What do you feed a GAPS baby?

This is my precious son, Farm Boy 1. He was a 26 week “micro-preemie” and lived in the NICU for 3 months. He never nursed. I pumped for him, but did not produce enough milk. He drank a mixture of my milk, high calorie formula, and MCT oil. I wish I knew then what I know now…

About 6 months ago, I wrote a post that hit home for a lot of you:

How do you know if your baby has GAPS?

Consider this post Part 2!

So many of us, in my generation, have babies with asthma, eczema, acid reflux, allergies, etc. It is crazy how often these things are happening. Crazy, and sad! So many of us have toddlers and children with learning disabilities, a lack of coordination, health problems, frequent ear infections, etc. I’m sure, like me, you’re doing whatever you can for your kids–researching–reading parenting books and health books (and blogs!) and seeking medical advice on every ailment that plagues your child. It seems almost impossible to find the answers to our children’s issues!

Doctors, while well-meaning and sometimes helpful, don’t often know what to do with these kids. Frequent ear infections? Antibiotics! Asthma? Inhalers! Acid reflux? Proton pump inhibitors! Learning disabilities? More therapy! Get that child into preschool and away from his Mama early!

These are not the answers, in my opinion!

I wish, back when Farm Boy 1 was a baby, I had learned how to nourish him so that we could avoid this:

This was his nebulizer, and we had to give him 2 different medications in it. No baby should have to take asthma medicine…

And I think, if we were educated enough, we could have even avoided this:

This was his nasogastric feeding tube. He eventually got a g-tube put in his belly (surgically) instead, since the NG tube made him vomit so much. I think, if we had known how to properly nourish him, we could have avoided all of that.

I SO wish we had learned about good nutrition when I was pregnant, or even before that, or at the very least, when he was a baby. Had I known what I know now, I would have changed his diet drastically.

It makes me sad to think that we had the power to change his life (and future!) for the good and to avoid the numerous times he was put into situations like this:

🙁

After I wrote How do you know if your baby has GAPS? I wished, for all of you, that I had something to point you to. Some kind of resource to help you avoid this for your babies. You don’t want your kids to be in pain, or to face the health issues that are so prevalent now days, and I don’t want that for your kids, either. I felt bad that I shared with you the problems, but no solution.

I want the answers, too. Someday, when the timing is right, we want to adopt another baby. I want to know how to feed her (we hope it will be a girl so that Farm Princess has a sister!). Scratch that–I want to know how to nourish her! There’s a difference between feeding a child and nourishing her!

After we adopted Farm Princess and after my failed attempts at adoptive nursing, I was glad for Sally Fallon’s recipe for baby formula. This is our raw-milk-formula-baby at 14 months:

She was chunky and beautiful and healthy! Note that when nursing her didn’t work out, we tried all of the various infant formulas (not knowing what else to do!). She would spit up constantly and had severe eczema on her face. With raw milk formula she stopped spitting up and her eczema went away! Praise God for good food!

I am so thankful that we found that formula recipe. And yet, when she started solids, we did what most well-meaning parents do: as soon as she was “old enough,” we bought rice cereal, made homemade baby food out of veggies and fruits, and when we were going out or vacationing, we bought the glass jars of organic baby food that always seem to contain grains. We had no clue that we were doing anything wrong.

I had the book Super Baby Food, and while I enjoyed it (and agree that avocado is the perfect first baby food!), I totally disagree with some of the main principles (like that babies should not have meat).

I was excited when Dr. Natasha published her newest edition of Gut and Psychology Syndrome and I heard that there was a section on “The GAPS Baby.” I believe in the GAPS Diet and I was stoked to read this part of her book. I love Dr. Natasha and respect her like crazy, but I was disappointed by the GAPS baby section, because, I wanted more.

So, you can see how torn I was when it came to suggesting resources for all of you after writing How do you know if your baby has GAPS? I had nothing to offer you! Until now!

Last week I had the privilege of reading Heather Dessenger’s book The Nourished Baby. First, let me tell you, (I’m sorry to all of the other bloggers out there in the world), Heather’s blog, The Mommypotamus is my favorite blog. I have a degree in Literature and I love good writing and Heather is an ah-mazing writer. Oh my goodness, that girl is gifted!! She talks about subjects that we all care about, which is great! I’m a busy mom, wife, farmer, etc., etc.–I don’t have time to read nonsense or the personal journals of strangers (sorry folks, it’s the truth!). She’s on GAPS, and you all know that I love GAPS! Heather is a die-hard, geek-to-the-core researcher (a girl after my own heart!! I say “geek” as a compliment, of course!). This tells me that I can trust her information. She doesn’t take her blog posts lightly, and she doesn’t clutter the internet with meaningless words.

SO, when I got the chance to read her book, I was SO excited! When I opened it up, I could not stop reading. Wowie zowie, this is the book I’ve been looking for! It made me cry! Really! She covered it! All of it! She researched it! Everything I wanted to know and share with all of you–it’s in there. It’s got everything I wish I knew when Farm Boy 1, Farm Boy 2, Farm Boy 3, and Farm Princess were babies!

Whenever God blesses us with another baby (girl! Pray! 🙂 ), I am going to follow Heather’s book to the T! It’s an excellent, well-thought-out resource. It explains:

• how Mommy can nourish herself during pregnancy and nursing
• what babies should eat/when
• what toddlers should eat/when
• tons and tons of awesome recipes with beautiful photos!
• tips on helping your kids become “adventurous eaters”
• and more!

If you’re pregnant and/or the mom of a baby, and/or the mom of a toddler, and/or planning to have kids someday and/or someone who just wants to know the right way to feed a baby, you’ve got to buy this book!

I truly believe that if you read this book and follow Heather’s advice, you can learn how to feed your babies while they are small so that you will not have to deal with major issues (Like cavities! Asthma! Acid Reflux!) as they grow.

Go buy Heather’s book if you’re a mom or you want to be a mom or if you know anyone with a baby! 🙂

Since I wrote this post, there are 2 more great resources for raising healthy babies & toddlers!

1. Beautiful Babies by Kristen Michaelis 
2. The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care by Sally Fallon Morell

Isn’t it amazing that there are so many good resources for raising healthy babies and children?