Help, wise ladies!!

[mbravebird]

I'm afraid I got in over my head, my son is reacting, and I need to change something. I started the GAPS diet a couple of weeks ago -- I really just meant to go Paleo/grain-free, but felt overwhelmed by doing a menu by myself, so found a great menu online that was both GAPS and Paleo, so figured it wouldn't hurt to cut out starches in addition to grains.

Then...I started having detox reactions. I didn't even know what they were. I wasn't on intro, I was on full GAPS. So I consulted with some folks, cut out the kimchi and added more veggies/carbs, and the detox reactions went down. Still there, but down.

Then...my 13-month old nursing baby is popping up with an eczema-like rash and also a very very itchy scalp. He's never had anything like this before. I did trial some raw milk cheese with him over the past few weeks, and he also has just gotten over the chickenpox. So it could be related to either of those things. I hadn't given him dairy before, except for the occasional bite he might get from other people, because I knew I was reacting to it myself.

So I'm trying to figure out -- do I need to stop all this detox, go back to our old diet (which is regular TF, nutrient-dense foods, probiotic foods, etc), and see if the rash clears? We have already stopped the raw milk cheese, as of five days ago. I guess I'm having trouble believing that he would still be reacting to the cheese trial in such a large way -- his scalp seems to be getting more itchy by the day, not less. I'm thinking maybe that means I need to go back to regular eating and open our detox pathways big time.

But then others would stay that I need to stick on GAPS as long as I started, and I'm on the full diet. That it will benefit us long-term. I just really, really hate seeing a problem develop where there was none before.

The benefits I have seen from going grain-free/GAPS has been mainly in mood. I seem to be much more even-tempered without grains. But to be honest, I saw that benefit somewhat when we were just going low-grain, too.

Uuugh. I hate to see him itching. What do you ladies think is going on?

[mamafish9]

Sounds to me like you've triggered detox. The problem with doing that, is your gut can house bacteria and things that release heavy metals and other toxins during die off. And that all clears into your breastmilk.

It's totally possible he's reacting to the cheese, or a food you're eating more of - but my first guess would be he's just reacting to an overload of what you're detoxing. If he just had chicken pox, that may have taxed his system anyhow, and made him less able to deal with stuff than he might usually be.

I'm not sure how you slide into GAPS slowly, but I'd try to gentle things down some so that your nursling copes better. Lots of vitamin C for both of you as well, and B vites for you (those will pass through your breastmilk) - both those will help both of you deal with the toxins. You can also take clay or activated charcoal to help mop up toxins in your gut, so not as much gets into your milk. If your die off reaction is decreasing, it's possible you are through most of it and C, B, and clay/charcoal might help get through the rest.

Do you have any amalgams (mercury fillings)? The biggest concern if you do is that yeast in your gut can harbor mercury, and it's released during die off. If you do have mercury fillings, I'd add back in some of the foods you took out - I'm less concerned than some people might be about babies dealing with detox, but mercury's not worth messing with. If that's likely, I'd take a much slower route to gut health until you aren't nursing any more.

[mbravebird]

Thanks, mamafish. Luckily, I do not have any mercury fillings. I have composite fillings. I did break a mercury thermometer growing up, and distinctly remember playing with the mercury, but other than that there's been no noted mercury exposure.

I actually am taking pascalite as of a couple of days ago, and we've been taking epsom salts baths. I had upped C, but not B's -- I'll go take some right now! Yesterday was my first day of not feeling any detox symptoms. Today I don't feel any either.

I am hoping that we are through the worst of it, too, and can mop up and move on now that I know what I got myself into! I am hoping that we can regain equilibrium. I do have a dairy sensitivity that developed over the past few years, so there is work to do on gut healing, but I would prefer to do it slowly.

We will see what the next week or so holds, as his pox continue to heal and as we get farther away from the cheese.

[californiajenn]

When we started the GAPS intro, the first detox sign my daughter had was a severe flair up of her eczema. We pushed through and it cleared after a couple weeks. So glad we did too. :-)