Katie's Story
Running a successful catering business would seemingly be enough for anyone but 7 weeks ago I had my third child. After experiencing dietary issues with my first two children, and even my own experiences as a child, I just knew that she would follow the same pattern.
My first child Molly had the cow’s milk protein intolerance which meant she just didn’t gain the weight she was supposed to, it literally went in one end and out the other. I was dismissed by health professionals who told me that Molly had failed to thrive and to put her on formula. I knew deep in my soul this wasn’t the solution.
I also knew I had bucket loads of milk so it wasn’t a supply issue. If I had followed that particular paediatricians advice it would have been a disaster. Once diagnosed with the intolerance, dairy was cut out of my diet and Molly went from strength to strength.
As a little girl I had a whole battery of tests to work out why I was suffering so badly with eczema, asthma and gut related issues. The results came back showing I had a severe intolerance to cow’s milk protein. This issue has been passed on to all three of my kids.
My second child, Sebastian, was a whole lot worse. He had numerous protein intolerances that caused him severe pain and caused his mother to despair that anyone in the medical profession would take my instincts seriously and not discount what was happening, labelling me as an over anxious mother. I finally changed GPs and it was Dr Jeremy who actually looked at my son, I mean REALLY looked at my son and not at me and my sleep deprived explanations. He cradled my small boy in his hands and spent maybe 5 minutes just observing him and not saying a word. He finally turned to me and said “ he is one unhappy little boy, let’s get to the bottom of this”. It was a hallelujah moment for me and perhaps even stopped me tipping over that precipice into severe depression. Having a baby that screams all day and night is harder than I can say.
After seeing a paediatric specialist it was discovered he had a whole list of protein intolerances that were causing him to bleed in his bowel and give him severe cramping…constantly. How terrible to start life in constant pain! I changed my diet dramatically, under supervision, and it was found Seb had intolerances to gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and eggs. Well, that pretty much left me eating meat and salad but to physically see Seb change personality and become the happiest and most laid back of children was a miracle. For me, well I became a mother who could again enjoy my baby instead of just trying to survive. Unfortunately, after going of gluten with my son it set of an intolerance in me, making me throw up if wheat was ingested but Seb at age 5 is completely fine with no food related issues at all.
I went into my third pregnancy with all this knowledge behind me. So this time from the moment Claudi was born I ate no gluten and no dairy. This was with the backing of the paediatrician. A couple of weeks down the track we had to remove soy from my diet due to explosive liquid poo but this has seemingly solved the problem and I have a very chilled happy baby.