within 3 months she was so sick... no great leap to make the connection. Especially as she is pint sized, and drinks about 3 times the volume of water of the average person.... Fortunately she is taking control, going organic and has switched to untampered water which is helping immeasurably. But the moral of the story is DO NOT TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO HAVE OUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART!
I hope you enjoy Earthy's blog post as much as I did....
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Gluten Free Pikelets!
Gluten Free Pikelets
Ingredients
1 cup gluten-free plain flour
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
¼ cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup (180mL) milk
1 tablespoon butter
Method
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar, mix and make a well in the centre. Slowly add egg and enough milk to make a thick batter. Beat well until smooth.Heat a non-stick pan over a medium heat, melt ½ teaspoon butter and drop heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into the pan. I cooked about 4 at a time. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn the pikelets and allow to brown on the second side. Transfer pikelets onto a plate and cover with a cloth while you finish cooking the remainder.Serve plain, with butter, jam, honey or maple syrup. Yum.
These pikelets (although not dairy free... will have to try subbing different milk I think. Butter will probably still be okay) are absolutely delicious! I made a batch and consumed most of them myself while LM was at Kindy the other day lol... Lovely and light and fluffy. Really happy with them!
Ingredients
1 cup gluten-free plain flour
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
¼ cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup (180mL) milk
1 tablespoon butter
Method
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar, mix and make a well in the centre. Slowly add egg and enough milk to make a thick batter. Beat well until smooth.Heat a non-stick pan over a medium heat, melt ½ teaspoon butter and drop heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into the pan. I cooked about 4 at a time. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn the pikelets and allow to brown on the second side. Transfer pikelets onto a plate and cover with a cloth while you finish cooking the remainder.Serve plain, with butter, jam, honey or maple syrup. Yum.
These pikelets (although not dairy free... will have to try subbing different milk I think. Butter will probably still be okay) are absolutely delicious! I made a batch and consumed most of them myself while LM was at Kindy the other day lol... Lovely and light and fluffy. Really happy with them!
Hellllooooo Anemia
Another reason why things have been going downhill around here lol...
I went to have some blood tests last week, I have a dodgy thyroid (hypothyroid) so I need to have my levels checked every 4-6 weeks during pregnancy, to make sure I am taking enough for the baby as well as myself. My midwife also wanted me to have iron studies done, and antibodies screening and all that jazz. Especially as I have been so tired and faint.
Got the bloods back, my thyroid is behaving itself impecably! Which is fabulous. I am on a lesser dose now than I was before I even fell pregnant with LM. And half the dose I was on by this stage of pregnancy with LM. I have not had to up the dose yet which is fantastic. It means what thyroid function I have is actually improving by the looks of it!
But my iron levels where severly low. Apparently I am severley anemic. Which is REALLY bad, especially as I am planning to homebirth. But thank goodness for this new GP and my midwife, as without them both, I would not even know. The hospital checked only one level of my iron about 2.5 months back, and it was showing as perfectly fine. And the latest pathology request was not even going to check it. Useless bastards...
So I was sent off with orders to take fefol 3 times a day (with vit c of course ;) to help absorbption) tuck into the steak and other iron rich foods (sorry, I just can't face liver and kidneys *blergh*) to hopefully build my stores in time for the birth.
Let's hope I can do it!
I started yesterday arvo, after buying my sup's, by taking fefol with a boost juice of apple/orange/beetroot and carrot. Last night I ate a load of alfalfa, a steak (which smelt and TASTED divine! First time this pregnancy... I have had a severe meat aversion) with a fresh orange juice, and took another fefol. Then had some dried apricots for desert. This morning I had a green smoothy with my fefol.
This Mornings Green Smoothie Recipe....
Generous handful of spinach
1 frozen banana
1/8 of a rockmelon
Juice of one Orange
Sprig of Tarragon
1 Raw egg
Water
2 Heaped Teaspoons "BowelBiotics+" (to help counteract the effects of the amount of iron I am taking, plus this product has probiotics in it (metamucil or just plain psyllium husks would so the same otherwise) which I have read is important in 3rd trimester for the baby, to help develop their gut flora and help prevent things like eczema, which has been a major problem with LM)
Tastes AWESOME! Rockmelon and Tarragon together taste like licorice allsorts ;) Lovely together in salad's too!
The orange juice has to be fresh, I am finding bottled juices give me really bad reflux. But if it is fresh, there are no issue's. I think it has something to do with acid/alkaline forming foods. I need to look into this more. But I suspect that bottled juices (talking organic, no additive stuff) turns into an acid forming food as it is allowed to sit. Where as fresh squeezed has not had time, and so remains alkaline forming, so long as it is consumed immediately.
I have also cut gluten (which I should have done for my thyroid a long time ago... but that is another story) and dairy, as they have both been causing really bad reflux. I wish I had known about this stuff when I was pregnant with LM, as I had to take prescription drugs to keep the reflux in check with her. Most people get a bit of reflux late pregnancy, but this is on a completely different plane. Nothing worked for it. At all. And it was HORRENDOUS. I still get a little bit of reflux (what pregnant woman doesn't?) but it is manageable and barable. And if it is getting a bit too full on (ie- I ate way too much lol) a rennie will help. So nice to know I wont have to resort to major drugs this time... and even those where not helping by the end with LM. But I refused to take anything harsher.
Belly~Dweller is getting bigger by the day :) Lots of rolling, I love him to bits already, even when he kicks me in the ribs all night like the night before last :P Looking forward to meeting this little person on his birthday!
Anyway, off to have my walk (to help with the blood pressure) and then a little rest :P
Keep your fingers crossed for my iron levels please!!!!
I went to have some blood tests last week, I have a dodgy thyroid (hypothyroid) so I need to have my levels checked every 4-6 weeks during pregnancy, to make sure I am taking enough for the baby as well as myself. My midwife also wanted me to have iron studies done, and antibodies screening and all that jazz. Especially as I have been so tired and faint.
Got the bloods back, my thyroid is behaving itself impecably! Which is fabulous. I am on a lesser dose now than I was before I even fell pregnant with LM. And half the dose I was on by this stage of pregnancy with LM. I have not had to up the dose yet which is fantastic. It means what thyroid function I have is actually improving by the looks of it!
But my iron levels where severly low. Apparently I am severley anemic. Which is REALLY bad, especially as I am planning to homebirth. But thank goodness for this new GP and my midwife, as without them both, I would not even know. The hospital checked only one level of my iron about 2.5 months back, and it was showing as perfectly fine. And the latest pathology request was not even going to check it. Useless bastards...
So I was sent off with orders to take fefol 3 times a day (with vit c of course ;) to help absorbption) tuck into the steak and other iron rich foods (sorry, I just can't face liver and kidneys *blergh*) to hopefully build my stores in time for the birth.
Let's hope I can do it!
I started yesterday arvo, after buying my sup's, by taking fefol with a boost juice of apple/orange/beetroot and carrot. Last night I ate a load of alfalfa, a steak (which smelt and TASTED divine! First time this pregnancy... I have had a severe meat aversion) with a fresh orange juice, and took another fefol. Then had some dried apricots for desert. This morning I had a green smoothy with my fefol.
This Mornings Green Smoothie Recipe....
Generous handful of spinach
1 frozen banana
1/8 of a rockmelon
Juice of one Orange
Sprig of Tarragon
1 Raw egg
Water
2 Heaped Teaspoons "BowelBiotics+" (to help counteract the effects of the amount of iron I am taking, plus this product has probiotics in it (metamucil or just plain psyllium husks would so the same otherwise) which I have read is important in 3rd trimester for the baby, to help develop their gut flora and help prevent things like eczema, which has been a major problem with LM)
Tastes AWESOME! Rockmelon and Tarragon together taste like licorice allsorts ;) Lovely together in salad's too!
The orange juice has to be fresh, I am finding bottled juices give me really bad reflux. But if it is fresh, there are no issue's. I think it has something to do with acid/alkaline forming foods. I need to look into this more. But I suspect that bottled juices (talking organic, no additive stuff) turns into an acid forming food as it is allowed to sit. Where as fresh squeezed has not had time, and so remains alkaline forming, so long as it is consumed immediately.
I have also cut gluten (which I should have done for my thyroid a long time ago... but that is another story) and dairy, as they have both been causing really bad reflux. I wish I had known about this stuff when I was pregnant with LM, as I had to take prescription drugs to keep the reflux in check with her. Most people get a bit of reflux late pregnancy, but this is on a completely different plane. Nothing worked for it. At all. And it was HORRENDOUS. I still get a little bit of reflux (what pregnant woman doesn't?) but it is manageable and barable. And if it is getting a bit too full on (ie- I ate way too much lol) a rennie will help. So nice to know I wont have to resort to major drugs this time... and even those where not helping by the end with LM. But I refused to take anything harsher.
Belly~Dweller is getting bigger by the day :) Lots of rolling, I love him to bits already, even when he kicks me in the ribs all night like the night before last :P Looking forward to meeting this little person on his birthday!
Anyway, off to have my walk (to help with the blood pressure) and then a little rest :P
Keep your fingers crossed for my iron levels please!!!!
A big foody rant....
Sorry I have been MIA! Things ave been going rapidly down hill around here lately. First DH had gastro, and then a second bout of it (*shakes head* Told him not to have milk/coffee/juice on a raw stomach...) Then LM had tummy pains and a temp, then a temp and a cold and then she got into DH's snakes. Which was just fantabulous...
We have a very strict no additives/colourings/flavourings/preservatives diet with LM. Anything containing these things has us experiencing night terrors, mood swings and all sorts of nastiness. It has been a very long journey of hit and miss. I always thought the diet we had was a very balanced and healthy one. We always had a big emphasis on fresh fruit and veg, organic produce etc etc. But this journey has proven otherwise. It has seen us cut Philadelhia Cheese Spread (who would have thunk it....) kraft cheese slices, vegemite, stock cubes (yes, even those with "no added MSG" actually do contain MSG...)and basically all the mainstream breaky cereals as almost all of them contain dreaded Barley Malt Extract, which has been the last thing we have cut out. It also has MSG in it. It naturally occurs as the product is being produced. It was triggering really bad night terrors and sleep issue's in LM.
Since we cut it out of our diets around 9 months ago, we have not had one episode of night terrors. And just to make me REALLY extra happy, we no longer have any "going to bed" issue's either! The difference was just amazing. After struggling with sleep with LM for 3.5 years, we finally had a child who could recognise when she was tired. It was like the foods where drugging her and masking the "need sleep" receptors. It would take HOURS every night to get her to sleep. Every night was a struggle. Every single night. 45 minutes would be getting off lightly, generally it would take over 2 hours. Now she will actually tell us when she needs to go to bed. If she needs a nap, she will have one (after cutting day sleeps at 2 lol) and we NEVER have her crying and carrying on about going to sleep. The longest it takes her to fall asleep is half an hour. On a bad night. I had forgotten just how bad the night terrors where until last week, here on in to be known as "The Snake Incident"
So TH loves sweets. He has always LOVED snakes. He left an open packet on the table. I snuck a few during the day (which I shouldnt have been doing, having cut gluten) and then all of a sudden the pack was EMPTY! (as I take the last snake lol) I thought, holy crap, I am a total pig, I didn't realise I had eaten THAT many! Then at around 9pm, LM "woke" and was sobbing her little heart out, standing in the loo in her jammies. She had that vacant look, not really seeing me. Nothing I said was registering with her. Night terrors *sigh* So I bundled her up into my arms and tucked her into our bed and told DH he would have to sleep on the lounge. She "woke" every 10 minutes that night, crying and thrashing about.... It is so hard to see your child like that, and find yourself unable to help them. You just have to weather it. I was laying there, trying to catch a couple of winks of sleep before the next episode of excorsist child started, and I thought "Of course, the SNAKES!" That is why the pack went down so piggishly (so I had thought) Why I thought I could trust a 4 year old to abstain when I couldn't myself.... but she has always been so good about the diet restrictions we have in place. She gets her own special lollies every week, which she is free to eat as she wishes (Yummy Earth brand, for anyone looking for a good alternative!)
The following morning I had a little chat with her. I asked her if she ate some of Daddy's snakes *shakes head avoiding my eyes* I promised her I would not be mad with her if she had eaten them and asked her again *silent hang dog look* I asked her to give me a little cuddle if she had eaten the snakes, and she inched forward and gave me a cuddle *sigh* I have always maintained it is unfair to have things in the house LM cannot eat. And this is why. I have always at least hidden what she cannot have and indulged after she is asleep at the least.... I felt so bad. Yes, TH shouldn't have left them on the table, but I saw them and left them there. So it was as much my fault as TH's or LM's.
A timely reminder that what we are doing is right though, which is always welcome :) First night terror incident since "The Great Rice Bubble Debacle of 2009" where I was able to pin Mum to the fact LM must have eaten 2 bowls of rice bubbles at her house. When we discovered Barley Malt Extract was the root of LM's sleep issue's, I had not wanted to broach the topic with my Mum. She kept going on, saying I was going to give LM an eating disorder (insert monumental sigh...) so the last thing I wanted was issue's. LM went for a sleep over. Came back the next arvo. Night terrors. Mum SWORE up and down she had not given her anything out of the ordinary. Generally, LM had rice bubbles for breakfast at my Mum's place. One bowl was not enough to trigger a reaction, so that was one of the reasons I let it be. But after the night terror's we had, I knew something must be up. I asked Mum if LM had 2 bowls of rice bubbles instead of one. Yes, she had. So the topic had to be broached. Fortunately, the fact I was able to pinpoint, down to quantity, what it was that was eaten gave me some credance. No issue's from Mum (thank goodness!) all she asked was what she could get instead. And since then, we have had no night terrors and life has been so much easier!
Anyway, huge ramble :) But I am a huge believer in food being a major cause of childhood behavioural issue's. And the thing is, until you start cutting things out, you cannot see it for yourself. If someone had told me food was the root cause of all of our issue's with tiny toddler LM I would not have believed them. She was just going through a stage, yaknow? But having seen her behaviour slowly get better as we removed the foods, slowly, steadily, better and better, there is no way it could possibly be anything else. The regressions when the wrong foods are eaten are testimony to that.
Yes, it is damned hard in the begining. It is so hard to know where to start. But the rewards are so worth it! If you think it is too hard to do, I think and KNOW it is much harder work to deal with a child who is high on foods, day in day out. These days I have a child who is able to be reasoned with, who doesn't have massive meltdowns over the smallest things, who doesn't have huge emotionlly charged outburts (tears or anger) over nothing. Everyone always comments about how good she is about things. And let me tell you, it has not always been this way! And it wouldn't be this way if I had not cut out these so called "foods"
Never EVER trust that what is allowed to be sold as food is actually safe for consumption. The government and governing bodies are not to be trusted. We should all be able to go into the shops and buy, in good faith, what is on the shelves. We shouldn't have to do ridiculous amounts of research into numbers and additives etc etc. But unfortunately, that is the crappy world we live in.
A good starting place for anyone looking into restricting intake of additives/preservatives etc etc is on this site here...
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/
With a handy, wallet sized print out of numbers etc to look for/avoid....
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/information/additives.htm
We have a very strict no additives/colourings/flavourings/preservatives diet with LM. Anything containing these things has us experiencing night terrors, mood swings and all sorts of nastiness. It has been a very long journey of hit and miss. I always thought the diet we had was a very balanced and healthy one. We always had a big emphasis on fresh fruit and veg, organic produce etc etc. But this journey has proven otherwise. It has seen us cut Philadelhia Cheese Spread (who would have thunk it....) kraft cheese slices, vegemite, stock cubes (yes, even those with "no added MSG" actually do contain MSG...)and basically all the mainstream breaky cereals as almost all of them contain dreaded Barley Malt Extract, which has been the last thing we have cut out. It also has MSG in it. It naturally occurs as the product is being produced. It was triggering really bad night terrors and sleep issue's in LM.
Since we cut it out of our diets around 9 months ago, we have not had one episode of night terrors. And just to make me REALLY extra happy, we no longer have any "going to bed" issue's either! The difference was just amazing. After struggling with sleep with LM for 3.5 years, we finally had a child who could recognise when she was tired. It was like the foods where drugging her and masking the "need sleep" receptors. It would take HOURS every night to get her to sleep. Every night was a struggle. Every single night. 45 minutes would be getting off lightly, generally it would take over 2 hours. Now she will actually tell us when she needs to go to bed. If she needs a nap, she will have one (after cutting day sleeps at 2 lol) and we NEVER have her crying and carrying on about going to sleep. The longest it takes her to fall asleep is half an hour. On a bad night. I had forgotten just how bad the night terrors where until last week, here on in to be known as "The Snake Incident"
So TH loves sweets. He has always LOVED snakes. He left an open packet on the table. I snuck a few during the day (which I shouldnt have been doing, having cut gluten) and then all of a sudden the pack was EMPTY! (as I take the last snake lol) I thought, holy crap, I am a total pig, I didn't realise I had eaten THAT many! Then at around 9pm, LM "woke" and was sobbing her little heart out, standing in the loo in her jammies. She had that vacant look, not really seeing me. Nothing I said was registering with her. Night terrors *sigh* So I bundled her up into my arms and tucked her into our bed and told DH he would have to sleep on the lounge. She "woke" every 10 minutes that night, crying and thrashing about.... It is so hard to see your child like that, and find yourself unable to help them. You just have to weather it. I was laying there, trying to catch a couple of winks of sleep before the next episode of excorsist child started, and I thought "Of course, the SNAKES!" That is why the pack went down so piggishly (so I had thought) Why I thought I could trust a 4 year old to abstain when I couldn't myself.... but she has always been so good about the diet restrictions we have in place. She gets her own special lollies every week, which she is free to eat as she wishes (Yummy Earth brand, for anyone looking for a good alternative!)
The following morning I had a little chat with her. I asked her if she ate some of Daddy's snakes *shakes head avoiding my eyes* I promised her I would not be mad with her if she had eaten them and asked her again *silent hang dog look* I asked her to give me a little cuddle if she had eaten the snakes, and she inched forward and gave me a cuddle *sigh* I have always maintained it is unfair to have things in the house LM cannot eat. And this is why. I have always at least hidden what she cannot have and indulged after she is asleep at the least.... I felt so bad. Yes, TH shouldn't have left them on the table, but I saw them and left them there. So it was as much my fault as TH's or LM's.
A timely reminder that what we are doing is right though, which is always welcome :) First night terror incident since "The Great Rice Bubble Debacle of 2009" where I was able to pin Mum to the fact LM must have eaten 2 bowls of rice bubbles at her house. When we discovered Barley Malt Extract was the root of LM's sleep issue's, I had not wanted to broach the topic with my Mum. She kept going on, saying I was going to give LM an eating disorder (insert monumental sigh...) so the last thing I wanted was issue's. LM went for a sleep over. Came back the next arvo. Night terrors. Mum SWORE up and down she had not given her anything out of the ordinary. Generally, LM had rice bubbles for breakfast at my Mum's place. One bowl was not enough to trigger a reaction, so that was one of the reasons I let it be. But after the night terror's we had, I knew something must be up. I asked Mum if LM had 2 bowls of rice bubbles instead of one. Yes, she had. So the topic had to be broached. Fortunately, the fact I was able to pinpoint, down to quantity, what it was that was eaten gave me some credance. No issue's from Mum (thank goodness!) all she asked was what she could get instead. And since then, we have had no night terrors and life has been so much easier!
Anyway, huge ramble :) But I am a huge believer in food being a major cause of childhood behavioural issue's. And the thing is, until you start cutting things out, you cannot see it for yourself. If someone had told me food was the root cause of all of our issue's with tiny toddler LM I would not have believed them. She was just going through a stage, yaknow? But having seen her behaviour slowly get better as we removed the foods, slowly, steadily, better and better, there is no way it could possibly be anything else. The regressions when the wrong foods are eaten are testimony to that.
Yes, it is damned hard in the begining. It is so hard to know where to start. But the rewards are so worth it! If you think it is too hard to do, I think and KNOW it is much harder work to deal with a child who is high on foods, day in day out. These days I have a child who is able to be reasoned with, who doesn't have massive meltdowns over the smallest things, who doesn't have huge emotionlly charged outburts (tears or anger) over nothing. Everyone always comments about how good she is about things. And let me tell you, it has not always been this way! And it wouldn't be this way if I had not cut out these so called "foods"
Never EVER trust that what is allowed to be sold as food is actually safe for consumption. The government and governing bodies are not to be trusted. We should all be able to go into the shops and buy, in good faith, what is on the shelves. We shouldn't have to do ridiculous amounts of research into numbers and additives etc etc. But unfortunately, that is the crappy world we live in.
A good starting place for anyone looking into restricting intake of additives/preservatives etc etc is on this site here...
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/
With a handy, wallet sized print out of numbers etc to look for/avoid....
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/information/additives.htm
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