'tis the season

Dear Olive,
Clancy came down with his first cold last week. It was, of course, inevitable. But what was surprising was that I'd forgotten just how miserable a baby can get when they're sick. He was clingy and generally wretched, which was terribly sad (and terribly exhausting). I tried him on a new to us brand of kids herbal range (KiwiHerb for those interested) and upped his daily dose of cod liver oil. (The naturopath in the health food store laughed when I told her that Clancy drops whatever he's doing and comes pelting into the kitchen whenever I call out "who wants cod liver oil!".) I gave him my bone broth, which he loves having straight up in a cup. And I'm always happy to breastfeed him as much as he wants. One of the most brilliant things about breastmilk is being able to have a little control over what goes in it - because what goes in me, goes in him, so I make sure I'm having lots of things that will help his still-developing immune system fight - nutrient dense meals with plenty of garlic and onion, topped up with immune boosting supplements, and lots of ginger and turmeric and lemon tea. And it probably goes without saying; endless cuddles. But life goes on around his poorly self, and thank goodness for slings so it can!

PS Did you know Australians are prescribed 25% more antibiotics than the OECD?

healing mastitis

Dear Olive,
Two weeks ago I came down with mastitis. After breastfeeding you for almost two and a half years without a single bout, it wasn't something I ever thought I'd get; and it was every bit as dreadful as I'd heard. At 4 in the morning, I woke up with the worst flu-type aches through my body, and an excruciatingly painful breast. I was shocked at how sick I was, and at how quickly it had come on. Having not taken antibiotics for about twenty years, they are always an absolute last resort for me, so I wanted to share what I did to resolve my infection here, in case anyone else is looking for ways they can treat their mastitis naturally - and effectively. Shane went to work and I was far too sick to get to a shop to get anything for myself, so I just had to use what I had on hand.
Straight away, I piled on the clothes until I was sweating (I was shivering and freezing when I woke up) and tried to get Clancy to feed as much as I could off the painful side, massaging it as he fed (OUCH). I got into a hot hot hot shower a couple of times throughout the day and massaged the painful breast, and I kept cold cabbage leaves in my bra, changing them regularly. I drank a couple of enormous cups of chicken broth*, and I dosed myself up on the immune boosting supplements that I had in the cupboard - cod liver oil and vitamin c, to help my body fight the infection. (Plus some herbs that Shane picked up from the naturopath later in the day for me.) I also drank lots of ginger and turmeric tea (a great inflammation reducer - and the hot cup doubled as a hot compress, as I held it against the painful site). Shane couldn't get away from work until late in the afternoon and my amazing friend Clare picked you up and took you out for HOURS so I could rest and look after the far less physically demanding Clancy. (Thank you, Clare, you amazing woman, you!) I actually couldn't believe the recovery I made - from the 4am wake up, I felt remarkably better by that afternoon, and by the time I woke up the next morning, all that was left was a little breast soreness. I kept up the cabbage leaves and the vitamins and herbs for the next few days to make sure the infection was well and truly kicked.
The only thing I'm left with now, is anxiety that it'll return! I never want to return to that hell! So I've been keeping up (in much smaller doses) the ginger tea and the supplements. And I'm going to keep a far closer eye on my breasts for any lumps in the hope that I can massage them out before they become infected. And, hopefully, with luck, that'll be my first and last experience of mastitis.
(Obviously, I'm not a practitioner, this is just my personal story. I'd love to hear what's worked for others?)

* A friend of mine has taught me to make my chicken broth with chicken feet - gross, I know, but it gives the most amazingly thick, gelatinous, broth; incredibly healing and healthful.

Breakfast of Champions

Dear Olive,
On the weekends, we like to sit down to a family breakfast of eggs, avocado, whatever else we have lying around. But on the weekdays, for me, breakfast is typically this. Some yoghurt, a tablespoon each of sunflower seeds, chia seeds, pepitas and flaxseed oil, a shake of cinnamon, a handful of fruit, and a few drops of stevia. Really delicious, grain free, and filled with healthy (and essential) fats that will keep you sustained for hours (and which keep you looking young, too!). 
Breakfast of champions, I assure you. 

(My guru, Dr Mercola, wrote an article on the amazingness {not his word} of pepitas last week - read it here.)

In The Morning

Dear Olive,
Heaped shavings of this. A squeeze and slice of that. A heavy shake of the other. In the morning.
(I recently had a cold and tried out this recipe after seeing it on instagram. It's so healthy, I now have it every morning in place of my usual lemon in hot water. Surprisingly, I've grown to rather like the powdery turmeric taste.)

Garlic Ear

Dear Olive,
A few nights ago, you woke up crying that your ear hurt. We've been very lucky with your ears - I think you had an ear infection when you were around 8 months old that resolved itself in a day or two, and this was the first we'd heard from your ears since then. 
By the light of the stove, I crushed a couple of cloves of garlic into a cup and whizzed it around with a little bit of olive oil. I squeezed out the oil from the pulp onto a spoon, warmed it up with a match underneath, and - to much protest - droppered it into your offending ear. You had a pretty unsettled night (we all did). But in the morning, you seemed fine. Although we gave your ear some more garlic oil, just to be sure. Not another word has been spoken about the ear since then. And I hope that's the last we hear of it for a long time.

Being a Wholefood Mama

Dear Olive,
Anyone who reads this blog would know that natural health and nutrition are particular passions of mine. After being a Mum, it's probably the thing that defines me the most as a person. So you can imagine how honoured I felt to be asked to take part in Nikki's Wholefood Mama Series. You can read my interview here, where I talk about my philosophy on food and how we eat it, and that moment in time when my parents started giving us sugar free carob instead of chocolate (worst Easter ever!). Although isn't it funny how life comes in circles ... sugar free carob is now something I give to you as a treat. I really believe that even though there'll be times when you you deviate from the path, you'll always come back to the way you were raised. Which is why it's been so important to me to start you on the healthy eating way of life from birth, I'm hoping to make it second nature for you. My Mum taught me to never stop learning about natural health and nutrition, and I hope that's something you'll learn from me, too.
Thanks for letting me take part, Nikki.

The Man on the Bus

Dear Olive,
On the bus today, a man offered you a tim tam, which I politely declined. He insisted, I insisted. Things got a little awkward when he said it's just a little bit of chocolate and tossed it into my lap.
We left the tim tam on the bus when we got off at our stop. We walked home and cooked pumpkin soup for lunch. We ate it with kamut toast with avocado and pink salt and it was delicious. 
People say I'm lucky that you're so healthy. I say good health is a choice. We choose it.

(I don't mean to say you don't have treats -  because you do, probably plenty of them. Honey sandwiches, dates, the occasional ice-cream, fruit buns, birthday cake. Right now you're eating a home made mango smoothie icy pole. But we try to make smarter, healthier decisions when it comes to treats.)

The Onion

Dear Olive,
Onions. Honey. Vitamins. Probiotics*. Cuddles. We keep it pretty simple when there's a cough in the house. I feel very lucky that, on the whole, you've been so healthy. You've only been to the doctor once (for a rash), and to accident and emergency a couple of times (for accidents). Natural health has been hugely important through my life (having been brought up by naturopaths). But now, as a parent, it's even more so. It is my responsibility to give you the best possible start, providing you with the best chance for great health, for life.
A friend told me recently about a great sounding cough syrup she makes from cooking up and straining onions, honey and some herbs - I think I'll try it next time (although I'll have to ask her again which herbs). We always leave a cut-in-half onion by the bed - it stinks the house out but it helps with night time coughing. Onions are apparently even great for clearing up ear infections - just squeeze the drops of juice into the ear. I'd love to know what everyone else uses to treat their ailments naturally.

*We take probiotics everyday, for general health and immunity - everyone should.

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Dear Olive,

I’ve been thinking about giving you more treats lately, for the sake of keeping things interesting for you, and as a replacement for sultanas and dates, which you are a total nut for. But I’m not keen to go down the refined sugar path, which we’ve managed to more or less avoid to this point. So I’m going to trial a few sugar free recipes with coconut oil and coconut flour. (To say I'm not known for my baking skills is probably a bit of an understatement.) On the menu for yesterday’s afternoon tea: strawberry & honey coconut muffins. Dairy, gluten and sugar free. Sound pretty terrible don’t they? Well our first victims came around and tasted them and they were actually quite delicious. Vewy vewy vewy yummy according to you, as you gobbled up two. Even Shane gave them the thumbs up and he usually turns his nose up at anything even vaguely along those healthy lines.

Recipe here. (I used melted coconut oil in place of the butter, honey for the liquid sweetener, and strawberries in place of blueberries purely for the fact that was all I had on hand.)

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Dear Olive,
You bought bath milk! came the cry from the kitchen after I told Shane there was milk in the fridge if he wanted to make a coffee. It took a bit of explaining (Shane is occasionally concerned that me and my naturopathic family are a little on the 'out there' side of things), but what can I say, we've totally jumped on the (somewhat controversial) raw milk bandwagon. Two high school girlfriends came around yesterday and, growing up in the country, they told me they drank it straight from a neighbours cow down the road. It'll come as no surprise to hear we don't have a cow in our Bondi flat. We don't even know anyone with a cow nearby. So we'll just have to buy our moonshine from the illicit trade at the health food store.