I am truly amazed at the progress we have made in the last several days. Joshua has been eating three meals a day of GAPS-legal foods since Thursday AM. We started with butternut squash boiled in broth (and pureed in that broth); but I was a little disappointed that he was not eating anything else. He ate butternut squash for three meals Thursday. By the next day, however, Jeff had a stellar idea. "Let's puree the pork in with the squash!"
As an experiment I tried the pork pieces shredded up but not pureed. He ate all the squash but did not touch the meat. He did want seconds though, so I took my immersion blender and pureed the pork in the remaining squash. I did have to push that first bite. I took a moment when his mouth was open, screaming, and stuck a dab on his tongue. And he was mad, but then he swallowed. So he reached for another bite, swallowed, then yelled (at me) about it. But he kept going, even despite his yells, until he silenced himself altogether except for exclamations of "Mmmmm."
Sunday we added spinach to the puree, along with a bit more broth so it resembled more of a thick soup than "mashed potatoes." He ate that readily, even though the color changed. Today we added carrots, and decreased the amount of squash (up until today he has been going through one entire squash per day) by half. A little more broth, and we have been putting a small spoonful of rendered lard. Initially we had added a few drops of honey, but now we are leaving the honey out entirely.
So as of today he has had three full meals with more of the broth, three different vegetables, and a good amount of meat. But that is not the ONLY progress we have made...
Joshua is starting to vocalize with more syllables than "da da da" for the first time in a few months. The words he has lost are already starting to return. Just this morning he would wave "bye bye" but what he said sounded like "da da." By tonight, he said his first "Bye bye" also in a couple months. I was so flabbergasted that I was tempted to think it was all in my head, but he waved and everything. And his overall demeanor has improved greatly. Fewer tantrums and fits, more of the joyful laughter he had us so used to.
Now the update on us...
Jeff is still in stage 1 of the intro, but considering adding the egg yolks in soon. We will do the skin test before we introduce the ghee, just to make sure.
I have been eating the raw egg yolks, soft boiled eggs, and ghee with my soups, and I am loving it. I am feeling less hungry, and the flavor it adds to the soup is pretty fantastic. I have not tried the fermented fish yet, but I have been making kefir, so tomorrow I will strain some to make kefir way, and then I will make my first batch of cultured sardines. I am not exactly thrilled or excited about it, haha, but I figure if it is part of the protocol, I should at least try it. Then I will be moving on to stage 3 of the intro (hooray, mashed avocado and almond butter "pancakes")!
Tonight we tested egg yolk from duck eggs on Joshua's skin (he is allergic to chicken eggs but I have read that many people who cannot tolerate chicken eggs can have duck eggs). Since stage 2, which we will be moving him into in a few days, has egg yolks as part of the protocol, we want to see if the duck eggs might be an option. I do not think we will test ghee on him, though. Since we already know he is allergic to dairy, Dr. Campbell-McBride's suggestion is to go through the whole intro (all six stages) and then introduce dairy in a very structured approach, beginning with the ghee and moving forward from there with increasing "allergen potential." So I will render chicken fat so we can add that to his soups, and render more lard for cooking the foods in the subsequent stages of the intro.
Right now the fact that we are not all on the same stage is not that tricky, but I am hoping that we will all catch up at some point (maybe while I am waiting for the fish to culture before I move on to stage 3). Either way, I am preparing myself for the eventuality of being on full GAPS before my guys, and preparing myself to juggle the two.
For the first couple weeks trying to find a rhythm has made consistency in just about every other arena very difficult, but I think we are finally getting back into the swing of things. This has not been easy. It has challenged us on multiple levels, but I am very glad we are doing it.
As an experiment I tried the pork pieces shredded up but not pureed. He ate all the squash but did not touch the meat. He did want seconds though, so I took my immersion blender and pureed the pork in the remaining squash. I did have to push that first bite. I took a moment when his mouth was open, screaming, and stuck a dab on his tongue. And he was mad, but then he swallowed. So he reached for another bite, swallowed, then yelled (at me) about it. But he kept going, even despite his yells, until he silenced himself altogether except for exclamations of "Mmmmm."
Sunday we added spinach to the puree, along with a bit more broth so it resembled more of a thick soup than "mashed potatoes." He ate that readily, even though the color changed. Today we added carrots, and decreased the amount of squash (up until today he has been going through one entire squash per day) by half. A little more broth, and we have been putting a small spoonful of rendered lard. Initially we had added a few drops of honey, but now we are leaving the honey out entirely.
So as of today he has had three full meals with more of the broth, three different vegetables, and a good amount of meat. But that is not the ONLY progress we have made...
Joshua is starting to vocalize with more syllables than "da da da" for the first time in a few months. The words he has lost are already starting to return. Just this morning he would wave "bye bye" but what he said sounded like "da da." By tonight, he said his first "Bye bye" also in a couple months. I was so flabbergasted that I was tempted to think it was all in my head, but he waved and everything. And his overall demeanor has improved greatly. Fewer tantrums and fits, more of the joyful laughter he had us so used to.
Now the update on us...
Jeff is still in stage 1 of the intro, but considering adding the egg yolks in soon. We will do the skin test before we introduce the ghee, just to make sure.
I have been eating the raw egg yolks, soft boiled eggs, and ghee with my soups, and I am loving it. I am feeling less hungry, and the flavor it adds to the soup is pretty fantastic. I have not tried the fermented fish yet, but I have been making kefir, so tomorrow I will strain some to make kefir way, and then I will make my first batch of cultured sardines. I am not exactly thrilled or excited about it, haha, but I figure if it is part of the protocol, I should at least try it. Then I will be moving on to stage 3 of the intro (hooray, mashed avocado and almond butter "pancakes")!
Tonight we tested egg yolk from duck eggs on Joshua's skin (he is allergic to chicken eggs but I have read that many people who cannot tolerate chicken eggs can have duck eggs). Since stage 2, which we will be moving him into in a few days, has egg yolks as part of the protocol, we want to see if the duck eggs might be an option. I do not think we will test ghee on him, though. Since we already know he is allergic to dairy, Dr. Campbell-McBride's suggestion is to go through the whole intro (all six stages) and then introduce dairy in a very structured approach, beginning with the ghee and moving forward from there with increasing "allergen potential." So I will render chicken fat so we can add that to his soups, and render more lard for cooking the foods in the subsequent stages of the intro.
Right now the fact that we are not all on the same stage is not that tricky, but I am hoping that we will all catch up at some point (maybe while I am waiting for the fish to culture before I move on to stage 3). Either way, I am preparing myself for the eventuality of being on full GAPS before my guys, and preparing myself to juggle the two.
For the first couple weeks trying to find a rhythm has made consistency in just about every other arena very difficult, but I think we are finally getting back into the swing of things. This has not been easy. It has challenged us on multiple levels, but I am very glad we are doing it.
Wow melody! I have heard of GAPS before and really admire your perseverance! How rewarding to see changes in your little guy already! Awesome! Keep pressing on!
ReplyDeleteLove , Ana Schlecht
Thanks, Ana! I appreciate the encouragement :) Sometimes I feel like we must be out of our minds to do this, haha, but seeing Joshua improve already certainly provides us with motivation (and opportunities to praise God in each little thing).
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