Dyson DC25 Animal Vacuum Review

For those of you with pet allergies or children with pet allergies, the Dyson DC25 Animal Vacuum Cleaner is the best (in my opinion) vacuum cleaner to have and use in your home. My son is allergic to dogs and too many allergens to list, so the Dyson DC25 Animal is the best alternative to controlling his pet allergies without having to get rid of our dog.

To read my full review with links, personal photos and a short four minute video on the Dyson and it’s features please the ad below.

Home safety

Keeping our homes safe keeps our kids safe and making sure that every detail is perfect insures us all a good nights sleep knowing that everything is ok for our kids. Some of the things I worry about the most are:

• Doors
• Windows
• Cabinets
• Outlets
• Water faucets

Now, let me explain each one a little.

Doors: I worry about little fingers being pinched or slammed in doors. For this there are great little plastic pieces you can buy to keep doors from closing all the way so little fingers don’t get hurt. Another reason for doors is because, in our house we have a door that leads to our basement. Little Miss has figured out how to move the door handle just right to open it which increases her chances of falling down the stairs. Make sure you have door handle covers so that little hands cannot open doors. There are even child proof products for sliding doors which will prevent fingers being stuck in between bi-fold sliding doors. We have metal ones in our house and they are dangerous. A friend of mine knew someone whose child almost got their finger cut off by one, so please make sure that yours are safe.

Windows: I always make sure that when the kids are laying down for naps or going to sleep at night that the windows are closed and locked. There’s nothing more terrifying to me than thinking that either my kids could open a window and fall out or someone could climb in through one of them. Yes, I am one of ‘those moms’ that worries about everything. lol

Cabinets: We keep everything in our cabinets thinking that they are safer there. Truth is though, that no matter how high I place things in the cabinets little hands can always get inside of them since my children are like little monkeys. lol Making sure that you have child locks on the inside of the cabinets and keep all medications and cleaning products locked in childproof containers is the only way to completely assure that they are safe from monkeys kids.

Outlets: These are usually one of the first things parents childproof besides cabinets. They are cheap and easily fixed, right? Well think again, did you know that most of the childproof outlet covers are a choking hazard? Yep, that’s right! The best way to make sure that your outlets and child are safe from each other is to get larger sized outlet covers, especially if your kids are anything like my youngest who thinks that anything and everything is edible.

And finally water faucets. Making sure that your hot water heater is set properly will ensure that your kids won’t get burned or scalded in the bathtub or while washing their hands. It’s not something we all think about but as soon as your child is old enough to sit in the tub by him/herself then we have to remember that water temperature is important. And I’m guilty of starting a bath thinking the water temperature is fine until I put my hand in a couple minutes later only to find that it warmed up and is now really hot! That could be dangerous! Make sure your hot water is set at around 120.  But please ask your childs pediatrician what they suggest first.

There are many great online sites where you can find some awesome child proofing products for your home. Google childproofing my home and see all the amazing things you can find to make sure your kids are as safe as can be inside your home.

If you have any safety tips I’d love to hear them!

From in-home therapy to pre-school

Since Little Miss was an infant I always knew something was different about her. She was a hard baby to deal with; constantly screaming, never happy, didn’t smile, didn’t make good eye contact, had problems with transitions, terrible separation anxiety, and much more. I worried that she was autistic. Why wouldn’t she calm down when I held her? Why did she constantly scream? These things didn’t make sense to me since my other children would stop crying and curl up in my arms and smile when I held them. It was as if she couldn’t feel me holding her even though I was. Something that really disturbed me was that as she got older she would bang her head and other body parts into objects; table, wall, furniture, and not seem to really feel it. It should have hurt enough to gather a response but it didn’t and she seemed to enjoy this behavior. Her pain tolerance seemed to be extremely high and that was the scariest part for me! When she was about 1 she grabbed my coffee cup and poured the entire cup of hot coffee down the front of her bare belly and chest and there was zero reaction. ZERO! She was beat red but was completely unfazed.

Since I had my first child back in 2001 we have been in a local program called Parents As Teachers, where an educational specialist would come to our home once every couple of months and play with my kids to test and encourage development. They do different games to see how they were doing with fine motor skills, gross motor skills, communication and so on and also teach us how to encourage these activities to help increase their developmental skills to an age appropriate level. For the past 3 years we have had an amazing educator that has been nothing but helpful, kind and encouraging to me and my children. It was her that told me about Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and how she thought that was the issue with Little Miss and my other two children. She referred me to another local program called First Steps to get an evaluation to test for Autism, SPD and other disorders. After our initial evaluations we learned that she was behind in most areas and would qualify for in-home therapies.

It started out that she would receive Speech Therapy and Developmental Therapy each, once a week for an hour. We have been fortunate enough to have the two best in our area which are: Shireen (Speech Therapist & co-author for The Parent Support Space) and April (Developmental Therapist and co-author for The Parent Support Space). After a while we were told that having Little Miss in Occupational Therapy might be good as well so after a couple of months we also started receiving in-home Occupational Therapy once a  week for an hour with Laura (Occupational Therapist & co-author of The Parent Support Space). We have had some amazing changes with Little Miss since the therapies began. She is saying more words without having to sign, doing slightly better with her separation anxiety (there still a lot of room for improvement in that area but  I’ll take what I can get.) and she has had enough sensory input that she now feels pain a little more normally on occasion but not on a regular basis. She does still have her meltdowns that never seem to end but we have noticed that her smaller meltdowns are shorter. She can now calm herself from short meltdowns by sucking her thumb and holding her favorite animal. The big meltdowns however, are still raging. The only thing that I have found that calms her during these meltdowns are me rocking her while holding her very very tight in my arms.

At the age of three First Steps graduates the child out of their program. This really has me nervous! She will be three in about six weeks and I’m nervous on how she will act since she is so extremely routine oriented. Even over the holidays she regressed a little since she was not on her normal schedule and missed some therapy appointments. We are currently going through more evaluations to see if she qualifies for our local Special Education Program to go to pre-school and receive therapies while there.

So here is the part I’m really worried about: Little Miss, as I said before, has bad separation anxiety! She goes everywhere with me; to do laundry, dishes, bathroom, shower, taking out the trash, etc. and so on. So much so that she does not enjoy doing kid activities like playing with her dolls, interacting with her siblings, spending time with her father or grandparents, and being alone. She is stuck to me like glue…super glue! She is my shadow, my lonely puppy, that little piece of gum that you can’t get off our shoe…she is my other half . I know that it has always hurt my husbands feelings that she is not close to him and we have tried to remedy the situation but to no avail. She is a mommy’s girl, period. She enjoys doing mommy things; cooking, cleaning, dishes, etc. Soo…my point…how is she going to do at school without me there? And more importantly how are the teachers going to deal with my child when she screams her blood curling scream (that never seems to end) while they have 20 other children in the class to look after, play with and take care of? How is she supposed to learn and interact if she is so attached to me that she has a major meltdown over me leaving her there each day? These are thoughts that I have each day that we get closer and closer to her birthday because if she qualifies for the services of Early/Special Education then she will start as soon as she has her birthday.

However, I have been assured that the teachers are familiar with this and will be fine. The first week, I’ve been told, will be the most difficult but been when she learns that she gets to play, have fun, interact with other children and most importantly be a kid, and that I will return after only a couple of hours, that she will be fine and actually look forward to her school days. I hope that they are correct. Will I be the crazy mom that stays outside the classroom out of eyesight to make sure she calms down? Or the mom that stays the entire time in the hallway just in case the teacher or my daughter needs me at some point? Hell yes! At least for the first couple of weeks until I know that she is ok there without throwing fits and having meltdowns that would make a howling banshee look like a quiet angel.

We will get through this. It will be good for her…and me. Yes, I am nervous for her but know that this transition from in-home therapies to pre-school will be fun, enjoyable and a wonderful learning experience…for both of us.

Exederm Skin Care Products – Review & Giveaway

In our house dry skin, eczema and itching are constant. Both my husband and I have eczema so we were not surprised when our kids started getting it when they were just babies. Oh what I would do for a soft baby. *sigh* Good thing their cuteness makes up for it. lol

My sons skin is the worst. His eczema is so bad that the pediatrician actually gets upset with us because it’s always so bad. I don’t know what else to do, we’ve tried everything. And I mean *everything*! But to no avail. His skin is still dry, chapped, itchy, flaky, sore, cracked and scabbed from scratching. He cries at even the sight of lotions, creams, ointments and moisturizers and runs away as fast as he can when we get them out. I have been searching high and low for something…anything that will work, feel good on his skin and make him more comfortable. So when I was asked if I would be interested on doing a review on the Exederm line of
skin care products I jumped!

Exederm offers a wide variety of different skin treatments to help kids and their adults. Each product is specially formulated to help dry, itchy skin and each one contains no:

I have always used Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Wash and shampoo on my kids, thinking it was the mildest thing I could use on them. I always thought that lotions, ointments, oatmeal baths, etc. would be able to help without having to worry about going on a new search looking for shampoo and bath soap. Boy…was I wrong! We have been using the Exederm products for about a month now and I have to say I don’t think I’ll ever be going back to the other skin treatments we had been using.

While my sons skin is not perfect yet we are definitely on our way to smoother, softer, less irritated skin. I’ve also been using it on my youngest, Little Miss, since hers wasn’t as bad, and we have seen a major difference in her skin. She is softer and not as bumpy. The best part? My son doesn’t scream when we put these on him like he did with the other skin products we have used on him in the past. Now when we apply the lotions, moisturizers, etc. he smiles, asks us to blow on his skin and ‘oohhs’ and ‘ahhhs’ at how good his skin feels. The only thing I don’t like about it is it really doesn’t smell good. Not that I’m wanting him to smell like roses since I know that there are no added fragrances but still…it really doesn’t smell good at all. However, if it helps then we will continue using it. Check out how Exederm compares to the other skin care products we used to use.

In 2008, the National Eczema Association gave Exederm the first of 12 separate Seals of Acceptance Awards for their ultra sensitive products. And Exederm doesn’t only offer kids products, but they offer adults products as well. Here are some of the products they offer:

Kids Product Line:

• Baby Flare Control Cream
• Baby Intensive Moisturizer
• Baby Eczema Lotion
• Baby Eczema Body Oil
• Baby Eczema Wash
• Baby Eczema Shampoo

From the Exederm website:

“Too many skincare products contain ingredients that may irritate sensitive skin, especially for those with eczema or dermatitis – allergic reactions and rash are common.

Most everyday skincare products are actually designed for the average person – even some of those products labeled as ‘Sensitive’ or ‘Mild’ or ‘Hypoallergenic’. Many ‘natural’ or herbal products can be just as bad too!”

And did you know that we can easily use more than 100 different chemicals on our skin each morning before we even leave the house? Holy smokes! Between all the different lotions, shampoos, conditioners, beauty products, etc. I’m not surprised that so many of us have dry, itchy, irritated skin. From the Exederm website:

“Our philosophy is simple …
… avoid eczema triggers
always use the mildest
ingredients possible.
It’s common sense to us!”

Makes sense to me too! So here is my list of likes and dislikes:

Likes: NO chemicals or other types of irritants! It’s easy and feels good on my sons skin. It’s light and not heavy like so many other skin products. Has proven to me that it works. I just wish you could feel Little Miss’s skin! It’s mild, gentle and compared to all the other skin treatments (lotions, shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers, etc.) is the best! And with *12* awards…you can’t go wrong with it!

My favorite product out of all of them is the Flare Control Cream. This is the only parabed-free hydrocortisone cream and it really works and feels good; light and fluffy.

Dislikes: I can’t lie or hide it, I really don’t care for the smell. (I have a sensitive nose!) The shampoo does seem to irritate Little Miss’s eyes in the bath tub so I just make sure that I don’t get the water on her face. Although, it doesn’t bother Little Man at all and since she can’t speak well I honestly don’t know if that’s what’s bothering her. The shampoo also seems to take a little longer to wash out completely and I would recommend the Exederm Conditioner because Little Miss’s hair doesn’t comb out as well. However, with there being no added chemicals this is probably completely normal and definitely won’t keep me from purchasing the products.

I would love to give one of you the opportunity to try out these products as well and so  does the Exederm team. So here’s how you can enter to win one product of your choice from Exederm…

To continue reading and/or enter this giveaway please click here to head to my main site.

Giveaway ends on Jan. 30th at 12pm Central time.

WAT-AHH! Review

Hydration is extremely important for everyone but especially kids since they can get dehydrated more easily. When you throw in a child with some health issues then water becomes even more important. Did you know that water helps maintain a healthy body weight? It also improves our attention span and concentration skills which is great for kids with ADD/ADHD! Another good point is that  drinking water will reduce tiredness and increase our capacity to exercise.

Water is a vital part in our digestion and helps clean our bodies on the inside and our immune system depends on water to help fight against colds and the flu.

My oldest daughter has ADD/ADHD so drinking water is an important thing for her to do on a daily basis. However, getting her to drink anything other than Kool Aid or soda is nearly impossible. Here is where WAT-AHH comes in handy. When we received WAT-AHH I have to admit that I was a little sceptical about it. I thought, ‘it’s water…in a cool bottle…my kids aren’t gonna go for this.’ But, they did! My kids couldn’t wait to open them and taste this ‘totally awesome water‘. Why you ask? Because the bottle looked fun and inviting! SCORE! Finally something cool and kid friendly that will get my kids to drink more water every day. They drank it and loved it. When I asked my oldest why she liked it so much she said, ‘Well it tastes like regular water but the bottle is cool! ‘ Ok I hear ya, ‘so if it tastes like normal water then why does she like it? Did she ask for more?’ Well kids like things that are fun, cool and kid friendly. The bottle is very inviting with fun colors and design, so even if it tastes like normal water she is drinking it and yes, asking for more. As long as she drinks it, likes it and it gets her motivated to keep drinking water then I’m A-Ok with it!

Something I didn’t know was that, ‘poor hydration in kids will result with a rise in their body temp. Their brains (which is 75% water) will be the first organ to be affected. Besides irritability, crankiness, moodiness, kids will experience loss of alertness, lack of concentration, inability to remember and feeling of fatigue will be noticed immediately.’ WOW! Maybe I should start drinking WAT-AHH too! I could always use a little extra energy that doesn’t come in the form of caffeine and sugar.

There are four different WAT-AHHs to choose from:

Brain - Ultra purified water with no sugar and kid-friendly electrolytes.

Bones - Ultra purified water with again, no sugar, and bone-building magnesium.

Body – Pure Spring water. No chemicals, no sodium and no sugar.

Energy – Ultra purified water, no sugar and energizing oxygen.

With the review of WAT-AHH! I was asked to challenge my children to see which kind of drink they would prefer drinking. I offered them juice boxes, Kool-Aid and WAT-AHH!; what did they choose? Well…WAT-AHH! of course! These colorful bottles won them over and I was pleased with the fact that they are healthy and motivate my children to drink more water.

Have your kids ever had WAT-AHH!? I’d love to hear how much they like it and why you like it as well. And right now over at ‘What’s the Word’ you can enter to win a custom pair WAT-AHH! shoes. Click here to enter. Contest ends on March 31st so hurry over for your chance to win.

To learn even more about WAT-AHH! and what they have to offer, as well as where it is available, please click here to visit their site and order some for your kids today.

*I did receive some WAT-AHH! to review for free in order to properly do this honest review. However, I was not paid and all opinions and experiences here are my own.*

“101 Games and Activities for Children with…” (Ended)

The book 101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger’s, and Sensory Processing Disorders, is a book that I was recently given the chance to review. This book is full of all kinds of different games and activities for your child. Everything from Sensory Development and gross motor to communication and social senses, this book has things to help your sensory seeking child have fun and learn through play.

From the book:

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“For children with autism, Asperger’s, and Sensory Processing Disorders, one of the best ways to learn is through play. Moving their bodies and interacting and social skills. Yet the biggest challenge parent, teachers and loved ones face with children on the autism spectrum or with sensory processing disorders is how to successfully engage them in play.


In 101 Games and Activities for Children with Autism, Asperger’s, and Sensory Processing Disorders, pediatric occupational therapist Tara Delaney shows you how to teach your children and enhance their development through playtime activities. The interactive games presented in this guide are easy to learn and will provide hours of fun and stimulation for your child. Plus many of these games can be played indoors or outdoors, so your child can enjoy them at home, outside or on field trips. “

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As many of you know it can be difficult to get your child to interact with other children and sensory activities that they are sensitive to. For example, my daughter seeks messy play for fun but when it comes to her being messy during meals she gets aggravated. Making fun messes helps her relax and enjoy her time. Things like finger painting and playdoh are both things she enjoys doing.


Currently we are struggling with bath time. I think we finally figured out that the reason behind her new fear of the tub is the noise of the water. To help her overcome this fear we have started doing fun activities in the tub before the water starts to get her comfortable in the tub. Letting her sit in the tub with her clothes on with no water and play with shaving cream. Once she gets messy it’s time to turn the water on and start cleaning up her mess. Removing clothes piece by piece and gradually turning the water on so it does not frighten her. But in the book 101 Games and Activities… I learned a new game to play:

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Soapy Finds

Indoor/Outdoor

• Indoor

Equipment

• Bathroom with a bathtub
• Bubble bath
• Small (2 inch) floating bathtub toys

How

• Fill up the bathtub with water and bubbles.
• “Hide” objects in the soap bubbles, and instruct the child to go look for them.
• Once the child finds an object, have him explain what it is, its color, and its shape.

Purpose:

• Communication: Using the bathtub ritual (most kids like baths with bubbles), this activity is a way to make bath time into speech therapy time. You can elicit language by asking the child to identify the objects, make the noises associated with the objects, and so on.
• Shape , color recognition: By having the child identify shapes, colors and object, you promote communication and a more solid understanding of descriptive language.
• Sensory: Playing with water is a rich way to integrate various components of the touch sense.

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However in our case this not only is a good way to help improve her speech and communication skills but it is also a way to help get her in the tub for play time without realizing it’s fun learning time as well as cleaning time. Three birds with one fun stone!

With all the wonderful ideas in this book you are sure to find something perfect for your child. Have fun at home and make therapy a game and not a chore. Help your child learn, communicate and interact through games and activities.

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“More than one hundred games that help your child:

Make eye contact, stay focused, and strengthen his or her motor skills.

Associate words with objects and improve language and numerical skills.

Learn social skills needed for attending preschool and school, including how to interact with others and taking turns.”

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With each game and activity the author goes through whether it’s an indoor or outdoor activity, the supplies you will need, how to do each one and what the purpose of each activity does to help your child. This book is great for therapists and parents alike to come up with new ways to entertain your patient/child. I’ve read a lot of books on different ways to help my kids but this one sets up each activity in a way that makes me want to do them because I clearly know what each one will do and help with. This isn’t just an information overload book it is a book that my kids are glad that I have. There is something in here for each and every child. Each day can be a fun learning experience.

How would you like to give this book to your family member or for yourself this holiday season? I have one book to giveaway. To enter please follow the rules below:

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MANDATORY ENTRY:

Tell me why you think you would love to read this book.

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EXTRA ENTRIES:

• Follow us on Twitter
• Subscribe via email updates.

UNLIMITED ENTRIES:

• Tweet about this giveaway.
  (1 tweet per day please.)
• Leave a comment on any other post here and come back and leave an entry telling me which one you commented on.

Winner will be drawn on December 7th. Contest ends at 12pm Central. Anyone that does not follow the rules (i.e. Mandatory entry first) will be disqualified. Winner has only 48 hours to respond to my confirmation email or a new winner will be drawn.

Batten’s Disease

This is a guest post by Brittany from The Greer Five.

To submit your own guest post please click here.

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Batten’s Disease

Read more

Symptoms of a Vision Processing Disorder

As most of you know my oldest daughter (8 1/2) has a Vision Processing Disorder. I have seen lately, through my stat counter, that there are a lot of people searching for symptoms of a Vision Processing Disorder (VPD),  so I thought I’d give some symptoms. Keep in mind that I am not a doctor, do not pretend to be one,  have never played one on tv and I did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night. lol These are some of the symptoms that I and the school noticed in my daughter that told us she needed a vision screening/evaluation.

Just because a child has a VPD does not make them dumb or behind in regular activities. In fact my daughter was extremely advanced for her age as a baby and toddler. She’s a very bright kid but just has difficulty with reading, comprehension, written expression, visual memory and short term memory. Her eyes just do not work together as they should but by looking at her you would have no idea, which is why I never knew why she was having problems in school. She looks healthy, she has no developmental delays and acts age appropriately. However, when it comes to school and reading she has a lot of problems.

Some of her symptoms are:

• Mixing up letters (i.e. ‘d’ and ‘b’)
• Mixing up words by changing letters around (i.e. ’saw’ and ‘was’)
• After she reads a story she cannot always tell me in detail what the story was about.
• Skipping words, letters or paragraphs when reading.
• When writing she will start off on the left hand side of the page but as she continues her new lines start going more toward the middle of the page instead of staying on the left hand side.
• She would get headaches during and after reading.

I’ve also noticed while my daughter is reading out loud to me that she often replaces words with other words, skips complete lines and at times even starts making up new sentences. I talked to her Vision Therapist about this and she says she makes up new words or sentences to help everything make sense. So that is something we are still working on as well.

Keep in mind that she also has ADD/ADHD so there are many other factors that brought so much of this out. Not having the patience to sit and read, being easily distracted by others, sounds, etc. This only worsened her VPD symptoms.

After receiving some Occupational Therapy for some sensory issues we were referred to see a Visual Therapist for an eye check and visual evaluation. It was then found that she has excellent 20/20 vision but does have a VPD mostly from a focus issue. Please keep in mind that just because someone has a Vision Processing Disorder it does not necessarily mean that they have bad eyesight. Like I said before, my daughter has perfect eyesight. She started to receive Visual Therapy and goes in once a week for 45 minutes. So far she has made wonderful progress. Yes, it can be expensive but when it comes to your child’s well being and future success it is totally worth it.

There are many things that her Visual Therapist does with her each week to help her eyes start to work together better. She favors her entire right side so they try to get her left as strong as her right. This is also why when she writes, her new lines begin to move in away from the left hand side of the paper.

The best advice I can give you until you make an appointment to get your child evaluated is:

• Buy a Reading Guide Strip that  your child can either place the highlighted area over the words in the book or underneath the sentence to keep their eyes focused on the line they should be reading.
• Reading to your child is always important. Point to the words as you read and at times ask them to sound out some of the words or say, ‘Hmm…what is this word?’ and have them answer you.
• Having your child read to you aloud, while you follow along, is a good idea as well. This  way you can see where their strengths and weaknesses are. This will also educate you a little when it comes time for your child’s evaluation.
• Remind your child to read slow and look carefully at each word.
• Pausing every now and then to talk about what is going on in the story will help your child with comprehension, visual memory and their short term memory as well. Helping them come up with a visual of what they’re reading about can help drastically. (i.e. A story about a horse who is lost in the woods. Help your child create a mental visual of the scene. What color is the horse? Is it dark in the woods? What sounds do you think the horse is hearing, etc.)
• Sometimes just pausing to ask your child what is going on is a good idea just to see how much they’re picking up from the story. If your child says, ‘well the cat was hiding in a box.’ when the cat was actually in his bed sleeping, then you know that your child is not comprehending the story well and may have a comprehension issue as well.
  

As frustrating as it can be when your child is having a difficulty with something always remember that they are young.  Children love to please adults, especially parents to show and prove to them that they are getting bigger and smarter. Please, whatever you do, do not make your child feel stupid or embarrassed over anything when it comes to learning. Even if they are behind, get them the help they need and always encourage them appropriately to do their best and try harder next time, practice makes perfect. Being too hard, mean and embarrassing them will only cause them to feel bad about themselves for something they cannot control and make them self conscious.

To read more about Vision Therapy please click here.

Chronic Diarrhea or Enzyme Deficiency?

Does your child have chronic diarrhea? Do you wonder if there is more to it then just having an irritable stomach? Well you might be right. When my son was born he was diagnosed with Duarte Galactosemia and severe acid reflux. We had many problems with his health for quite some time and always thought that the reason he had chronic diarrhea was because of the galactosemia or just tummy issues. However after a long while of him not feeling well, loosing weight while eating like a horse and having chronic diarrhea for so long we decided to take him into the pediatrician.At this time he was about a year and a half.

They ran tests and suggested some tips. Nothing worked and when we went back in a couple days later we were horrified to find that he had lost 4 pounds. FOUR POUNDS! In all of about 2 days! Not only that but over a span of about 6 months he had stopped growing all together. From there they sent us straight over to the hospital where he as admitted and they started running every blood, urine, stool test and MRIs they could. We were in the hospital for what seemed like forever but was only actually a week or so. Every test they ran came back normal and we were all left stumped. They could clearly see that his diapers weren’t normal and that his weight loss was scary and puzzling. He was then diagnosed with Failure to Thrive, we were discharged and told to see a specialist for further tests for things that scared the bajeebies out of me. Test after test with no real results.

Finally we were referred to a Pediatric GI Specialist and were hoping for some answers. They asked us common questions like what kind of foods he ate on a regular basis, drinks he favored, routines, illnesses, tests already run, his activity levels and so on. He then suggested that we take him completely off fruit, sugar, juice and anything that contained fructose corn syrups. I was amazed! After about a week or two of no sugar, no fruits and so on he started having normal diapers and started to gain back the weight he had lost. We went back into the doctor and it was then that he said, “Well that answers that! He has an enzyme deficiency in his GI track. He was born without the sucrase enzyme which is the enzyme that breaks down fruit and sugars.” We kept him on his special diet until he was good…finally! Now 4 years later he is growing, thriving and catching up with his peers. Now that he is back to normal we can let him cheat every now and then but we have to be extra careful to watch his stools to make sure he stays on track with his growth. He does have a long list of food allergies as well so he will be on a special diet the rest of his life. But to him this is ‘his normal’ and won’t know any difference…at least I hope.

His sister (2) also has this enzyme deficiency and has to start the same diet. However, with her being semi special needs this (as I have said before in earlier posts) is proving to be difficult. She is not as bad though, she is not loosing weight and does seem to be growing normally according to her charts, although she is small for her age.

So what you think might be chronic diarrhea could very possibly be an enzyme deficiency. Does your child have any similar symptoms? What have  you done to help your child?

The moment that I was hoping wouldn’t happen. Happened.

 Hi. It’s me again. Remember me? I’m Cheryl from LipzUnzipped. I’m coming to terms with having a special needs child. First, Jillian (my 1 year old) was labelled as special needs by one of our specialists. I had a hard time with that, but realized, you know what? She was right. We didn’t have to do HALF of the stuff we’re doing with Jillian with our first born, Lauren. Read more

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