Dr. Kyle and Dr. Holly’s second child, Isabelle, is one of those special gifts from God that was born with an extra chromosome. This is called Down Syndrome! People with this condition have a weaker immune response and digestive system and need extra support in these areas so that these activities in the body can get as much function as possible. Dr. Kyle and Dr. Holly want to help those who are raising children with Down Syndrome by sharing how they have implemented certain things in Isabelle’s life that has drastically improved her health compared to a lot of other children with this condition. They share five important areas to focus on when raising a child with Down Syndrome in the most healthy way!
Five Areas of Focus
1. Breast Milk: Breast milk is one of the most important things for children with Down Syndrome because it has all the good fats for brain development, all the vitamins for the GI tract, and is the best food that you could deliver to your child. Most children with DS are not able to latch well enough to actually breast feed so you can pump breast milk and store it, or if you’re not able to produce enough you can use milk donor banks from other moms! This is extremely helpful. If this isn’t an option, look into getting organic formula from the best source. Whatever you’re feeding them until around 2 years old is molding and shaping their immune system, brain, digestion, and overall development. It also can affect hitting certain mile markers such as speech!
2. Nutrition: Making sure they have good nutrition throughout their life is essential to their health and development. Following a non inflammatory diet from the start will help them not crave so many carbs and they will start to desire healthy foods early on since they were never introduced to an alternative. No processed sugars or processed carbs, fast food, dairy or gluten. Find foods that are rich in B vitamins, as they are mostly deficient in these and need a little extra attention to make sure they are getting enough. Also, it’s important to make sure they’re getting organic, grass fed meat!
3. Gut Motility: Often times their GI tract is slow and the muscles in their tract have low tone so things don’t move as quickly. With this knowledge, don’t worry as much if they aren’t pooping as much as you think they should be! If time goes on and this is still an issue, look into gut testing to see what might be going on. With Isabelle, she could easily attain bacterial and viral infections so specific things had to be done to kill those viruses and bacteria when they came along. It’s helpful to see what’s going on in the gut so you know how to approach their healing process and to allow for the best absorption and GI motility. Even before testing, getting a chewable digestive enzyme for them to take before meals will help tremendously as well as a good spore based probiotic and B vitamins.
4. Vaccines: One of the first decisions made with Isabelle was to decline all vaccines. Vaccines carry a lot of heavy metals that can be disruptive to brain function as well as gut and immune function. They already have a suppressed immune response and all vaccines openly say that they create a suppressed immune response, so it will only inhibit the immune system even more and cause more harm than good.
5. Sleep and Sinus Congestion: Children with Down Syndrome have more of a flattened face so their sinus cavities are pushed back. This can affect their ability to process and get rid of toxins in the air, spores, and dust. This then causes their sinuses to fill up more quickly, especially during allergy season. Their jaw line is also more narrow which does not allow for their tongue to fit in their mouth properly. This is a perfect storm for sleep apnea, sinus congestion and mouth breathing. This isn’t great for their health so you can do craniosacral therapy to help with the cranial bones to make sure they are moving and to allow the fluid in the sinuses to move. It also helps the lymphatic system move a lot as well. Chiropractic care is also important, using a very gentle technique.
If you would like more information on how to receive these tests and plans, please contact our office via email, phone, or in person.