Saturday, August 01, 2009

I'm still nursing quite a bit with my 2.5 yesr old and recently broke out the fertility monitor again to try to figure out what was up with my cycle. I have learned that my luteal phase is way too short.

I searched online and it seems that breastfeeding commonly causes Luteal Phase Defect. I found some interesting links from the search terms:

luteal phase defect breastfeeding

HTH

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Treating Eczema and Leaky Gut with Diet

I was researching over the weekend and found reference to the fact that the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), can be helping in treating leaky gut and possibly eczema. It is believed, so I've read, that eczema can be caused by food sensitivities and leaky gut.

Has anyone tried this diet out? It used commonly used to treat colitis, crohn and it works well for autistic spectrum kids as well. If not for eczema, for other conditions?

here are a couple links:

PecanBread
- site target at using SCD with kids


Breaking the Vicious Cycle
- SCD Beginners Guide

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We learned about emotion coaching in the parent-child class I took at our community college. I don't think I've read too much about it on the Ovusoft boards directly, though I think the book has been mentioned. It was really interesting to learn about the four different types of parenting defined by Gottman, that we all dip in to each of them at times, and to learn how emotion coaching works. I think just having awareness of the concept can really help with parenting of toddlers and young children.

Dr. Gottman discovered that children who had Emotion-Coaching parents were on an entirely different developmental trajectory than the children of other parents.

What are the five elements of emotion coaching?

* Be aware of a child's emotions
* Recognize emotional expression as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching
* Listen empathetically and validate a child's feelings
* Label emotions in words a child can understand
* Help a child come up with an appropriate way to solve a problem or deal with an upsetting issue or situation

In Dr. Gottman's research he has found that children of emotion-coaching parents had more general abilities in the area of their own emotions than children who were not coached by their parents. In other words, these "coached" children grew up to become what Dan Goleman has referred to as "emotionally intelligent" people. What are characteristics of these children?

Dr. Gottman's research demonstrated that emotion-coached children

* Are able to regulate their emotional states
* Are better at soothing themselves when they are upset
* Could calm down their hearts faster after something upsetting happens
* Have fewer infectious illnesses
* Are better at focusing attention
* Relate better to other people, even in tough situations like getting teased in middle school
* Are better at understanding people
* Have better friendships with other children
* Are better in school situations that require academic performance

from The Gottman Institute - Parenting Research



The Talaris Institute has more information about:

The 5 steps of Emotion Coaching

The four Gottman-defined parenting styles:
http://www.talaris.org/spotlight_parenting_styles.htm

The Dismissing Parent
The Disapproving Parent
The Laissez-Faire Parent
The Emotion-Coaching Parent

Has anyone got any opinion or experience with the book, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child?

What have your experiences with Emotion Coaching been?

29 months - update/ Working on Potty Independence in a Toddler

As we proceed with post-EC potty independence I've been talking to Jonah more
about pottying, about wearing underwear, about how his cousins potty, singing
songs about going poop, offering more, etc. I haven't put a lot of pressure on
him, just tried to keep the dialogue going.

He just started to use the BabyBjorn Little Potty, the one that he has refused
to use since 7 months old. It had been sitting in his room where he could see it
the whole time, and I had talked to him about how he could use it for potty if
he wanted to and showed him how to sit on it but he didn't want to. Given his
lack of interest in using it I put it away in his closet as it was just
collecting dust. He found it in the closet a few days later and brought it out
again so we have been trying on that potty some before bed. Before that, and
ongoing, he will use the toilet with a seat reducer.

----

We've had a sudden big breakthrough this week. J randomly on Sunday started
saying "no dipe" and didn't want to wear one to bed. Sunday morning he had been
dry overnight and he was so emphatic about not wearing a diaper when he was
going to bed that night that I just put some cloth diapers under the sheet on
his bed (just in case) and let him sleep with just cotton knit pants on (his
choice). I had heard that they let you know when they are ready to have more
control.

Indeed he was dry when he woke up Monday morning. But then he refused to go
potty in the morning. He didn't want a diaper and no potty. Oh brother!
Eventually, while playing with his cars he started to wet and I was able to
finish him off on the BBLP.

The rest of yesterday, until evening, he resisted wearing a diaper. Yes, he wet
himself some, but not too badly. I think also, with the heat wave we are having
now in Seattle, that perhaps he just doesn't have to go as much as his body is
sweating so much to stay cool. At any rate, I'm thinking we are starting to
cross a line into potty independence. With no diaper on he is also happy to put
his pants on by himself, or try on his underpants -- but he won't wear both
together. If this keeps up we are just going to have to spend the week outside a
lot, to keep from having accidents in the house, until he gets the whole thing
figured out.


And then today, he was home with my partner this morning and three times told
him that he had to do pee-pee I(including once, while at the grocery store).
Today we got him into underpants and shorts. Though each time he had actually
already wet himself, each time he did want to get undressed and sit on the
toilet. The amount he wet himself was gradually decreasing each time and he was
able to pee more on the toilet.

It is really exciting to have it finally coming together.

---

Tips and Tricks

I talk to Jonah a lot about listening to his body, and that we don't want to
wait to poop until it is an emergency. Last weekend he started doing his little
poop jig, saying "no!" to his body of all things, as he tried to hold it in. I
told him again that he needs to listen to his body and his body was telling him
he needed to go poop. He still was resistant but then we talked about how we
couldn't go to the pool if he had to poop and he probably wouldn't want to poop
at his cousins' house (something we were discussing). Quickly he agreed and we
got the entire affair into the toilet. With my partner and our afternoon sitter
he will only go in his diaper.

I praise him when he goes for doing a good job of listening to his body.

He only poops every 3-4 days but it can really overwhelm him and he fights it.

We also sing a song on the potty that I made up. It goes like this:

Everybody goes poop poop
Mama goes poop poop
Dada goes poop poop
Jonah goes poop poop
Everybody goes poop poop! poop poop!

and then we run through all our family, his friends and animals.

Another song is this, to a mambo type rhythm:

poo-poo in the potty!
poo-poo in the potty!

When he's sitting on the toilet we do that song/game from camp called
Concentration... (you slap your knees and chant)

Concentration, are you ready?
if so, let's go
starting with, names of...
CARS (his preference)

Then we run through names of all the car brands and types. This has actually
turned into a big daytime activity -- wandering around the neighborhood,
studying cars (logos, hubcaps, tail lights, and types).

It helps to have something interesting to do while on the toilet (so I've
learned here) and that was the best I could come up with.

I hope this is helpful for others. I'll report more as we make more progress.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Researching diet to treat constipation and fibroids

On a related note, I was looking up information about diets for chronic constipation and came across (again) The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). I've had some digestive issues for years, and since my delivery it has gotten worse. Why? I don't know. Is it hormonal changes due to nursing? The result of one more round of IV antibiotics during my c-section.

I feel my issues are due to an improper balance in my intestinal flora and I've been thinking for a while that I need to learn more about how to tweak things so I've got more favorable beneficial bacteria flourishing in my gut.

I've received IV antibiotics more than oral antibiotics during my surgeries and delivery -- I have had to remind myself that thing really could be thrown off by that.

Anyway, the SCD sounds interesting and I'm wondering if it might be worth trying out. I found the yogurt idea to be inspiring (I love to cook) and some of the dietary rules sound similar to what my naturopathic doc and acupuncturist have been telling me -- less simple carbohydrates, cooked vegetables, cut out sugar. I also found reference to this diet helping with eczema -- something else that is linked to intestinal flora issues and a leaky gut -- which might be helpful for my toddler.

BreakingtheViciousCycle.info - informational site for SCD that is based around the book Breaking the Vicious Cycle, which seems to be a SCD bible of sorts.

PecanBread.com - a site about using SCD with children, with lots of info about using it to treat ASD kids


I've also got a Susan Lark book on the way called Fibroid Tumors & Endometriosis that includes information about nutrition to treat fibroids that had good reviews on Amazon. I haven't bought a fibroid book in a while so I might as well try this one.

TTC update

I don't think there's much to tell really. My last LP was super short, my ovulation this cycle is really late (which seems to be the pattern -- alternating cycle lengths). I've been diligent my prenatal vitamins, plus iron, plus a liquid calcium and I'm not feeling as poorly. Still, I was wiped a couple days ago, just after ovulation, absolutely drained feeling. I'm feeling better now again.

Oh, and in spite of using the fertility monitor, I ran out of sticks for one day and never saw a peak day. I was way sure the day I ovulation as I felt awful pain in my lower abdomen, like a particularly painful O.

We gave it a good try this month, better than normal. I guess we will just see what happens. I don't have my hopes up.

I do need to make another appointment for acupuncture treatment.

potty learning updates

We did part-time EC with J starting at 9 weeks, but then he fell off the wagon last summer as his ego emerged and he needed to have more ownership of his elimination -- but his body wasn't ready yet. Its been touch and go for the past year. I praise him when he goes for doing a good job of listening to his body.

He only poops every 3-4 days but it can really overwelm him and he fights it.

What I've been talking about with J, as we are now working on training again, is how he needs to listen to his body, and that we don't want to wait to poop until it is an emergency. Today I was with him and he started doing that little poop jig, saying "no!" to his body of all things[L]. I told him again that he needs to listen to his body and his body was telling him he needed to go poop. He still was resistant but then we talked about how we couldn't go to the pool if he had to poop and he wouldn't want to poop at his cousins' house. Finally he agreed and we got the entire affair into the toilet. With my partner and our afternoon sitter he will only go in his diaper.

We also sing a song on the potty that I made up. It goes like this:

Everybody goes poop poop
Mama goes poop poop
Dada goes poop poop
Jonah goes poop poop
Everybody goes poop poop, poop poop

and then we run through all our family and his friends and animals.

When he's sitting on the toilet we do that song/game from camp called Concentration...

Concentration, are you ready?
if so, let it go
starting with, names of...
CARS (his preference)

and we run through names of all the car brands and types. This has actually turned into a big daytime activity -- wandering around the neighborhood, studying cars (logos, hubcaps, tail lights, and types).

It helps to have something interesting to do while on the toilet and that was the best I could come up with.