My husband does not support/understand GAPS efforts either, but thankfully he lets me do what I think is right without (much) interference. What a challenge you have ahead of you! Why are you thinking about another child!? Haha.

Dr. Weston A. Price suggested waiting at least 3 years between pregnancies so that the mother can properly prepare her body and replenish her nutritional stores for the next child. Also the mother should have at least 3-6 mos. of eating lots of cod liver oil, butter, liver, egg yolks, and other pastured meats like grass-fed beef before conceiving. This is because most of baby’s organs develop before a woman even knows she’s pregnant!

A recipe that has helped me with my picky eaters (ages 2 and 4) is from Mark Sisson’s cookbook. It’s an egg bake dish. The zucchini hides because it’s almost translucent once cooked. I add about 1 tbsp. of Italian seasoning to the ground beef/pork and that gives it a great flavor with the parm cheese. Here’s the link:

http://scdlifestyle.com/2010/08/mark-sissons-easy-scd-friendly-zucchini-egg-bake/

Good luck to you!

Michelle in San Antonio

As far as her wanting milk, what about compromising by changing her milk into yogurt? That at least removes lactose, even if you have to forego the dairy introduction structure for a while. You might need to reduce her commercial probiotic to prevent excessive die-off.

A LOT of kids with GAPS have texture issues with fruit, if I’m not mistaken, and like few things besides pasta and crackers as far as texture goes. You could try kale chips which are crispy, but not really “cooked,” or even dehydrated fruit leathers. She might accept that as a snack more readily.

Ultimately, I have a good feeling about the free-trial approach. “Give me one month, and if it’s not helping, I’ll drop it.” Make a list of symptoms you would like to see addressed, keeping in mind that realistically in one month, you may only see one or two really improve. Stools are a good one to start with, considering she already has stool issues. The clincher? A lot of people who claim not to see improvement on GAPS and leave the program, immediately realize how much worse they are without it. So maybe if you don’t see any improvements ON it, you will see some regression OFF it. Something else comes to mind: Dr. NCM talks about how high-protein dairies can really contribute to constipation, so taking her off dairy may well work magic.

I hope that works

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on GAPS. I haven’t even really started GAPS yet. I’ve been reading lots, and these are basically useful tidbits that are fresh in my mind. I don’t have the loads of experience to back this up that others here may have. Still, I don’t think I said anything that is really controversial.

WAPF is Weston A Price Foundation. Please do Google that phrase for more information.

Most people whose kids moved from extreme fussiness to an interest in all foods did strict intro, and that specific change came through that. As you’re not able to have your daughter on GAPS, I can’t really give suggestions as to what approaches to take. Yes, raw fruits and veggies are included in GAPS; if doing intro, we simply delay them. On GAPS, we rely not on fibre to move the bowels but on a bacterially-balanced intestinal tract which, again, comes through doing the protocol your daughter is not currently able to access. At the same time, since your daughter is not able to do GAPS at this time, there is no real reason to keep raw produce out of her diet, so if this will help move her bowels, you should feel free to include them.

Yes, full GAPS (no grains) is fine for pregnancy. For specific tips, I recommend you check out -and interact with- the blogs of other women doing GAPS while pregnant. You can find some of them through this site’s ‘Support’ page.

All my best,
Baden

It’s always exciting for me to meet another mother whose child refused foods (beyond breastmilk) for so long! I’m glad you’ve found your way here.

You have had an incredibly challenging journey! You also have additional variables that must be considered, for example that your daughter’s father is not in agreement with doing GAPS. As you note, this is important, as for a protocol like GAPS to have a chance, all caregivers need to be ‘on board’. Where that is not the case, sometimes the best we can do is feed a child what we believe to be healthiest, and let all other caregivers do likewise. That makes a strict protocol -and the benefits that come with that- impossible, but I do believe every little bit helps, and if you can add broths, kefir, etc, to her diet, that already can help the body grow stronger.

It’s not possible for me to say what results you might see with a diet of, say, 90% GAPS and 10% other foods, but I believe this would still be worth doing, yes. From what you’re saying, it sounds like your husband might be willing to see her on a WAPF diet, which has a lot of overlaps with GAPS and proves quite healing already for many people. Perhaps after a year or two of that, your hubby might be willing to see his daughter try GAPS.

I wouldn’t worry about getting her to accept fruit. Will she have veggies if blended in a soup? Butternut squash pie?

Probiotics – For amounts suggested per age, please see the GAPS Guide book.

Constipation is a normal die-off response. For remedies and recommendations, please see your GAPS Guide book. (In this case, it cannot be said that GAPS hasn’t helped with constipation because, as you’ve noted, you’ve not been able to have your daughter on GAPS, but rather only to incorporate some elements from the program and this makes all the difference.)

In terms of yourself, hunger and weight loss are common in the early stages of 100% GAPS. The body will normalize. In the meantime, eat a high-fat meal when you wake, then every hour or so all day long, then just before sleep. Be sure to move on from Stage 1 after a day or two, introducing a new food or preparation every four days.

All my best,
Baden

From about 1-2 months before giving birth to my daughter my body went crazy, that is I was going to the bathroom at least 10 times a night (not to pee). Basically anything I put in my body went through me. I would poop whatever I ate in about 2 hours time. Before pregnancy I was almost vegetarian, but during pregnancy I forced myself to eat meat (which I hated and vomited a few times, from organic animals), drink milk (pasteurized goat’s which I never had before pregnancy, I only had yogurt before), and I also had 2 eggs a day. The rest of my diet during pregnancy were fresh fruit and veggies and took fish oil and prenatal vitamins (whole foods type). Anyway, my going to the bathroom multiple times at night continued after giving birth. At around 3 months postpartum, my mom “forced” me to go on a constipating diet of bananas, white rice and mint tea, which worked in that it substantially reduced my stools. The main consequence of my problem was a horrible hemorrhoids problem with excruciating pain. A few months ago, I went to see a surgeon who recommended that I start taking regularly psysilum husk fiber. I did, and in 3 days my hemorrhoids pain was completely gone after almost 2 years of suffering. I also forgot to mention that my whole entire pregnancy I had candida vaginal yest infection, which magically disappear once I gave birth.

My daughter was born full-term, almost 2 weeks after my due date. I had a very difficult and long labor, but she was born healthy. She was a perfect baby, maybe not the best sleeper in the world, but at around 6 months she started to sleep through the night. She reached all her milestones early and was extremely strong. When we started to introduced solids (with insane efforts) the first thing she ate was pasta with tomato sauce and hotdogs (organic bought from whole foods). For months all she ate was pasta. She refused any fruit and any vegetable. She loved pasteurized goats milk which we gave her to replace breast milk (she had 20 + oz a day). To this day she still refuses any fruit or raw vegetable. She is intelligent and speaks well for a two year old (just short sentences, but has a wide vocabulary). She is sociable, although now she has moments when she is quite anti-social…overall she is fine in terms of social interaction. However, about 2-3 months after the intro of solids she got sick for the first time in her life…a common cold, but she developed severe itchy rash and extremely high fever. Every time she got sick after that she had the same thing, which no doctor could explain. She basically becomes allergic to any food you put in her mouth during her sickness days. When she is well (when she does not have a cold) she is not allergic to anything according to allergy tests. One of the time she was sick, I thought she was going to die, it was that bad. She could not sleep for more than 72 hours because of her itchy hives, and she was so swollen that it was unrecognizable. Her eyes, ears, feet and hands were insanely swollen. The last few times she was sick, her eyes always got swollen.

We started GAPS although not exclusively for her because my husband is against it. He things she is just perfect and she will outgrow her “hives issues” in time. I kept her on soup (made w/ chicken stock and non-starchy non-fibrous veggies) for at least 4 days. I usually put her favorite DVD on and stopped it every time she would refuse to open her mouth. She had about 3-4 bowls of soup and nothing else for 4 days. She was really fussy and cranky waking up several times a night. She kept asking for her milk, which I did not give to her anymore. On the forth day, my husband went ahead and made a bottle (with milk) for her in the middle of the night, saying that “she needs it” and that “I am crazy” for starving my child. Then we had another week on GAPS in which I introduced eggs, raw walnuts (she loves nuts), and no milk. Now she eats soup (made with stock and veggies), sour cream and kefir cultured pasteurized milk (I have not found the raw milk yet as I live in a state where is illegal…but I will soon), pancakes, lots of butter, honey, coconut oil, coconut flakes and flour. She also eats organic chicken hotdogs because that is the only thing she would eat at daycare, so my first question is “how bad are they?” They are organic from free range chickens, but they are still processed. Also, on weekends when my husband is home she has white artisan bread with organic ham or with butter. the bread has nothing in it except flour salt, yest and water, and it is from a wonderful bakery that never uses any preservatives or processed fats (only butter, olive oil). I also added probiotics in my daughter’s diet. She is just 2 years of age, and I already gave her today 2 capsules of bio-kult and some extra primal defense for kids (that has s. boulardi). She has no reaction to them except increased appetite. She still refuses fruit and raw veggies. I forced her to have home-made apple sauce, but she has a very hard time with it. She accepts soup quite easily compared to other foods (I still have to feed her, so she would not eat it by herself but she eagerly opens her mouth). With fruit, I realized it is the texture rather than taste that she hates. She finally accepted mango (blended and strained by me) a bout a half a year ago. If we give her a little piece of mango she gags, but if I puree that same piece and gave it to her, she eats it. I have tried all the possible fruit in the world, and it is a mystery to me why she only accepted mango. I write because I need help with some major questions. Would my daughter get well (solve her “allergies”) on a semi-GAPS diet, as it is impossible for me to do it if my husband refuses cooperation? Is she eats 90 percent gaps but has occasional bread and butter sandwiches, hot dogs at every lunch during the week, and some ham a few times a month, cad she get healed?

Also, should I keep increasing the probiotics as she has quite a large amount (about 6 billion per day) for her age? When she had her worse sickness, my sister suggested adding probiotics and I think that is what made her well, so she has had probiotics (infant type) in every bottle of milk for some time. Now I just change the type of probiotics, so I think her body was accustomed with them for a while, and this is the reason for her having no reactions….OR…I don’t know….She is constipated and has been since we introduced solids (never before). The GAPS diet does not seem to help at all so far. Is this normal? I use glycerin suppositories to make her have a stool every day (usually twice a day). If I don’t put a suppository she does not poop. I think the consistency of her poop improved since we started GAPS but she still needs her suppositories to go. Any advice on semi-GAPS diet, on how to make her eat fresh fruit and veggies (or should I now, maybe it is better to wait???), on her constipation, and on anything else that is helpful for us would be enormously appreciated. I forgot to say how am I doing….I am 100 % GAPS, do not take my fiber anymore and still no pain but I lost a lot of weight. I am only 110 pounds and 5’6” now (lost about 10 pounds in the first week) despite eating huge amounts of animal fat. I hope this weight loss stops, as I really need to not loose more. I get quite hungry in the evening, and no matter how much soup I eat I still feel hungry. Any advice enormously appreciated again.

Thanks enormously,
Beth

How exciting to have your whole extended family doing this together!

Where a food causes a baby reflux, gas pain, distress, and/or lack of sleep, I would absolutely remove it, yes. However, as you indicate, it’s hard (impossible) to know initially whether a nursling is reacting to food directly ingested or to elements in the breastmilk. Usually I would advise that you rotate foods out of her and your diet and see if the removal (for two weeks) helps.

Before possibly having ideas, though, as well as a response about probiotics, I have a couple of questions for you:

1. When your family started the program, was your daughter’s sole source of food breastmilk? If so, what were her symptoms then?
2. Did you introduce the broth to her before the veggies? If yes, what were her symptoms at that point?

I sure hope you both get some sleep tonight! Let’s get working on this, for sure…

All my best,
Baden

My whole family (extended included) has started GAPS. I did a few days of intro but since I am breastfeeding I have jump into Full GAPS. I had planned on starting my 7 month old on the baby GAPS plan, but since I started introducing broth then boiled veggies (squash and cauliflower – well pureed and small amounts) she has been up almost every night screaming with gas and re-flux. She has had gas pain for a long time but this re-flux is new since starting GAPS. Last night she screamed almost all night and has been for most of today. My baby is usually a happy baby and tends to play a lot and she won’t even do that. Should I pull her off solids and just start her on baby biotics? She I keep up with the broth? I can’t tell if the pain is from what she’s eating or what I am eating. This whole thing is leaving me so confused. I thought this was going to help her not make it worse : (

Thank you!
Liz

Your son is an excellent candidate for GAPS!

My tips are in the post above. You can choose whichever approach you prefer. My guess is that likely you will need to go ‘cold turkey’ at some point, though. In this approach, a child will often refuse all food for up to four days before starting to eat -and then eats wonderfully! I recommend joining the email support lists to hear from other parents who have watched their child move through this exact journey, which terrifies the parent while it’s happening, but has excellent outcomes. It is critical that the child stay hydrated throughout.

All my best,
Baden

He had eczema from 5 months to about 20 months old and now he has small bumps on the skin on his upper thighs, a few on his torso, and some on his neck – they sort of look like a cross between pimples and little warts. We currently see a homeopath, he has never been vaccinated.
My son is an extremely intelligent little boy, his speech is advanced for his three years.
For the past 6 months he has had difficulties passing stools – only once or twice a week, crying, pulling back, although they look normal once passed. When I cut out all gluten containing foods, the frequency of stools improved greatly, but he didn’t eat anything, just breastmilk.
How do I get him to eat real food? I’ve tried all the interventions other Mums in my baby group have suggested and I’m tired of people (including my Mum and husband) saying that he is intelligent and there is nothing to worry about, he will grow out of it.
Can you please provide some guidance?

Thanks