Who am I?
I have a B.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. I have provided environmental education classes and presentations for children through adults for over 12 years. But it was the birth of my children that really inspired me to live naturally. This blog is a journal of my experimentation, research, and ideas on some of the best natural ways to raise emotionally and physically healthy children. I hope it will help to create a community committed to sharing their knowledge of living in Natural Homes, healing with Natural Remedies, and nurturing with Natural Recipes.
What Inspires Me?
When our daughter Claire was about 2 years old, we started noticing some ”extreme” behavior. She seemed to over-react to almost everything. Initially we just dismissed it as the terrible twos and the fact that I was pregnant with our second child. There were a lot of changes in her life and we thought she was having trouble adjusting. But by the time she was 3, her behavior or sensitivities were inhibiting her socially and her physical development was lacking. We went to her primary care physicians repeatedly for help with diagnosing her symptoms, but were dismissed as overly concerned parents. It wasn’t until she had a meltdown when the doctor tried to touch her that we got a referral to a neurologist. He spent 15 minutes trying to talk to her and engage her, but even I found him intimidating. He immediately diagnosed her with ADHD (at age 3) and ruled out Autism. I am fairly familiar with ADHD and did not think the diagnosis was credible, especially because it can’t be diagnosed until at least age 5 and he was pushing drugs. He basically told us that you can try other methods (diet, supplements, therapies), but they do not work any better and they are very expensive and time consuming. He obviously did not understand his audience. So…I continued to research. One of my friends, who is an occupational therapist, suggested I look into Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). We eventually took Claire (now 3.5 years old) independently to an OT who diagnosed SPD and works with us on an as-needed basis.
I continued to research SPD, but there seemed to be limited information. Then I stumbled across Kenneth Bock’s book “Healing the New Childhood Epidemic, Autism, ADHD, Allergies, and Asthma,” and suddenly everything began to make sense. I never considered Claire a sick child, but looking back now and comparing her infant and toddler years to my son Ross, she was sick too often and over-medicated by her doctor’s. (Oh, the benefits of being the second child.)
My continued research led me to the link between allergies and intolerances and neurological and behavioral development. And so began the experimentation…In the last few years, we have found she has a significant reaction to traditional wheat and milk. We also have found a combination of supplements and natural remedies to help build the immune system and neurological development. These changes have provided huge benefits emotionally and physically for both kids! Claire especially has fewer meltdown and defensive reactions to others. She has grown more than ever before and is hardly ever sick. And she has much better coordination.
When Ross was 10 months old he woke up one morning with a runny nose. It was his first real cold. By 10 PM I was in the emergency room because he could hardly breath. In about 12 hours he had developed a sever bronchial infection. The was immediately given oxygen, steroids, and IV antibiotics. He was fine by the next day and released after two. But the infection had weakened his lungs and the antibiotics ruined his stomach. They prescribed him an inhaler for asthma, but the pharmacist did not recommend it for infants, so I did not by it and started looking into more natural cures. It took over 7 months of probiotics and avoiding dairy to get his stomach and stools regular. That was the first and (so far) the last time he has had antibiotics. Ross was unable to eat any dairy at all until the age of 3.5, now he can have limited dairy like his sister without any problems. Ross also began showing symptoms of SPD at about 2.5 years old, but in the opposite ways. Luckily because of our experience with Claire, Ross was diagnosed and treated much earlier. (Again the benefits of being a second child.)
Why I Blog
This Blog is a product of my experimentation, research, and ideas on some of the best natural ways to raise emotionally and physically healthy children. Through this medium I get to utilize some of my favorite hobbies: natural cooking, gardening, reading writing, and photography. My hope is to share some of my research, get feedback from others, and help a few families along the way.
If you have any questions, comments, or recipes to share please post a comment to this blog or email me at kate.stillman@mac.com .
Please note, all photos are the property of Kate Stillman and may NOT be copied or reproduced without written consent.
