Babies and Children's Problems

Virus, infection or other cause?

Guidance for a Healthy Baby

Is your baby suffering with colic, blocked nose, chesty cough, sickness, restless or poor sleep, milk rash, eczema? As we want to ensure that this little person enjoys the best possible health, it is worth giving consideration to some possible causes.

Breastfeeding is Nature’s way. Medical authorities agree that breast milk is best because it provides all of the ingredients your baby needs for optimum health, growth and development. Studies published in the medical journals conclude that breastfeeding helps prevent atopic disease, including atopic eczema, food allergy and respiratory allergy, throughout childhood and adolescence.

So if this is the best diet for your baby, why do some babies still suffer with sickness, colic, eczema, poor sleep or various other symptoms?

The explanation is quite simple. The chemistry of breast milk is affected by the diet of the mother. Although the mother may not experience any symptoms of food intolerance herself, the ultra-sensitive immune system of the baby can be affected by food substances that it cannot handle and it causes reactions. This is particularly likely to be the case if there is a history of allergies in the family, such as asthma, eczema and so on.

You may have chosen not to breastfeed, been unable to breastfeed or you may be supplementing your baby's diet with formula milk. Are you aware that most formula milks are made with cow’s milk?

It also appears my daughter has an intolerance to milk as we recently changed her to goat's milk and her sleeping and behaviour changed considerably within four days!

P. G., Surrey

The immature immune system of a newborn baby often reacts to cow's milk proteins. These milk proteins are responsible for milk allergy, which can easily be confirmed with painless skin tests or blood tests. However, less than 2% of babies have a milk “allergy”, but milk “intolerance” is far more common and affects up to 40% of bottle-fed babies.

So whether your baby is breastfed or bottle fed the possible cause of his/her problems could be intolerance to cow’s milk in the formula, dairy products mum is ingesting or other food items.

Another reason can be, some airborne allergens such as dust mites, are often behind some types of severe atopic eczema, rhinitis or asthma, in other words, totally unrelated to breast milk.

Treatment for Babies Problems

Confirm with skin tests or blood tests that the problem is not caused by an allergy, i.e. egg white or milk protein or inhalants such as dust mites
Through a carefully designed process, identify which foods are unsafe for the baby, if consumed by the mother
A form of Immunoglobulin G (microarray ELISA) test has been rated 80% satisfaction among parents and physicians in the US (2015)
Once identified, advice on how to adopt a healthy, balanced diet
In some cases, treatment to improve the baby's immunity

Some babies do well with a modified diet when they are weaned, but others react to many common foods, making it very difficult to define a healthy, balanced and sustainable diet. If this is the case, we recommend a safe method of desensitisation.

Guidance for Healthy Toddlers

Is your toddler suffering from recurrent “viruses”, ear, throat and/or chest infections? Do you feel you are forever at the doctor’s surgery? Are you concerned about using repeated courses of antibiotics?

Many parents and health professionals spend much of their time dealing with children’s health problems convinced they are caused by a virus, other infectious agents or changes in a child's chemistry well beyond their control.

Most of these health issues have two main causes

An immune system struggling to cope with common foods or food additives
Deficiencies of some essential nutrients

Although several studies in the last four decades have concluded that breastfed babies have less colic or recurrent infections, pneumonia and eczema, few have ventured to point out that a significant number of children have been fed with formula milk or cow’s milk products.

In our experience, we have found that dairy products are often the culprits of many upper respiratory infections and if avoided an improvement or clearance of the symptoms can be seen. However, other foods can also be involved and it is important to identify these and also to understand which appropriate alternatives to use to maintain a balanced, healthy diet but without the reactions.

If one or both parents have some kind of allergy such as hay fever, asthma, or eczema, simply due to the DNA, their children have an increased risk to develop allergies or intolerances sometime in their lives.

Treatment for Children's Problems

Deal with any immune problems which may be affecting the toddler’s health
Nutritional advice to improve immunity
Long-term advice on ensuring a balanced, healthy and varied diet

HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?

We guide you on how to identify the likely causes of your child's ill health.
We work with you and help you modify his/her diet or breathable environment.
We recommend high quality nutrients to support the immune system and a healthy physical and cognitive growth.

SPECIALIST TIPS AND NOTES

Children's allergies and other immune problems tend to be more simple than those of adults who often recruit new reactivities through the years.
A normal test result for lactose or gluten intolerance does not exclude possible intolerance to milk or any whole-grains.
Children are over-sensitive to additives because their capacity to detoxify chemcals takes years to mature.