Mi hijo tiene una enfermedad crónica, estreñimiento, trastorno del comportamiento o del aprendizaje. ¿Qué debo hacer?

Tenga en cuenta que lo siguiente no es un consejo médico, sino simplemente información para usar como tema de discusión con su médico autorizado. Sugerimos buscar la atención de un pediatra integrador.

FASE 1

What is the Situation?
The first thing to do is to gain a grasp on the situation with your child. You can do this in several ways. Some cost more money than others. I always start with the free options, and usually, they bring a lot of answers. Start with the one that works best for you.

1. Observation is crucial. Make a daily log of what your child eats, drinks, how they sleep and how often they go to the bathroom if that is an issue. Also jot down the behavioral and health problems and see if they are correlated with the food. Frequently, you will be able to figure out the offending foods or drinks just by doing this. This step is the first thing an integrative doctor will ask you about, so it’s better to do this for a week or two before taking them to the doctor unless you feel going to the doctor is urgent. One father noticed that his son went ballistic, punched holes in walls, etc., after eating red food dyes in strawberry ice cream and resolved much of his child’s behavioral issues by removing food dyes from his diet. Observing is key. 
   
   
2. Pruebas. Si puede pagar análisis de sangre, heces y orina, que pueden costar entre cientos y miles de dólares incluso con un seguro, son la forma más precisa para que cualquier médico diagnostique la afección o dolencia de su hijo. Un médico minucioso ordenará pruebas como pruebas de alergia (IGG, IGE), pruebas de heces para determinar desequilibrios microbianos o infección en el tracto gastrointestinal, análisis de sangre para deficiencias de minerales y vitaminas, niveles hormonales, niveles de bacterias en la orina y heces, y pesados presencia de metal. Muchos también sugieren pruebas genéticas. Consulte con su seguro para averiguar qué cubren primero, pero incluso si no cubren estas pruebas, las recomendamos. Puede parecer demasiado costoso pagar de su bolsillo, tenga en cuenta que si toma una decisión y paga por otros tratamientos o terapias sin esta información fundamental, esos métodos pueden ser inútiles si no sabe con qué está lidiando. Por ejemplo, muchos niños con autismo tienen una deficiencia de vitamina B o un desequilibrio de cobre y zinc. O la desintoxicación de metales pesados puede ser crucial para su hijo. Uno podría gastar miles de dólares en terapias ineficaces o medicamentos inútiles con efectos secundarios dañinos sin saber que una mejor dieta y un suplemento vitamínico y / o proceso de desintoxicación podrían resolver gran parte del problema.
   
   
3. COMUNICACIÓN. Depending on the child’s age, communication could be transformative. Ask your child how they feel. Do they notice that they feel better or worse after eating certain foods? Will they keep a log and write down how they feel? They could be detectives in solving their problems. Often children do not feel heard and assume their feelings don’t matter, so they don’t express how they feel. Once a child feels that a parent cares about how they feel, will listen, and is in partnership with them to recover, they will notice their bodily reactions, understand that they are important, and take on partnership and be more proactive in healing themselves. I asked my son if he would be my partner in his health when he was 9. I asked him if he would drink green drinks, eat different foods, and try alternative remedies. He said yes to all. He owned his recovery and is one of the healthiest people I know today.

Once you understand the reality of your child’s situation, you can begin to take action. Most of our supporters with children with chronic illness, constipation, learning/behavioral issues report, and doctors concur that their child has gut dysbiosis, an imbalance of the gut bacteria and/or holes in the small intestine, a condition called leaky gut. My child’s doctor told me, “Because of the toxins our children are exposed to, most children in America have leaky gut today, your children are just lucky that they have a mother who is taking steps to find out about this and do something about it.”��

FASE 2

What Actions Can We Take?
To be clear, we are not doctors, and we urge you to seek the advice of an integrative pediatrician, holistic or naturopathic doctor, but these are the steps we have found to be helpful and should be used as a matter of conversation with your doctor.

1. La comida es medicina. Los alimentos adecuados crean salud. Los alimentos incorrectos, como los medicamentos con efectos secundarios negativos o la prescripción incorrecta, pueden causar un gran daño e incluso matar. Averigüe qué alimentos son adecuados para su hijo. Después de las pruebas de alergia y minerales, lo sabrá. Si no pudiera pagar esas pruebas, sería seguro intentar lo siguiente. Muchos ven resultados asombrosos en días o semanas que duran toda la vida.
   
   
   • Purge your pantry. It is far more difficult to avoid certain foods and eat to heal if the hurtful foods are still in your house. Ask for partnership from family members and, for a certain amount of time, usually six weeks to six months, agree not to allow those foods in the house at all. Usually, those foods are wheat, sugar, and dairy. Food dyes, preservatives and fillers in  highly processed snacks, soda, and junk foods can cause inflammation too. Going cold turkey 100% is important for the body to heal. Pouring a teaspoon of gasoline on a fire still stokes a fire. Stop stoking the inflammation in your child’s body by purging the fuel from the house.
     
     
   • Switch to organic.  Many who drink raw milk and eat ancient organic grains like kamut, einkorn and spelt are proponents for, instead of purging your pantry of those items, simply switch to organic raw milk and organic ancient grains instead. No matter what your child eats, it should be organic. This is because most conventional, non-organic foods, especially grains (including wheat and oats), soy, dairy, eggs, and beans, have glyphosate residues. Glyphosate is a chemical in Roundup and other glyphosate herbicides, which are the most widely used herbicide. It has been proven to destroy beneficial gut bacteria and promote the growth of pathogenic gut bacteria. This can lead to gut dysbiosis, a weakened immune system, chronic illness, inflammation of the brain, and erratic behavior such as autism symptoms. Thousands of food tests have been conducted, and they show glyphosate residues on most non-organic grains and previously mentioned foods. Even non-organic orange juice, wine, and breastmilk have been shown to contain glyphosate. Choosing organic means choosing health.
     
     
   • Eliminate sugar and foods craved by your picky eater. Sugar feeds the pathogenic bacteria. So do the foods your child is most likely craving. Top food cravings we hear about are sweet foods, cheese, milk, pizza, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets fried in wheat, and other low nutrition, highly processed foods. The craving for certain foods is coming from the bacteria in your child’s gut that thrive on those foods. Those foods feed the bad bacteria and perpetuate the problem. When a child is having a tantrum for a certain food, it may not just be bad behavior; it could be a withdrawal symptom from the food that the gut bacteria needs in order to grow. To break this cycle, one must remove those foods from the child’s diet. This could be very difficult. Many people say, “But my child will just NOT eat anything else but these four foods!” But doctors across the country assure us, your child may refuse to eat for a while but will eventually get hungry enough to eat. Again, Step 2, purging the pantry, is crucial to this process to avoid caving into your child. Don’t forget that being a good parent often means giving your child what they NEED, not what they want.
     
     
   • Find the diet that works best for your child. Again, Step 1 is crucial to this determination. Many children are fine with organic raw dairy but do poorly with conventional dairy. Others need to avoid gluten altogether for a year but then find they can eat organic wheat just fine after that.  Others must avoid all corn or soy ingredients (meaning reading the fine print and learning about all the sneaky product names that contain soy or corn, which is a lot), or food dyes, or certain preservatives. Most importantly, reduce or eliminate highly processed foods, increase consumption of organic whole foods and add in fermented foods like organic Kefir, yogurt (dairy or non-dairy), Kombucha, and sauerkraut that contains trillions of good bacteria to balance the gut microbiome. Don’t get overwhelmed. Just try one thing at a time by eliminating it for two weeks to see if there is a change in symptoms and behavior.
     
     
   • Supplement. It takes 70 cups of today’s spinach to equal the same amount of iron a cup of spinach provided in the 1950s. Although our main goal is for all of our children’s nutrition to come from food, because our modern food supply is so depleted of nutrients, supplementation is currently very important to restore the body's functions. Most of us, including our children, are depleted of vitamins and minerals that are necessary for our health and over 2000 bodily functions. Most of us have gut damage/weakened immune systems that need addressing. To support gut health and overall health, Moms Across America has carefully vetted several supplements to transition your family to having bodies that heal themselves.
     
     
2. ¡Tu cuerpo puede curarse solo! Tome medidas para tener hábitos saludables ¡Con apoyo, su cuerpo puede hacer cosas increíbles! Guíe a su hijo a diario. Alentamos:

• Salga todos los días y haga ejercicio, juegue, camine, explore la naturaleza durante al menos 1 hora todos los días, 2-4 mejor. 
• ¡Los niños deberían dormir más de 10 horas! Dormir antes de la medianoche es lo más curativo.
• Tenga momentos tranquilos leyendo, dibujando, rezando o meditando, escuchando o tocando música ... ¡NO frente a una pantalla!
• Obtenga atención quiropráctica constante para mantener un sistema nervioso saludable que respalde millones de funciones corporales cada minuto 

FASE 3

Environmental Exposure
Food is not the only thing that impacts your child’s health. The following factors may also be playing a role and should be, one at a time, reviewed and considered.

1. Vaccines. Most vaccines today contain ingredients that were not in the vaccines that we had as children. The ingredients have changed. Aluminum, Poly Sorbate 80, Formaldehyde, Squalene, and in some cases, Mercury and glyphosate weedkiller contamination are in today’s vaccines. These toxins can seriously impact a child’s immune system and have been connected to gut dysbiosis. Children with an MTHFR mutation have difficulty detoxing these ingredients, and the build-up could lead to autism symptoms, allergies, and autoimmune issues.  In addition, as children, we adults probably only received three vaccines, with boosters, maybe seven doses. Today’s children are receiving 72 doses by age 18 if the parents follow the recommended CDC schedule. The number of vaccines is unprecedented, and so too are our children’s skyrocketing health issues. Studies show that unvaccinated children are actually healthier, and this is something we hope every parent seriously considers.
   
   
2. Environmental pesticides and herbicides. We already addressed the ingestion of pesticides and herbicides in the first phase by going organic. The next step is to research pesticides and herbicides are being used in or around your home. Is your landlord exterminating every month with toxic insecticides? Is your husband or neighbor using Roundup or other toxic weed killers on your driveway, patio, or sidewalk? Is your Homeowners Association spraying Ranger Pro or other glyphosate-based herbicide in your community on the sidewalks or community green? Other toxins like 2,4-D, Dicamba, Parquet, Atrazine, and Imazapic should also be queried for use. Oftentimes I would notice an asthmatic event in my child only to realize that the landlord had the landscaper spray chemicals earlier that day or the city sprayed herbicide on the hillside by my son’s schoolyard. As frustrating as it is to put in additional hours of time to address this with the decision-makers, it is worth it, not just for your child but for hundreds of others. Hundreds of school districts, cities, counties, and even countries have banned glyphosate and other toxins. You can do it! You can find the steps to take on our Action and Toxin Free Town page.
   
   
3. Household and personal care products. The EPA has allowed over 80,000 chemicals in our society since the 1940s, and only a few have been banned. Most are not thoroughly tested, and thousands of them cause endocrine disruption (hormone imbalance), neurotoxicity, cancer, reproductive damage, and other kinds of harm. We suggest using products to clean your home and bath your children that are as natural as possible, with only a few simple ingredients. MADE SAFE is an organization that we trust to certify household products. Making your own is also fun and satisfying! Check Pinterest for easy recipes.

Si bien esta lista puede parecer abrumadora, lo instamos a que no se sienta abrumado, sino que simplemente dé un paso a la vez para abordarlos lo mejor que pueda. Sabemos de las mamás porque son imparables en el cuidado de sus hijos porque su amor por sus hijos nunca termina. No nos rendimos; no nos detenemos. Seguimos tomando medidas para protegerlos y cuidarlos pase lo que pase.

Háganos saber qué soluciones funcionaron para usted y cómo podemos mejorar el contenido de este artículo. ¡Gracias!