Day 8: GAPS Intro Stage 1

So, we're on day 8 of GAPS Intro Stage 1 for Jude and although we think we see a slight improvement in his ability to attend to something, we don't see much else that's changing/improving. He will only eat soup pureed, and not without copious amounts of peanut butter (just peanuts), though I am slowly weaning him from that and now as long as he thinks there's pb in it, he'll usually eat it without it. He won't drink broth at all, even if I just sneak a little in water or ginger tea with plenty of honey.

He's also still eating one piece of sugar-free bacon every morning just because it is a great wake-up transition thing for him. He doesn't want soup as soon as he wakes up.

Do you think that the peanuts and bacon could be preventing him from making more progress? Or the fact that he won't drink broth? Or is every person just different? Or am I expecting too much too soon?

The good side is that he hasn't had an awful die-off reaction. He's had some grumpy/sleepy days, but nothing horrible yet. And some of that grumpiness may have just been a Veggie Tales addiction. Since we've made the DVD player a bedtime-only treat (he falls asleep so well that way), he's been a LOT happier.

Day 3: GAPS Intro - Stage 1

Today, I learned that Jude's multivitamin and liquid vitamin c supplements both contained sugar and juice and all kinds of fun things in them that he shouldn't be having right now. Oops! Don't get me wrong, they are VERY good quality supplements from the health food store, but still not quite GAPS Intro legal.

Jude's basically eaten pureed soup with honey and peanut butter all day, except for a piece of bacon at breakfast. He LOVES the ginger tea with honey, and drank about three sippy cups of that today, too. He hasn't been drinking the broth though, so today I tried giving him half broth, half water, and a little honey. He tolerated that better, but still didn't even like it enough to drink much of it. I'll keep trying.

I got him some kids' probiotic powder today and started him on that today.

I meant to write this yesterday, but I noticed starting yesterday that he's playing with himself a lot less! I read somewhere that that can be a symptom of yeast overgrowth in kids, and after just one day on GAPS, I've seen a huge improvement in this area. He had seriously gotten to where I had to keep him in footie pjs or overalls all day so that he couldn't get to it, because if he just had regular pants on, I would be fighting him to keep his hand out of his pants all day. I am very, VERY happy to not have to have those battles anymore!

He's pretty grumpy in the mornings lately, and perks up around noon. I don't know what time to tell the therapists to come anymore, because morning has always been his best time, but this morning he was in a horrible mood for the developmental interventionist. Bless her heart, she tried so hard.

On another note, I made some kefir yogurt today and it was delish! I have awful digestive reactions to dairy, so I had a spoonful around noon, and by 7:30 it still hadn't bothered me, so I had another spoonful. I could have eaten the whole bowl!

Day 2: GAPS Intro - Stage 1

Jude woke up this morning around 7:30 after a restless night's sleep. I've read that it's normal to not sleep well when starting GAPS because your adrenals are healing. It could also be because he didn't eat much before bed, and he never sleeps well when that happens.

He ate more bacon at breakfast. I've read that it's okay as long as it isn't sugar-cured.

A friend's son was trying to play with Jude today while we
were outside, but Jude was  completely oblivious.

By lunch time, he'd refused everything I'd offered him and was miserably hungry. I finally caved and gave him a banana. I really hope that's not doing too much damage! It was our last one, so it can't happen tomorrow.

A while later, I figured out that he will eat the pureed soup if I put peanut butter and honey in it, so I did and he ate it all and cried for more.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep him on Stage 1. I know most people don't stay here long because it's kind of miserable, but I want to make sure he really gets better, and with me cheating by giving him things like bananas and peanut butter, I think maybe I need to keep it up until he's really only eating Stage 1 foods.

He hasn't had much of a die-off reaction yet... Probably because of the bananas. But I do feel like his behavior was better today already. Is that possible? He had a tiny bit more eye contact and interaction with me, and he played with his shape-sorting box for quite a while this evening. That's significant because he's never cared to play with it before. He also payed a little more attention to my parents on Skype.

Tomorrow, I'm finally going to get to the health food store to get him some probiotics and a cheesecloth to strain my kefir. I've got to get some whey so I can start fermenting veggies! I have a feeling i'll really see die-off once he starts all of that. It's really important to start slow!

Day 1: GAPS Intro - Stage 1

I finally admitted that weaning Jude off of sugar and oats just wasn't working, and I was getting more and more sad and frustrated watching my sweet little boy slip away from me, so I decided last night to just start him on Stage 1 of the Intro Diet today.

It went a LOT better than I had expected! He was hungry when he first woke up, so in desperation I gave him a banana, and then he had three pieces of bacon. I know, not exactly Stage 1 foods, but still a step up from peanut butter and jam oats. I was happy. I cooked a little bit of soup and pureed it for him with peanut butter and honey in it, but he took one bite and then wouldn't have any more. Again, I know that peanut butter isn't a Stage 1 food, but it's a familiar breakfast taste for him, so I thought it would help.

He's been drinking cold broth in his sippy cup for a while. He doesn't love it, but he'll drink it if he's thirsty enough. So at least I'd gotten us that far and didn't have to have that fight today.

He did go to the fridge and whine for pop ice quite a bit this morning, but not as much in the afternoon.

Around lunch time, he finally ate quite a bit of shredded chicken from one I'd roasted a couple of nights ago, and then wanted the pureed soup, too. He ate all of it! I was shocked!

This afternoon, I made him some ginger tea with honey in it and he LOVED it. Happy Mama.

I was preparing myself for him to feel bad today, but he was possibly even happier than usual. Well... he did watch quite a bit of Veggie Tales today... but we played outside this morning and again for a long time after dinner and he was in a great mood. I'm bracing myself for him to be tired and miserable soon, though.