Naturalhealing, thank you so much for your note. I am sorry that you too are going thru this with your child, it is so frustrating and like any Mom you would take if from them 3 fold - I would love to know what you know about diet? It makes me angry I have been told this time and time again, and not knowing alot about the disease but learning as I go from my researching it seems to not be true. As far as healthy, fruits, vegtables, fish, chicken, read meat and only whole wheat products including bread, cereals, etc which now I am learning can be the worst thing to be eating and also factor in the sugar factor! Currently we are keeping to white breads, bananas, yogurt, yogurt smoothies (as he has no issue with lactose) cottage cheese, peaches, soft foods - he loves pretzels and it is frustrating him as we are staying away from them to see if it helps, plenty of water, dried apricots for iron (he is bleeding) and we see another Dr. on Monday....I spoke with someone who told me they went to a nutritionist went on some supplements and went off ALL meds. These meds are scary and 6MP I have read horror stories. I am glad the infusions are working for you, we have terrible insurance as well - any info you can share or point me to would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much :heart: ps my son when they did the colonoscopy had ulcers end to end ;(
I thank you for the kind words. The journey has been long and hard but it made me appreciate his healthy days.
So if you don't mind me asking.... How are you feeling today? Did your day go well?. These were the questions that I needed to be asked when my son was going through. I was so depleted on energy, emotionally and physically I forgot about myself. I hope today was much better than yesterday for you and especially your son.
My son had ulcers in his upper intestine and rectal area, which is what made me so confused when they kept telling me he didn't have Ulcerative Colitis but he had Crohns. So I took it upon myself to treat both of them.
His Diet
Fruits- Fruits are great for his diet but we have to figure out where he is in his flare ups. Because like I told a parent earlier, raw fruits can irritate the gut. It's not really advisable to give him raw fruits during a flare up. That should be introduced once he has calmed down.
Vegetables- Vegetables are great as well. But just like fruits, they need to be cooked thoroughly. Canned vegetables I wouldn't recommend, only frozen or fresh.Vegetables that are raw can cause him diarrhea. Can veggies have added sugars.
Fish- Fish is excellent because of the omega 3's. But let me tell you this. Try to get your fish as fresh as you can because most frozen fish loose their nutrition. I wouldn't recommend buying an omega 3 supplement right now for him because his tummy hurts. And that will only irritate him more.
Bananas- Bananas are Ok but they have to be introduced in a certain manner. I tried giving my son a banana that wasn't all the way ripe and he got bad diarrhea. The bananas are good as long as they have brown spots on them because starch is another NO NO, and bananas contain starch.The more spotted they are, the less starch it contains.
Chicken and Red Meat Here is the thing about chicken and red meat. There isn't anything wrong with your son eating them. BUT think of it like this. Ball your left fist up really tight, and then take your opposite index finger and try to push your finger through your tight fist.
This is what it's like when your son's intestine is inflamed,( including the ulcers), There is a time to introduce chicken and beef to your son's diet and it may not be right now.
Me personally I'm weening my son off of these meats slowly. But for now he can tolerate them because I have gotten his inflammation down. So for now it's fine. For you, I would be easy on this until he calms down.
Yogurt- Yogurt with Lactobacillus acidophilus might be a better yogurt for your son. Mountain High yogurt is a suggestion. It helps put back the missing bacteria in his intestine.(possibly) My son didn't do well with yogurt, it made his tummy overly active, so we stopped giving it to him.That was the sing that he had way more than enough good bacteria in his intestine.
Bread/Wheat/Cereal- From my experience, all of these things are a NO NO. The bread (yeast) builds mucus barriers in your sons intestine, wheat and cereal usually contain flour of some sort. It may sound hard to do but no bread, no wheat and no cereal is the way to go. And yes it was hard at the beginning because, what about those peanut butter sandwiches? There are other routes for bread but once you take it out the picture, you won't even know it's gone.
Note:
(I'm sitting here looking at my son run through the house after eating all of his dinner.And he says its because he just got his new beyblades:shifty-t:. I sit and smile at him in awe. My husband tells me it's a thankless job but someone has to do it. It feels good to finally see him getting back to himself.)
So here is the deal:- This is where it gets difficult for you, but easier for him. This is you taking it away from him 3fold. Changing his diet means changing the way you prepare his foods. Meals need to be made fresh, no processed, or frozen foods.
Juices need to be 100% juice, no sugar added. Welchs is the juice that I purchase for my son. But honestly on a regular basis my son drinks 100% fruit and vegetable juices and he loves them. WHY? because he loves how he feels everyday, so he doesn't mind making better decisions. Over time I have drilled this into his head, I've gotten mad, I've yelled, I've cursed and I've told him that He has to want this for himself. He finally realized at the age of 9 that it feels good to feel better. I don't have to work as hard anymore.
But at the beginning it was a long journey of fighting and forcing. It's not going to be easy for you but it will be so worth it, when you are making less trips to the doctor, and he is having solid poops.
I'm going to start putting the recipes that I cook for my son on my blog for my parents with kids who have Crohns.
The goal and objective is to go natural, not just healthy.But I am more than willing to help you through the entire process. I want you to make it to the day where you can say your son is out playing soccer right. And believe me he will get there.:thumleft:
