6 month old with asthma

[isaacsmom]

Hi there,
I am new to this whole macro thing-so bare with me. I am trying to figure out what I should eat and my son is just now starting to eat solids and I am doubly confused. I am confused because I want my son to grow up macro and I am not sure what to feed him.

To make things a little more intresting, my 6 month old son has asthma.

I am currently giving him Nutramigen formula...with bottled, distilled water, organic rice cereal, organic peas, and organic green beans. (the veggies are "Earth's Best" brand.) He is also getting diluted, organic apple juice.

Any ideas on feeding an infant macro???

!!!Also, I especially needs any input on what to feed him to help his asthma!!!

Thanks for any assistance-A mother desperate to help her child...
Jenny.

[michelle494]

Hi.......Im just a beginner but Michio Kushi says in 'Natural Healing through Macrobiotics' that asthma is a Yin condition.......that would be the apple juice I suppose- quite YIN......... maybe try heating it with a pinch of salt if you don't want to remove it from the diet...also making sure the rice is 50% of the food & the veg is less than 30% maybe??.......
Too many vegetables & not enough grains aggravate Yin conditions. You can make the vegetables less Yin by cooking them for longer......with a SMALL amount of water.........
Its very difficult to feed a baby macrobiotically because part of deciding what to eat each day will be using your own judgement. Eg if you crave meat one day......you probably have been having too much fruit, desserts, salads, water in the diet........
But because the baby cannot tell you what he or she is feeling yet.....it will be rather difficult to get it right..........
It also may be worth checking if he is allergic to something in particular.....eg a soap, dust, pollen, fur, clothing, bedding, pets, chemicals.

Hope this helps........im a beginner so it may be worth getting a macrobiotic counsellor to help you organise the babys diet......especially one with kids!!

Michelle

[Elizabeth Sunderland]

Hi Jenny,

I have an eight month old myself, so I thought that I could offer up some ideas. What I give my son on a daily basis is rice cream (brown rice mixed with some other grain such as sweet rice, barley, millet, etc. cooked 5:1) and I strain this, mix it with crushed sesame seeds and a little rice syrup (although in your case I might skip the rice syrup and barley malt).

Also, kokkoh, which is:
1c brown rice,
1c sweet rice,
1/4 roasted sesame seeds,
1c oats,
1/8c azuki beans
and a tiny piece of kombu using
5c water to 1c kokkoh mixture.
Strain and serve.

For vegetables I give him a combination of fresh and jared food- carrots, peas, squash and corn, green beans and rice, Earth's Best too, but that is not enough variety. My baby will eat just about anything so I cook broccoli, bok choi, chinese cabbage, round cabbage, daikon, turnip, leek (by themselves or with one other veg. together) until soft and puree. I also give Griffin large pieces of vegetables to chew on, such as blanched broccoli, cauliflour, carrot, etc. He loves that. To drink, he gets breast milk, barley tea, kukicha tea (light), water and occasionally apple juice mixed with water or kukicha. I have found that my son, who is perfectly healthy, dosen't do great with fruit, I think he is too little for it. You guys should probably avoid fruit with asthma.

Ok, the worst foods for asthma are as follows:

1. Dairy (this includes formula, cow or soy)
2. Baked flour products (bread, cookies, crackers, toast, pancakes, waffles, etc)
3. Sugar
4. Fruit and fruit juice. I know it is hot out- try to rely on pressed salads, blanched salads and if you must have fruit, cook it with a pinch of salt.
5. cracked grains- oat meal (and oats in general), corn grits, cous cous, bulgar, and espically dry things such as popcorn, rice cakes dry cereal, puffed grains, etc
6. Soymilk, rice milk, oat milk, almond milk, peanut butter, tahini, sunflower seeds, almond butter (any nut butter) These are vegetable quality dairy.

Hey I am not trying to scare you away! Try to start out slowly by eliminating these foods one by one and try to keep in mind what not to give your baby (for now, until his condition clears up). You could also benefit from macrobiotic counseling (are you near NYC or Philly? I know a really good counselor...) Just keep in mind that your baby is trying to discharge what you ate durring pregnancy and is probably not reacting well to the formula. You might also want to check out www.strengthenhealth.com for some tips to help you better transition to macrobiotics. Best of luck to you!

Elizabeth:D

[Roy Collins]

Hi Jenny. Sorry to hear about this asthma problem with the baby.
I would like to help out but would need to hear more specifics about your diet while pregnant and early feeding of baby. Some
good suggestions have already been given I see. Did you completely stop breast feeding at this point, as this would be the
best way to cure the excess yin in lungs. How involved into macrobiotics are you at this point and would you consider use of
small amount of goat milk? I look forward to your reply.

In peace, Roy

[Meditate]

Hello,

I’d like to get some clarifications from you Elizabeth:
1. I can’t see any difference between the rice cream and the kokkoh!!! Only the addition of azuki!!!?
2. I’ve been searching on the net for kokkoh because I too have a nine month old baby girl,
some people say that the way to make it is by roasting the ingredients
then grinding them
then we can put a spoon to every glass of water and boil for ten minuets

So I can’t make my mind which is the right way??!!

Thanks