candida of the gut in kiddos

[jessaroo]

I have gone through the task of ridding my gut of bugs. It was very intense and I became quite ill during the die off period.

I am unsure how to handle ridding a child of yeast. Ridding all forms of sugar seems near to impossible. Is there a special method for treating kiddos? Anything faster? How do you deal with the die off period in kiddos?

thanks.

[dogmom327]

Subbing

[JaneS]

I don't know for sure... myself or my DS never had a long die off period once we started improving, just a few days at a time. I had thrush several times while bf'ing so I'm sure candida played a part. And DS had bad bacteria on his stool test.

For kids especially I think bifidobacteria for the colon and immune system is essential.

For both of us, it was not only the right probiotics but the right foods we could tolerate at the time. As long as you are eating a food or foods that are causing inflammation in the intestines, it's impossible to expect your gut flora to improve. As I like to think about it: the good guys just won't stick. I think maybe that those people that have a worse time perhaps an allergy or sensitivity is there that is not being addressed?

[LauraLoo]

I read somewhere that the die off isn't as intense with children because their guts aren't usually as damaged as adults guts are.....

In any case, we didn't notice anything crazy when we did a gut healing with ds when he was about 7. Like JaneS mentioned, we eliminated a new food allergen (which prompted the reason for healing) and then also reduced a lot of, but not all, grains, yeasts, & added sugars/fruit for a good 3 months. We made sure that we were doing good probiotics and digestive enzymes. We were already doing Vit. C, magnesium, fish oil, and a good multi-vit, but also added in zinc at this time. Those supps are still in our repertoire.

I don't think gut healing is fast, so I'm not sure how quick you think it could go. Within a month, I could tell a big difference in ds' facial color, but that could just be due to the fact that we took an allergen out of his diet. His gastro-intestinal issues were under control in 3 months, but I guess the long term thing is that he has only been sick with a stomach bug once in the last 1 1/2 years. A lot of the dietary changes that we initially made have stuck, so what was going to be a 6 month deal, has now become a way of life. We aren't as diligent about it as we were during the initial months -- so if we splurge here and there, it's ok. DS also self-regulates well; he avoids processed sugar on his own and doesn't go crazy on grains/breads.

I read an article once about someone who did a modified GAPS diet with her family. It took about a year, but she had very good results with that.