To the Dentist

I had to get a couple of cavities filled today and it was no fun!  We may not eat much refined sugar but that doesn't mean we don't enjoy plenty of nature's candy. We eat plenty of fruit, honey and maple syrup and to cavity causing bacteria, sugar is sugar.

David left work early to hang out with Ayden during my appointment.

I've always been lazy about taking care of myself. I never wash my makeup off at night, I do brush my teeth but never for the recommended amount of time and flossing?  That typically only happens when something is stuck between my teeth. I have always told myself, "this will catch up with you someday." And I suppose I was right. Now that I am pushing 30 it seems as though I can't just rely on genetics to keep things healthy. We are already eating well which is the first recommendation for preventative medicine and dentistry.  Now it is time to put forth that extra effort to keep my entire body healthy. Not just for me but for my kids and grand kids. I found out about my cavities about a week ago at my routine cleaning. The dentist explained that it is common for people to start getting more cavities as they get older. She said that they have patients who never floss, hardly brush and never see a cavity as well as patients who brush and floss religiously only to have a cavity filled at every visit. It seems as though some people are just more genetically susceptible to cavities than other.  The thing is,  I never had cavities until my pregnancy and it seems like ever since then I've had at least one at every visit. Perhaps pregnancy can forever change the balance of bacteria, ph, saliva and such in your mouth?  

It has also gotten me doing some research as I always tend to do. We use alternative methods to heal other illnesses, is there anything that will natural heal cavities and tooth decay?  I have found a book called Cure Tooth Decay that has been an interesting read. It discusses how to heal tooth decay with nutrition which is right up our ally. I also spoke with our naturopath who recommended an alternative dentist. Without even seeing me they recommended a few things and advised that I go ahead and get these cavities filled since they will continue to grow and could eventually cause other problems (as long as they are not mercury fillings) and to take better preventative measures in the future. 

That is exactly what I plan to do. We use floss picks on Ayden's teeth so I have been using them on mine twice a day since I found out about the cavities.  The reason I never flossed before was because I found it a burden to pull out such a long piece of floss, wind it around my fingers and then end up with floss all over the place after Ayden discovers it all in the trash can. The floss picks make flossing so muh more convenient. 

I also like how you can use the opposite end to scrape off any tarter build up on the gum line. Along with flossing, I've also been brushing for longer. I've always heard the saying, only floss the teeth you want to keep and I shall take that saying seriously from now on. 

Now that I have changed my evening routine up a bit, I go ahead and wash and moisturize my face before bed now too. It feels so nice to go to bed with a clean, tingly face. 

With any luck, I'll be able to prevent any additional cavities from forming. They are a waste of money (our dental Insurence only covers a portion of the cost) and I really hate the fact that they drill away at some of your healthy tooth only to fill it with an artificial substance. Sure, they don't use mercury but do the fillings contain anything else that may slowly poison you over time?  It just doesn't feel right to me...

Do you find that you are more prone to cavities after pregnancy?

~Sarah

Flashback!  Here's what we were up to one year ago today: "Keeping Things Basic"

Thank you for stopping by Life With the Ladniers!

Please take a second to:

 Subscribe via email, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you'll know as soon as a new post is up!

Miss seeing what Ayden is up to everyday?  Follow us on Instagram!

You can find all of the links in the sidebar.

Taking Initiative

I took Ayden to the doctor today, just to make sure we were really in the clear. His fever finally broke after 3 doses of the Motrin. We were worried that we'd have to take him to the emergency room because his fever was so high. The Motrin would only bring it down to 102 and heat was just radiating off of him. It is hard to guage how alert or to what extent they are acting like "themselves" when they are sleeping restlessly. It was terrible but once the fever broke, he soaked the sheets under him with sweat. I don't think I have ever been so happy to feel wet sheets in my life!

He was feeling *better* yesterday but was still a tad bit warm. We thought that a fever of varying degrees lasting from Thursday night through Sunday warranted a visit to the doctor. After looking Ayden over and giving his little lungs a listen, Doc said that it is a little bit of bronchitis with what is possibly viral pneumonia in one of his lungs. He assured me that it sounds much worse that it actually is and is pretty common for kids Ayden's age. He said it sounded like we did everything right with the immune boosting, infection fighting supplements and the Motrin.  He thought that Ayden appeared to have already turned the corner to recovery.

Pretending that his horse was eating something under  patient table.

Doc wrote a prescription for an antibiotic and said to only use it if his temperature spikes again and suggested pairing it with an infant probiotic if we do have to use it. We love that our doctor is open and supportive with how we feel about medicine and letting the body work for itself.

Other than a lingering cough (which is now wet and must burn his chest with the way he fusses after every cough) Ayden was back to his normal, cheery self today. The cough gets worse at night so I'm sure we'll be up with him once or twice but I am just glad he is feeling better and LOVE kissing his forehead and finding it feeling back to the temperature to which I am accustomed.

Ayden has had some new developments over this past week. Since this post is all about him, I thought I'd include the cuteness here.

"Helping" us buckle his car seat straps.
We have to allow 5 extra minutes if we want to be on time anywhere.

"Helping" us feed the cats...
I was folding clothes while he was rummaging in the pantry.
Then I heard little kibbles scattering all over the floor.
Now I know that when he is rummaging the pantry, he most likely has a plan.

{I have a video of him trying to clean it up but Blogger is having trouble communicating with YouTube at the moment.  I'll come back tomorrow and try to add it then.}

~Sarah

When We Medicate

Being the contemporary crunchy little family that we are, we always try to do what is most natural first, before resorting to more traditional methods. We did that with Ayden's birth and learned so much from that experience. Not only did I learn that my mind and body can do amazing things, I also learned first hand that there is a time and a place where Western medicine is necessary and we are very fortunate to have it. That being said, I also feel like medications are over prescribed/administered in our country. I feel like as a culture, we have been trained to reach for a pill bottle immediately for every ailment, big or small. And we do this without really giving much thought to the root cause of the ailment or giving our body at least a chance to take care of itself.

I am writing about this particular topic today because we reached that "time and place" for the first time with Ayden today. Our midwives (both our home birth and back up) gave us the same advice about fevers. 102* is the magic number for individuals 6 months and over. It is okay to let someone's fever get to 102* F. BUT if it rises above 102*, or stays that high for more than 24 hours, then it is time to medicate and get that fever down. Ayden's temperature had fluctuated between 99* and 102* since Thursday night. I was actually away from Ayden for most of the day today (at a St. Jude's fundraising event where we raised almost $600 selling $5 tie dye T-shirts. Woot woot!) and almost skipped it to stay with him. His temp dropped and we thought he was on the mend so I went. David texted me updates throughout the day and Ayden was a trooper. A few hours after I got home, though, his fever spiked to 104* and we decided that he needed a little something extra to help lower his temperature a bit.  I gave him a tepid bath while David ran out and got him some infant Motrin.  Within 15 minutes, we could tell he was feeling better and within 45 minutes, his fever was back down to 101* and he was almost back to his normal, cheerful self.

Here are the tips we used for getting through our first experience with our child having a high fever:
- Remember that a fever is actually a good thing. Germs thrive at our normal body temperature and a fever is going to work on killing those mean old germs.
- Follow your gut. Some books and websites will tell you that a temperature of 104* is cause enough for a trip to the doctor or emergency room. If your child is still a little active, eating and drinking, and has some of their usual personality, you might not need to rush off to the hospital. If they are lethargic and dehydrated, take them immediately. Ayden fit in the former category and my mama gut told me it was a big enough emergency for Motrin but not quite big enough for the emergency room.  Assess every individual situation and use common sense.
- Listen to the advice of others, but only do what feels right and comfortable for you. YOU are the parent and you know best.
- Know when enough is enough. We have the cut and dry rule of that magic 102*. As long as we are under that temp and in the 24 hour time frame, we give him immune boosting and infection fighting supplements, lots of cuddles to help keep him comfortable while his body gets the chance to fight for itself. Once we are passed that criteria, though, enough is enough.
- Get this book:

{through Amazon}

It gives detailed descriptions of symptoms and illnesses then briefs you on conventional, herbal, homeopathic, etc treatment options. Even if you plan to go straight to the doctor, it will at least educate you on what may be prescribed so you aren't completely at the whim of your doctor. It is important to remember that they are imperfect humans too and aren't always right.

In the end, we are our children's best advocates. It is important that we educate ourselves not only on what the treatment options out there are, but also any effects they could have. If there is no emergency, why not try something natural before pulling out the big guns?  Give their little bodies a chance to do what they do best, take care of themselves.

The Motrin will wear off around 12:45am. We will see if it's the kick his little body needed to shake this thing (we are thinking virus?) or if he will need another dose. As for taking him to the doctor, ours is closed on the weekends. If he becomes lethargic or stops eating and drinking, we'll take him to the emergency room.  If he still has a fever on Monday, I'll call and get an appointment just to make sure we are doing what we need to do.

Please remember that we are in no way health care professionals.  What works for our family may not work for yours.  Follow your gut and do what feels right.  This is just what feels right to us.

~Sarah

Sarah's Feel Better "Tea"

I always have gotten a sinus infection this time of year. I'm not sure if it is allergy related (I never had seasonal allergies as a child but tree pollen is CRAZY high right now). In years passed, I would just go to a walk in clinic and get an antibiotic. The year we found out we were pregnant, however, I didn't want to take any medication if I didn't have to (my pregnancy is what started my quest to first *try* natural remedies before resorting to traditional medicine and so far nature has not let us down!). I asked my good friend Google about a natural remedy for sinus infections. The most consistent result was apple cider vinegar. Specifically, Bragg's organic, unfiltered apple cider vinegar. So I thought I'd give it a try...

Upon further research, I discovered that it is a miracle product!! We use it on Ayden's bum if he has particularly angry redness in his diaper area (1 part vinegar/1 part water), I've used it as a toner for my face (1/4 part vinegar/1 part water), it is apparently a good dandruff treatment, the list goes on and on! But, I digress.

Here is the recipe I use to cure what ails me this time of year.

~8oz hot water

~3Tbsp Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar

~a squeeze of lemon (optional)

~honey (of course, HONEY!! - also optional)

It is not {actually} a tea but it is warm and has honey and lemon... That makes it close enough to tea, right?!? I take this concoction twice a day until my symptoms subside. If I am experiencing a particularly nasty infection (green goo taking up residence in my head or chest), I add grapefruit seed extract, garlic powder, vitamin C, echonasia/golden seal and quercitin supplements* for immune boosting support while I let my body do what it does best. Take care of itself! Now that i have this remedy, I start taking it at the first sign of drainage and the green goo never finds me. I will SWEAR by this "tea" of mine.

The vinegar is strong in this concoction. If you find that it burns your throat a bit, just chug it all down at once. Also know that the more honey you add, the better it tastes. The honey also coats your throat a bit which seems to make it go down smoother. David is not a huge fan of apple cider vinegar so he puts his in apple juice and it seems to do the trick while masking the taste of the vinegar.

* Please note that I am in no way a professional here. I am just sharing my own experience so that you can add it to your research as you look to find your own natural remedies.

Before I say goodbye, I wanted to give a bee update! It's been raining here so we figured they hung out inside the hives most of the day on Saturday. We went to check on them today and got to watch a lot of them taking their "orientation" flights. They make circles around the hive, gradually increasing their distance so when they are out foraging (a 6 mile radius), they'll be able to recognize their surroundings and find their way back. Amazing I tell ya, simply amazing! It was so fun to see them in action.

We had a pretty quiet day today filled with house work, cooking and a trip to the mall (David spent his birthday money on a new work outfit). It was a great, low key family day.

Let me know if my feel better tea makes you feel better next time you are under the weather.

~Sarah

Screams In The Night

The past few nights have been rough for Ayden (and therefore us too). In the middle of the night on Thursday, I could tell he had a fever. I even said it out loud to David. But it was gone by morning and he was acting like his normal, happy, energetic self.

So normal in fact, that it made me question whether or not he actually did have a fever. Friday night, the same happened (101* F) but he was fever free and fine by morning. I asked my sister if that ever happened with either of her kids and she said it had a couple of times when they were teething. Ayden still hasn't cut his molars so I assumed that must have been the source of the mystery mini fevers. Then, Saturday night, he had one inconsolable screaming episode. And then there was last night... It may very well have topped the chart as worst. night. ever. We were up with Ayden 3 or 4 times while he screamed inconsolably and thrashed about for hours at a time. It was obvious he was in some sort of pain but we could't imagine teething could cause this much discomfort for him. We decided it must be his ears and made plans to call his doctor first thing in the morning. When morning finally rolled around, he woke up his happy, energetic, normal self. It has been strange behavior to say the least. I gave him some infection fighting supplements throughout the day today and put in a call to his pediatrician just in case but we thought surely, if it was in fact an infection, he'd continue to have symptoms during the day as well.

David was telling a coworker about everything and she said her daughter's ear infection symptoms were EXACTLY like we were describing. No fever, ear pulling or complaining during the day and then a night of screaming. We plan to prop him up tonight so any fluid he might might have in his ears won't build up and increase pressure. If he spikes a fever again or has any screaming episodes tonight, we'll be making an appointment for our first non well baby visit to the doctor so we can get some sort of diagnosis for what is going on.

First cookout of the season!

Wish us luck for having a better night and we'll keep you posted!

~Sarah

Homemade Natural Cough Surup

Ayden's cough is hanging on. It's not terrible and we feel that coughing can actually be a good thing since it helps break up congestion. It's like a fever, the body knows how to take care of itself. It is actually best not to suppress a cough if your child is otherwise fine. If said cough is keeping the whole family up at night, however, it is time to suppress it. I made a 3 ingredient home made cough syrup that we are very comfortable giving to Ayden as often as we need to throughout the night.

Ingredients:
1 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups honey***

(We only had 1/4 cup of olive oil, though, so I just halved the recipe)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat until steaming, but not boiling. Then transfer to a mason jar (or, in our case, an old honey jar). We gave Ayden a teaspoon before his nap (though he didn't end up going to sleep at that time) and a teaspoon before bed. It seemed to quiet his cough earlier in the day and we will see how tonight goes.

Honey has been used for a long time to soothe sore throats but now you can find it in many natural over the counter cough medicines. You can read a little more about honey as a cough suppressant here. Lucky for us we'll have our own honey soon enough! The lemon juice has lots of immune boosting vitamin C and the olive oil helps it go down smoothly as well as offering it's own array of powerful anti-oxidants that add support while the body fights germs. No "inactive" ingredients to be found in this cough syrup!!

***I should mention, however, that it is not advised to give honey to children under 1 year of age due to the risk of a form of food poisoning called botulism. Ayden had his first taste of honey in the icing on his birthday cake (though he didn't eat much...).

We spent soooo much time outside today! My sister and her family came and the kids had so much fun playing around the farm.

Here are a couple more cute pictures from our day:

Exploring diameter... The bone is too big to fit into the jug.
He wasn't buying it...

"Helping" Mommy with the dishes.  He got pretty wet...

I am excited about this upcoming week and it will end with my birthday and the arrival of our bees!!!!

Let me know if you give this cough syrup a try and if it works out for you!

~Sarah