By Brandy M., Paris
My interests have always been in nutrition, the human body, science and fitness. Finding a profession that encompassed these things has far eluded me. I wasn’t sure which profession could combine all these things until I became a mother. I have always had a strong need to help others help themselves, by sharing my knowledge and providing them a better way forward. Even with all those things behind me, it wasn’t until my daughter developed colitis at 6 weeks old that I was set on a path to discover homeopathy and make holistic living a way of life for my family and I.
The following are the sequence of events that opened my eyes to my need to study homeopathy. My daughter, Audrey, had always been a healthy a child until she presented with blood in her stool. It was a whirlwind of events that followed and really proved to me that the allopathic system is truly not trying to cure people, but rather suppress symptoms.
At the peak of her illness, I took her to 2 general practitioners, 3 pediatricians, and a nutritionist all providing the same advice: “you have to stop
breastfeeding and switch to formula”. This didn’t make sense, nor feel right to me. I was furious at the suggestion and implication that it was the only solution available. I wouldn’t listen and I couldn’t stop researching, trying to uncover a different and better solution. I ultimately gave Audrey 11ml of formula, against my better instincts, at the persistence of my engineer husband desperate to find a solution.
She refused to drink from the bottle, which in hindsight should have been more proof that it was not the solution we were looking for. We had to spoon feed it to her. The next day she began vomiting and her stool had now turned into green, bloody diarrhea. We took her to the Emergency Room at the Brantford General Hospital, but it was a 5 hour wait. I opted to take her home, stay skin to skin with her and just keep nursing. The vomiting didn’t stop and I was petrified for her, thinking she may die.
In the morning, I phoned my family doctor as it had been going on for three days now. He saw us immediately and called the hospital to ensure the pediatrician on call
would see us right away. His suggestion was again to try formula, although a different one which contained amino acids rather than protein. He even printed documentation explaining that “breastfed babies present this way when the mother consumes dairy”. I had put in countless hours on the internet trying to find the answer; hence I had already begun a complete elimination diet two weeks prior, in an attempt to rid my body of gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish and corn.
He admitted us overnight for observation. Once in our room a nurse came by and told me she wasn’t sure if I was “allowed” to nurse my child. At this moment my fear became anger. I was livid that the medical community would have the audacity to presume that I would look for their approval to nurse my baby, the most natural thing on earth. Until this point I was worried for my baby, but they began using terminology such as “failure to thrive” as though she was something to be measured and evaluated
against a norm.
My worry turned into a frantic need to care for her on my own without the input from the doctors who all had the same “solution”. At 8 weeks old and 10lbs, four days of vomiting and diarrhea would make any baby seem as though they weren’t thriving. The most ironic part of the entire ordeal is that the vomiting and diarrhea was caused by the formula that I was told to feed to my baby, by a medical professional. That night was the worst night of my life. I held Audrey in a chair and nursed her until she slept. Against the rules, I held her until the morning. Sometime around 6pm she stopped vomiting and by morning she hadn’t had a dirty diaper.
The pediatrician did his rounds and was amazed at her turn around, he asked what I did. I told him “I just kept nursing her”. He, of course, wanted to stick to his initial assessment and force the use of another formula onto Audrey. At this time I had him, a nurse, the nutritionist and my husband all telling me that this was the answer and I couldn’t do much about it. We were discharged with the Neocate formula in hand. It was a relief to be home, but now my husband and I needed to agree on a way forward. He had been convinced the formula was the answer, believing that using the formula would provide us with a “known quantity”. I argued that a can of chemicals is what got us into trouble in the first place and by no means was I going to feed it to my baby again. I stuck to my guns not giving into the pressure from my parents, husband and allopathic professionals.
Over the next couple of days, the bleeding stopped entirely. She put the weight back and to this day I continue to be dairy, gluten, soy, corn, refined sugar and mostly grain free. Funnily enough my new “diet” has cleared up the Peri-Oral Dermatitis I’ve had for ten years and my digestion has improved as well. No cream or antibiotics required, only the removal of inflammatory foods.
Audrey is now an extremely robust and healthy 10 month old baby. Her being sick gave me real insight as to how our allopathic doctors only know how to prescribe medications to suppress symptoms and that, only to the extent that they came across in medical school or worse from the pharmaceutical sales representatives they meet with. They do not get to the root of the problem. They study medicine, not health. At this time, I have lost all faith in the allopathic system. Because I had given up on the
allopathic system and couldn’t find any other pediatricians that seemed to value breastfeeding as much as I did, I made an appointment at the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic.
By some gift from the universe I was paired up with a holistic lactation consultant. She informed me of “leaky gut” which was new to me. Why had no one in my 3 weeks of doctor appointments ever told me babies are born with a leaky gut? Why? Because they do not know this information or if they do, they dismiss it. I was in awe at
this new found knowledge and I immediately needed to know everything I possibly could about leaky guts. How to fix them and how they affect health overall. At home I set out on the internet once more. I found holistic mothering groups on Facebook and a woman named Jennifer Tow. Jennifer is a registered IBCLC, she is a founding member of IATP (International Affiliation of Tongue-tie Professionals), and has been studying epigenetics for over 15 years, as well as an advocate of “Heal the Momma Heal the Baby”, and hosts holistic mothering webinars.
Of these webinars, I have completed the cell salts session, home remedies (including homeopathy) and Bach Flower remedies. I became consumed with raising my child and family in a holistic natural way, adopting the belief that the body is designed to heal itself, so long as it is given the energy to do so. I made the choice to forgo vaccinations, much to the dismay of my family members. I made an informed decision and am passionate about informing others as well. Any chance I have, I share my knowledge with others through Facebook and La Leche League.
These two platforms serve as a fantastic medium for reaching out to many people in need, most of which lead a mainstream lifestyle buying into the mediocre allopathic mind that there is a “pill for every ill”. Never will I pressure nor try and convince anyone of my beliefs. They need to find it on their own through their own experiences. I simply offer my advice which is always a holistic approach, supported by my experiences and the results that I have witnessed.
This story is where I gain my inspiration and drive to become educated in homeopathic medicine as broadly as I can. It wasn’t until I discovered homeopathy that I understood what I was meant to do. I am firmly convinced that it is my calling to study and practice homeopathy, to give others holistic solutions to their health expressions, that I was unable to find when I needed it most.
