When my youngest daughter, Finley, was born, she was a dream baby! She took right to nursing, she slept well, and she was gaining weight perfectly. I was super nervous to have kids less than 17 months apart so because she was so wonderful, it took a lot of the anxiety away from having two babies under two years of age.
Within a month and a half of her being born, I started to notice some dramatic changes in her behavior, her skin, her breathing, etc. As many of you probably know, babies are gassy and they grow out of it as their stomachs mature. However, Finley seemed to have stomach pains rather than just gas. She would scream and grunt in pain for most of the day. Then she gradually stopped sleeping well because the pains would wake her up. Then her skin developed a rash and she sounded congested. I started looking at her diapers and they seemed to change in consistency as well, looking greenish in color and mucousy. In the midst of all this I was told that it was just a phase and she’d grow out of it around three months of age.
Fast forward to three and a half months of age…. Finley is a mess. All of the same symptoms times 10. I am a mess as well, stressed from lack of sleep, constant crying from both Finley and Rowyn, and the worry that something more is wrong with my child. I started researching her symptoms and all of the websites suggested that Finley could have a dairy allergy. The thought of cutting dairy out of my diet entirely made me cringe. I had so many thoughts running through my head. “Will I be able to do this?” “Is it easier to just put her on a dairy free formula?” “Will she have to be dairy free forever?” Reluctantly, I decided to go dairy free the next day.
Initially I saw great results. It takes approximately 8 weeks for dairy to completely leave your system. But I saw a huge improvement in her symptoms within just a couple weeks. It was hard at first giving up many foods that I enjoyed but just seeing Finley’s improvement made it all worth it!
I had been dairy free for nearly 4 months when I started to notice some symptoms returning. Finley was starting to have mucousy diapers again and she was starting to cry and scream in pain again. I racked my brain trying to figure out what else could be bothering her. Thus far, I had removed all dairy and green vegetables, as I noticed some irritation if I consumed green vegetables. I remember sitting in my rocker crying hysterically. No one ever tells you about these days that you will have as a mom. There will be days where you sit and rock a hysterically crying baby as you cry in unison, because nothing you do will calm it down and you feel completely hopeless.
This is the moment I decided to try the NAET allergy treatment. I had heard about this treatment performed by a local physician and it was described to me as the “voodoo” treatment. It was described that way because it is a holistic treatment and in southeast Kansas, that’s way outside the comfort zone of most residents. After learning that this physician retired from doing the treatment, I desperately searched for someone else in our area. I made the appointment with a physician about 45 minutes away and although I dreaded the trips back and forth with two kids, I prayed that this would be the answer to fixing my miserable baby.
Here’s some background on NAET…
“Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques, also known as NAET, are a non-invasive, drug free, natural solution to alleviate allergies of all types and intensities using a blend of selective energy balancing, testing and treatment procedures from acupuncture/acupressure, allopathy, chiropractic, nutritional, and kinesiological disciplines of medicine. One allergen is treated at a time. If you are not severely immune deficient, you may need just one treatment to desensitize one allergen. A person with mild to moderate amount of allergies may take about 15-20 office visits to desensitize 15-20 food and environmental allergens” (What is NAET?, n.d.).
The doctor, who is also a chiropractor, had me hold the allergen in a vial against Finley stomach and then put my other arm up and try to resist her force. That is how she determined what Finley was allergic to. Immediately she found that Finley was allergic to milk proteins and calcium in milk which accounted for her severe issues with dairy. She also found the Finley was allergic to vitamin B and calcium found in other foods which she assumed accounted for her issues with green veggies. She started treating her for the milk proteins first, which was done by some chiropractic adjustments, and then leaving the vial on her skin for 20 minutes. After this, we returned home with instructions to not consume the allergen for 24 hours. We returned the next day to be retested and see if she passed. Luckily, she passed all of the allergens with only one treatment per allergen!
A month later I finally started to add dairy back into my diet and amazingly enough, she had no reaction!! I cannot tell you how amazing this treatment is and how thankful I am for it. Before I had a child with an allergy, I did not think much of it. But it can be so hard to constantly be nervous about what you eat, what your kids eat, will it affect them, will you get any sleep tonight, is this restaurant truly allergy friendly, etc. This treatment is such a blessing and that is why I had to share it with you. God gives us so many answers to our prayers and I could not be more thankful for this one!
If you are interested in this treatment for yourself, your child, or just suggesting it to someone you know, visit this site https://www.naet.com/practitioner-locator/ and search your zipcode.
References:
What is NAET? (n.d.). Retrieved from NAET: https://www.naet.com/about/what-is-naet/
Beauty, Bible, and Babies 