An informal survey

[susanna]

As has been previously pointed out, lots of our kids with tics seem to have food sensitivites, especially with cows milk and soy, as my son does. I was wondering if perhaps if being nursed as an infant vs being formula fed would have any impact on later sensitivities. The reason that this is of interest to me is that I find myself pregnant with child #3 Surprise, surprise! In addition to all the things I find myself worrying about having a baby at my "advanced maternal age", the possibility that this child could also end up with a tic disorder is another thing I add to the list and would want to do anything I can to minimize that possibility.

 

So I'll start. My oldest son, who does not tic but is possibly borderline ADD/ADHD and has a few OCDish behaviors was nursed for his first three months of life, but I did supplement with formula during that time after the first week. He wore me down that first week and unfortunately I didn't have the support around me to know that if I had stuck with it, it would have gotten better. I did BF him more than formula feed him. My younger son who tics, was also BF and formula fed for three months. I started supplementing with him right from the beginning. My older son, who was also a baby himself at the age of two, would get very upset when I would nurse the baby, and at the time I didn't want to traumatize him any more so I would sometimes formula feed. I did have to switch to soy formula from regular formula since he had eczema and the soy formula seemed to help with that. Now I wonder if that was the start to his soy sensitivity.

 

Logic tells me nursing is best if one is able to do it, and I want to be able to do that with this child for as long as possible. Just wondering if there are any common threads here.

[Claire]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

 

Every study I have read says that breast feeding reduces allergies later. Go for it.

 

I breastfed as long as he was willing to do so! (He quit before a year was out though).

 

Claire

 

ps I THINK I read to avoid BHT while pregnant (not for tics, but for general health). I didn't know about such things then. Certainly, I would avoid artificial ingredients while breastfeeding.

 

I would also have the Spectracell or some other vitamin deficiency test done on myself. Of course, I didn't know back then!

[Chemar]

Breastfeeding is best, provided the mom is not ingesting anything bad for the baby

 

I breastfed both my children for over two years. Never gave formula. Introduced other foods along the way.

[NancyE]

Congratulations Susanna! I breastfed both boys - my oldest (with the tics) actually breastfed exclusively a little longer. He was also the one with the allergies. Go figure. I do agree that if possible, breastfeeding is best.

[susanna]

Thanks for the congratulations. It still hasn't really sunk in yet, but I do find myself being much more aware of everything I put into my mouth.

 

So from the limited feedback it seems that breastfeeding in and of itself is no guarantee that a child will not tic, yet it makes me wonder how much worse things would be if they weren't breastfed. Also, what a mom is ingesting would also play a huge factor. Although I can't prove it, I really think the early introduction of the soy formula played a roll in my son's sensitivity to soy as that is the only soy he has ever ingested, other than small amounts which may have been hidden in other foods.

 

If all goes well I definitely plan on nursing this child as long as I can.

[Ausclare]

Hi guys,

hate to rain on the parade,but...............

 

I breastfed all mine, switched to soy formula when the oldest was 6months, he has tics .

The middle one had really bad reflux, eczema, colic and didn't sleep, every time I offered him the breast, he would scream more. I persisted for 5months until I found a paediatrition that finally diagnosed food allergies.

He was intolarent to breast milk, soy milk and cows milk. As soon as he was put on Neocate formula, everything settled. The eczema disappeared in a week, he stopped the projectile vomiting and started to sleep. He could only stay on that formula until he was two, then he went onto oat milk.

He tics when stressed, but is mostly under control with diet. Can now tolerate little bit of cows milk and soy.

 

The third one was BF for a year and went onto soy milk, he is now 5yrs and has started to have a slight leg tic. This is controlled with diet and supplements.

 

I am a great advocate for BF and would encourage anyone to do it, but I also now see that as odd as it seems, my childs health would have deteriorated without the special formula. Apparently there is some sort of amino acid present in all those milks that was causing the problem. I never did find out which one it was.

 

If I had have known about the Sue Dengate failsafe diet, I would have followed it while pregnant, it is supposed to reduce the food intolerances for when they are born.

 

Hope this helps

Clare

[NancyE]

I do agree that what you eat, and the supplements you take while pregnant can play a big role in your child's health. Luckily, you're so aware of factors you probably never considered before. I often feel guilty for eating so many tuna fish sandwiches at work while I was pregnant with my oldest - too much mercury? Oh well, I've almost stopped worrying!

[Caz]

I too have breastfed all five of mine, and still they have issues, but like Ausclare, I did not know about failsafe then. We are implimenting this in our family, and I am especially keen to see if this helps settle the 10 month old. He is a grizzly little thing, only cat napped 30 minutes for his day naps till a month or two ago. Fortunately he sleeps ok at night.

 

Hardest thing is to go failsafe myself as I am still breastfeeding, I must do it too. Love the spicy, flavoursome things in life - and chocolate!!!!!. Can't quite manage pear jam on toast for breakfast. I love my muesli, but can't have all the dried fruit now, so am feeling a little sad and sorry about it all.

 

I guess with a baby I should notice a difference sooner than with the older kids.

 

PS We had waffles with caramel sauce and icecream for dessert last night, first time in a long time we have indolged and it was failsafe. We have bagged the casien gluten thing, and are really concentrating on failsafe now. My son's IGg showed no reaction to casien gluten anyway. I am trying to source the enzymes Claire and Jennifer have talked about in case it is not simply an allergy thing, but more an inability to digest these things. We did see a slight improvement on the casien gluten thing, but then, he was only eating such a few things, and they were all failsafe anyway by default, that I am wondering if this was more what helped.

 

Anyway, I am a breastfeeding advocate, but sometimes it just doesn't work out, so either way don't be too harsh on yourself - keep an open mind. Feeding has been such an enjoyable thing for me with the others, but this last time, it has been so troublesome. From about 3 months he would only feed from one side, I have had lots of trouble with mastitis, sore nipples and exhaustion as my 3 year old has been quite jealous. Now at 10 months, he is biting me constantly. I am only contining as I feel it is a better option than formula if we have success with failsafe.

 

Caz

[Ausclare]

Hi Caz,

I did a cooking course a few months ago on no meat, dairy, wheat or sugar.

it was very informative and tasty! Absolutely not failsafe.

But the woman who ran it promoted probiotic, enzymes and minerals through seaweed products.

She recommended a company called GNLD- Golden Neo-life Diamite it is an American multi level marketing company.

I didn't try the products but I was really interested in the

 

Enzyme digestive aid

which is a broad spectrum pH activated proteases, lipases and amylases + bile salts.

I reckon this one might contain animal stuff in it.

But wait there's more!

 

Betaine Digestive Aid

which is a natural digestive enzyme sourced from beets.

the website is

 

I didn't get them because they were quite expensive, but if you became a distributer it was almost $10 off a bottle.

 

When my new business takes off, I will reconsider.

 

cheers

Clare

[Guest Guest_efgh]

Susanna

 

congratulations! everything would work out great. Just be positive at this important phase of life.

 

In my case,

 

1) I was under emotional stress during pregnancy

2) child prematured by a month

3) did NOT breast feed my child at all (since my kid refused to suck and the secretion was also very limited).

 

I always attribute my son's tics and SEVERE allergies to the above reasons. However AFTER reading all your other posts and survey , it looks like tics DO come even when the kids are breastfed... Please note that I am talking about those cases with NO genetic link. More thoughts please (its so consoling to hear that since I used to feel DAMN GUILTY about not having breast fed my son!)

 

So, as a subset of the above survey , can all of you please let me know the following...

 

1) are your son's tics genetic?

2) was your son breastfed?

 

If the answer to 1) is NO and to 2) is also NO then probably breast feeding plays a big role. Ausclare, Are your son's tics genetic ??

 

thanks.

[Ausclare]

Hi efgh,

 

As far as I can tell, it's not genetic, but most of our families are overseas and no one ever mentioned the symptoms.

 

I don't believe they are genetic from a TS point of view, however I do think the intolerance's are genetic, as my husbands family suffer a lot with hayfever, asthma and dairy intol. And I do not fair well with strong perfumes or airfreshners which is a salycilate response.

 

My boys symptoms clear up almost completely with the failsafe diet and supplements. If we deviate to much, the symptoms return.

 

They were all BF at some stage.

Cheers

Clare

[Caz]

Ausclare, thanks for the tip about betaine - I checked it out. There are two forms of this, one is combined with Hydrochloric acid. It is for those who do not make enough stomach acid. This is the form that I have found in the health food shops here. I believe TMG form of betaine is difference, in that it does not have the hydrochloric acid bit.

 

About breastfeeding:

a) are my son's tics genetic? Actually my Dad did alot of throat clearing and a funny face thing. My brother very occasionally does a face thing. He was dyslexic and adhd (before they diagnosed it). My younger brother now has IBS and was ADHD, another brother was asthmatic.

 

IN my husbands family, his dad said bolony when we told him about our sons diagnosis, and said he did funny things as a kid, and grew out of it. After that comment my husband said he used to make a sound with his mouth for a few years, but outgrew it.

 

I guess my son got a double whammy of TS genes!!!!!! or susceptibility (??) to

allergies etc

 

Did I breastfeed? My ts son was probably breastfed for the least amount of time, only 8 months. Others have been at least 1 and a half.

 

Now I know about salycilates, I am wondering about the wisdom of breastfeeding. They say that the artificial stuff passes through milk.

 

Caz

[Heather]

My son's tics have no genetic link, although my nephew did have some other issues (very mild OCD) and some scary sleeping walking stories which he outgrew.

 

I breastfed for about 9-10 months.

 

Don't beat yourself up about not breastfeeding EFGH. There is so much that we didn't know. Just be thankful of the knowledge that we do have NOW to help our children. If this happened at the time of their birth 9-10 years ago, where would we be now without the Internet and the more recent advancements in Alternative treatments.

 

Heather

[Guest Jeff]

Both of my daughters were BF for about 15 months - no formula.

Both have tics. The tics come from my side of the family, and I didn't do any of the breastfeeding (ha!). During both pregnancies we were totally ignorant of the dangers of artificial colors, flavors, etc. My wife took good care of herself - water, vitamins, folic acid, etc., but we didn't eat "all-natural"....

Jeff

[Gina]

Both of my children were breastfed. My son (with TS) for almost 1 year. formula was introduced to him at 6 mo. My husband also has TS so it is genetic in our case.

 

If I remember correctly the issues with allergies and breast feeding isn't about how long you breastfed but at what time you introduced fomula into the babies system. I was told that the longer you breastfeed and wait on the formula the better the chances with food allergies. That is why they say to only breastfeed for the first year. Unfortunatly not always an option.

 

Gina