OCTOBER 2020 ROUNDUP

Carrageenan is an emulsifier that can damage your intestinal tract. Some studies show it can promote inflammation, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, glucose intolerance, food allergies, fetal toxicity, birth defects and colon cancer.

There are two types- undegraded and degraded. Degraded is carcinogenic and is not approved for use. Undegraded is what you’ll find in your foods and products but even that can be contaminated with the degraded stuff. More studies need to be done but in 2016 the National Organic Standards Board outlawed the use of this so products labeled USDA organic can no longer use this ingredient.

Common places you’ll find it: milk, deli meats, cottage cheese, dairy alternatives like almond milk, ice cream, coffee creamer, pet foods, infant formula, microwave dinners and more.

Healthier alternatives are guar gum, agar agar, gum arabic, gelatin and pectin.
 
Carrageenan free products tend to separate so you just need to shake or stir them more. Example: the almond milk I buy (Malk) requires a good shake before I pour it.

Feelin’ 10 inches lighter today. ☺️

I’m very thankful I’ve always had a pretty easy time growing my hair out & I’m happy to be able to donate this to someone who needs it. 💗

Aluminum Facts:

A lot of people come into contact with aluminum every day though foil, cookware, deodorants, antacids and even baking powder.

Is it known to cross the placenta and is toxic to placental and uterine cells in studies on mice. It can accumulate in the brain and cause a range of neurological problems, such as Alzheimers in adults.

Aluminum exposure during pregnancy has potential neurotoxic hazards to the in utero developing fetus brain.

Antiperspirants are arguably the most single contributor of aluminum in the body as their use involves applying about 2g of aluminum to the skin every day. Others say antacids are the highest source of exposure.

Certain vaccines are another route of exposure where up to a milligram of aluminum is injected. As companies phase out mercury in vaccines, higher amounts of aluminum adjuvants are used. Topical and injected aluminum are significant contributors as they bypass your digestive tract which normally helps prevent a significant amount of it from being absorbed. No safety studies on the effects of aluminum adjuvants on pregnant women and potential effects on their babies have been done.

Aluminum cookware, foils and utensils are other considerable sources of aluminum as this can leach into your food. Aluminum concentrations increase by a factor of 2 to 68 for example when fish is wrapped in foil for cooking.

Soy products also contain high levels which leach from the aluminum tanks in which the soybeans are processed.

Tips to avoid exposure:

Ditch aluminum foil. If you must use it, prevent it from coming into contact with your food by placing a sheet of parchment paper between it and your food.

Avoid aluminum pots and pans as well as cookie sheets and cake pans.

Check ingredient labels on deodorants/antiperspirants, aspirin, sunscreens, makeup and facial scrubs.

Don’t use aluminum containing antacids.

Eat fewer soy products.

Review vaccine inserts.

Source: Real Food for Pregnancy

I shared a few months ago that I got Payson’s tongue & lip tie corrected. I think a lot of people know what those are now but I thought I’d do a post for those that don’t. This is going to be a very general post and not super in-depth because there’s way more that could be said on this topic but I just want to give an introduction. I’m also going to focus more on the tongue part of it.

When you lift your tongue you have this membrane that anchors your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. You also have one when you raise your upper lip. These are called frenulums. They are a normal part of our body but in certain instances they can be too tight or in the wrong position and this is what is being referred to when someone talks about having a tongue or lip tie.

Sometimes these are obvious and sometimes they are harder to detect. Payson’s tongue tie was anterior and so it was as clear as day. Typically if you have a tongue tie then you will also have a lip tie- they kind of go together.

Your midwife/doctor should check at birth to see if they have an issue. Payson’s mouth was checked during his newborn screening before we left the birth center and they noted that he had an obvious tongue tie.

Why does this matter? When the frenulum is tight or in the wrong place the mouth doesn’t work properly. We need to be able to fully lift our tongues to eat, swallow and speak correctly. Having a tie issue can affect breastfeeding, cause drooling and cause other speech issues.

Most moms realize they have an issue when they try to breastfeed because a tongue that doesn’t work properly can cause issues with feeding- especially latching. Every baby is different though. For us, we were thankfully able to breastfeed before his was corrected and the only issue was that Payson wasn’t latching as effectively as he could have been so he was taking in some air and getting gassy because of it. For some moms they might have super painful feeding or a baby that won’t latch at all or mastitis/clogged ducts from a bad latch and inability to drain the breast. If you are having any issues breastfeeding this is definitely something to look for. 

Other signs: a colicky baby, poor weight gain, a fussy baby when feeding, baby popping off the breast frequently, painful nipples.

What do you do about it? You can have a procedure done to laser the frenulum which is what we did. There are several types of the procedure but the laser seems to be the most common right now. This is called a frenotomy. They basically laser the ties and it only takes like 2 minutes. It’s super fast and the baby is given topical anesthesia.

You can take a wait and see approach as well but it’s easier to do this on small babies (Payson was 6 weeks roughly). I know of a mom who didn’t have her son’s done and now he’s a toddler and has a major drooling problem. There are also older kids who didn’t get theirs corrected and they have speech issues. Ultimately you just need to discuss with your doctor and make a decision on what’s best for you. For us, we could’ve probably not done it and just had a gassy baby but I didn’t want that & I didn’t want to have any drool/speech issues in the future so we just decided to do it.

Who to see? Your first person to see will likely be your pediatrician. Ours checked his mouth at his 2 week appointment when he saw him for the first time. We already knew he had one though because our midwife had already checked him at birth but the pediatrician still looked again. He referred us to a pediatric ENT but pediatric dentists also take care of this. Our ENT’s office also had lactation consultants on staff that we met with several times to make sure he was latching better after the procedure. LC’s are AMAZING! I highly recommend meeting with one.

Our ENT also had us to body work which you know I was doing anyway! This means we took Payson to the chiropractor. She really worked a lot on his palate and even after one adjustment he was lifting his tongue SO much more. Going to the Chiropractor is beneficial whether you choose to repair the ties or not- either way it’s going to help. We went twice a week at first but now we just go once a week and eventually we’ll go down to twice a month.

Healing: As part of the healing process you do have to do tongue exercises and I won’t lie- these are not fun at first! Your mouth heals so quickly so you have to do the exercises every few hours. I would nurse on one side then do the exercises and then nurse on the other side to calm him back down. If you’re going through this I just want to say IT WILL GET BETTER. I PROMISE! I dreaded them at first but we are still continuing some of them now and Payson will sometimes laugh as we do them so it won’t be so dreadful forever. A new frenulum will form and you have to make sure that one forms properly and doesn’t get tight. It’s kind of a nice break for us now to do them because it gives him a second between feeding on each side to get a little break to digest or wake up before feeding on the other side.

For the first few weeks we also gave a homeopathic pain medicine that our ENT gave us. You want to avoid Tylenol! It’s toxic for babies with MTHFR and it decreases glutathione levels.

What causes this? There is more research to be done but our ENT is actually currently researching the link between MTHFR and midline defects (tongue ties, cleft lips, etc…). I know a lot of parents with MTHFR have kids with tongue ties so I definitely think it’s something we need to learn more on. It is interesting because I have MTHFR and I didn’t have any lip/tongue tie issues so it’s definitely going to vary by person.

Whew- that was very lengthy but I hope that helped provide some insight into this. Hopefully it will be helpful if you ever encounter this!

This is our new favorite stuffed animal! My parents bought this zebra for Payson and he loves it so much already. 🦓 He’s been cuddling with him & I think he likes the black/white contrast.

This came from a company called Bears for Humanity based out of California. I love it because it’s GOTS certified organic and free from heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides and it’s handmade. I feel comfortable having Payson play with him & put him in his mouth. For every animal purchased they donate one to a child in need which I also love.

The zebra we got has one ear up and one ear down. I’m not sure if it got smashed in the box on the way here or what but I think it’s a little nod to our sweet Bagel we lost last year. If you knew him then you know he always had one ear up and one ear down so this reminds us of him as well which makes him that much more special. 💙 We plan on buying from this company again to add to the collection! If you need a high quality stuffed animal made with clean fabric- check them out!

Today is #nationalpregnancyandinfantlossday.

Two years ago I shared (on my personal page) that Corey and I had lost our first baby. I never thought it would be something I shared publicly but once I did I was able to connect with so many other women who had gone through the same thing. I then started sharing more about it on this page and have found even more of you to connect with.

Little did I know when I first shared that we would lose another baby before having Payson. If you’re also an angel mama then I’m thinking of you today as well.

I know when I get to Heaven I’ll have two more babies running to me and calling me mama and what a joyous day that will be. 💗

If you haven’t bought Kristin Cavallari’s new cookbook yet (True Comfort) add that to your cart ASAP! I have her first one as well (True Roots) but I am loving this one even more.

Last week my mom helped me make the carrot cake pancakes and they are delicious! They are made with almond, oat flour and almond milk so they are gluten free and dairy free. ( I used my favorite sprouted/organic GF oats to make the flour.)  We topped ours with coconut butter for some good healthy fats and they were delicious! I made a big batch and put them in the fridge to eat throughout the week. 

The recipe called for Nutmeg and Clove but I didn’t have either so I whipped out my handy oils & used those instead! I did one drop of each. I love that I can substitute my oils for spices.

The funny thing is I’m traditionally more of a waffle girl over pancakes but these looked too good in the cookbook picture so I just had to make them and they were worth it & super easy to make! Which do you prefer? Pancakes or waffles?

I started this page so I could share information on non-toxic living, essential oils and clean eating that would be valuable to others. When I started I had no clue that sharing all about MTHFR would be part of that. I’ve been able to connect with so many other women who’ve gone through miscarriages or have had other health issues themselves or with their kiddos and have also found out they have this mutation so I wanted to put together a list of resources that might be beneficial.

I first found out I had MTHFR in June of 2018. I was seeing a functional medicine doctor and she did a full blood panel on me and this is when the MTHFR showed up. At the time I didn't know anything about it. The blood work results she gave me were literally 13 pages long so this was just one of many things we went over when we went over everything. I didn't even really give it any thought at the time because I was focused on the other parts of the blood work. It wasn't until after my second miscarriage that I really started to dive in and start researching it more.

I wish I would have saved all of my research from the beginning but unfortunately I didn't. I had no clue how much I would dive into it in the future so I didn't think to save it all. I have compiled a lot of articles and resources that I think are super helpful though. There is constantly new research being done and I see new stuff all the time so I will add to this list as I find more resources. I don't want this to be a stagnant list.

I’ve put a link to “MTHFR Resources” in my bio where you can access the list. I hope this is helpful for y’all!

If you haven’t read Part 1 - scroll over and read that first for general info on Chiropractic care.

Pregnant women can benefit from care by keeping their spine and pelvis aligned and helping their reproductive organs work their best to help support a growing baby. Research shows that prenatal care contributes to a more straightforward labor. I can attest to this! I had such a great experience with my pregnancy and birth. I didn’t deal with the common aches and pains that a lot of pregnant women complain of and I had a very easy birth for a first time mom.

Babies and kids can also benefit from care. Birth is really hard on newborns even if you had a very smooth birth. Babies should be adjusted after birth to help any negative impacts that could affect their spinal growth and development. 65% of neurological development occurs in the child’s first year so it’s good to ensure their nervous system is functioning at it’s best to help with that. This continues as the child grows- you get the point- as they grow you want to make sure everything is in alignment so they grow properly.

Getting adjusted can help with sleep, immune system support, behavior, brain development and more. I’ve heard from so many parents how they can tell when their child needs to get adjusted or if they stop getting adjusted for a period of time their kiddos will get sick more often or have other issues.

Payson’s ENT actually made sure we were getting adjusted after his tongue and lip tie procedure. We made sure to take him twice a week after his procedure to help with his palate. It has helped his healing tremendously!  Now I take Payson once a week to get adjusted when I do.

The goal is to be able to get to a point where you are just maintaining. Once you get your body in a good spot you can drop down the frequency of adjustments so you don’t have to go as often forever.