Autoimmune Disease in Babies/Children

[aipmom]

When you have a moment, please read:  healourlittleones.com/.
If you or someone else is looking for information regarding these conditions in babies/children, I have also started a FB group www.facebook.com/groups/LeakyGutInChildrenAndBabies.

Thanks and best wishes for a speedy [remission] recovery!  :-)

[octobergirl]

Hi aipmom,

I read your linked website. One of my greatest fears if my daughter getting an autoimmune disease. She had reflux for the first few months of her life and then outgrew it.

Do you know if cradle cap has any links to autoimmunity? I'm not on Facebook, so I can't view your FB group. My daughter also had really bad cradle cap for a while, and she seems to have some type of eczema on her ears. I want her to live a healthy life, so I'm hoping by starting her out with a good diet and trying to provide the right environment for her will prevent anything serious from happening.

[Erin]

Curious about cradle cap. That's a great question... Both my kids have/had cradle cap. Both eat AIP or at least paleo by default already.

[aipmom]

I cannot say for certain the cause of cradle cap, but I'm of the opinion that most of those inexplicable phenomenon which occur in only some of our children - are probably Autoimmune related. From my personal experience, I believe it is related. My daughter's seems to ebb and flow, and generally gets more acute when her condition is aggravated.

A fellow mom in the FB group who's been educating herself on these issues for years said she read that it would take 4 generations to 'undo' the damage that has been done to our bodies. I think the best we can do for our children is remove any/all reactive substances from their regiment (this includes supplements, meds, food, and drink), feed them a diet rich in whole foods with a variety of healthy fats and micro-nutrients, and try to eliminate as many toxins from their environment as possible (via drinking water, personal hygiene products, etc.). Each of those things set our children up for the best opportunity for health.

It is often very difficult to tell what our children are reacting to, since they cannot necessarily articulate exactly how they're feeling so it's important to really tune into their behaviors. The first sign of a reaction in my daughter is typically hyperactivity, she will flail her arms/legs around frantically and spasm a bit. I've had other mom's with older children who tell me that if their children become lethargic after a meal, there's a good chance that they ate something reactive. Or if they 'crave' certain foods and seem to eat a lot of them, then that food item is often a reactive one for them. Other symptoms to be on the look-out for are any GI issues (constipation, diarrhea, gas, etc.), as well as skin or respiratory disruptions (and I think cradle cap could possibly fall within the 'skin disruption' category). For example, since I started lowering my daughter's dosage of PPI medication I've noticed that this strange wheezing/gasping behavior she recently adopted has nearly vanished.

[natalied]

I have psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. My daughter is 2 next month and just developed a dry, flaky, itchy patch on the top of her head. She had cradle cap as an infant. I'm praying it's that and not psoriasis. It will break my heart. I don't want her to go through what I went through... On a positive note, since eating paleo starting in January and AIP this past month, my psoriasis has cleared so much! I wish I had more control over what she eats when I'm not with her. She goes to a daycare facility every weekday. Otherwise she eats what I eat.

[octobergirl]

Thanks for the response, aipmom. I read that cradle cap is possibly caused by a fungus, and since I had a c-section I was given antibiotics, which I know can cause fungus to overgrow, so I always wondered if the cradle cap had links to unbalanced gut flora, which I probably unfortunately already gave to my daughter both by c-section and by having me as a mom.

I had also heard about the 4 generation time period. It sounds a little disheartening, because it means that we really don't have a whole lot of say in the genes we acquire, but at least we have the ability to try and influence if those genes are turned on or off.

[aipmom]

I didn't have a C-section or antibiotics, during my pregnancy or after. She has never had them either and my poor daughter has suffered terribly so I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about that. I personally think it has more to do with the auto-antibodies they receive from us then the birthing medical interventions proliferated as a part of our 'advanced technology', but who really knows.

Natalie, I don't know your situation but I think you can definitely insist she eat differently due to 'food sensitivities'. You could potentially even get a doctor to write a note. I've encountered many mom's who pack their kids' food and send it to daycare with them.

[donnae]

There is a yeast Malassezia associated with cradle cap. My boys have eczema and cradle cap. I find my boys cradle cap and eczema get worse if they have too much sugar and difficult to digest starch, even from fruit. I have resorted to using colloidal silver on their skin and scalp after a flare up to get rid of the eczema and cradle cap quickly. However I am still trying to fix their gut issues that are likely to perpetuate the skin yeast issues.