babies, was food allergies (was introduction)

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Babies, in general, don't sleep through the night, especially when they are

breastfed. Breastmilk digests faster than formula. My daughter was eight

months old before she slept six solid hours.

 

One of our neighbors had just had her second and was complaining that her

first slept eight hour at around two months and this one never slept more than

four. The poor thing was looking for sympathy from the other moms on the block,

and we all sort of laughed at her.

 

Terry Somerson <terry wrote:

Actually, the pet rats may have something to do with keeping your children

healthy. I read somewhere that children who grow up with animals around tend to

have fewer allergies and illnesses. My son is seven and our family has always

included many dogs, cats, and birds. He has no food allergies in spite of having

started solid foods at about five months, eats peanut butter every day (it's the

only sandwich he will eat), and has not had a sick day from school in two years.

 

-

Kadee M

 

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 1:03 PM

Re: food allergies (was " introduction " )

 

 

Oh man, agreed completely. At my 6 week checkup after my son was born there was

a very young girl in the waiting room with her baby and her mother. We were

talking and she mentioned giving her two week-old baby cereal to help him sleep.

My heart stopped and I said, " DON'T YOU GIVE THAT BABY CEREAL!!! " Her baby's

doctor had told her it was fine. ?? Same thing happened with my husband's

brother and his wife, and the wife's mother was trying to convince them that

their baby, only a couple of months old, would sleep better if they put cereal

in his bottle. I turned into a statistic machine, emphasizing that babies given

cereal that early are more likely to be overweight and diabetic (they're big

people). I don't care if it makes them sleep better!

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

robin koloms wrote: I think that pediatricians (though I have not spoken with

once since I was around fourteen) are a large part of this. They are not well

educated in nutrition and do not help parents learn when foods should be

introduced. Most parents do what their parents did or what their friends do and

are not aware of the potential harm of introducing certain foods too soon.

 

Kadee M wrote: The real question is: why are so many children's immune systems

freaking out like this?

 

Prescription drugs, over-vaccination, germophobia, insufficient diets, not

enough exercise or time outside in the sun, treating a cold like the ebola

virus, parents who expect their kids to be perfect... also I'm sure genetics

plays some role. There's too much working against these kids' immune systems and

not enough working for them, so they freak out. My dog has lupus and I believe

with all my heart it's because of the cheap food she ate, being out in the

weather all year, stress, you name it. It cleared up very nicely once she came

to live with us, go figure, in a more favorable environment. I'm not saying that

a deadly peanut allergy will go away if a child is treated differently (though

I'm sure in many cases it would help tremendously), just that from the time kids

are conceived they're " protected " from entirely too much good stuff like dirt

and bugs and other fun things. My mom was apalled when we got pet rats. She

didn't think the kids ought to handle them at all.

My daughter Leah adores them, and though she might get a few germs from them

it's not anything that will kill her, or even make her sick. Not that everybody

ought to go get their kids rats, just everybody ought to chill out and let the

kids get a few germs in their systems and stop poisoning them with medicine and

silly air fresheners and cleaners and sanitizers. My sister had asthma when she

was little, and her doctor told my mom to send her outside and make her play

till she can't anymore, give her a breathing treatment, and send her right back

out. She doesn't have asthma anymore. I think a lot of these problems could be

improved simply by changing a few simple things. Not all, but some, and it'd be

more than worth it.

 

Kadee Sedtal

 

 

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