How to Make Preserved Lemons

Many of you know I am a huge fan of fermented foods, and have written a few blog posts on the benefits of this for your gut health. Plus a recipe of my own on how to make kombucha. So when I was contacted by Gigi from My Fermented Foods with an offer to write me a blog post, I jumped at the chance of sharing more knowledge. (This is not an affiliated post – just sharing a mutual love of fermenting).

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Victorian Maternal Child Health Nurse System

I came across a post this morning on FaceBook in a very large babies/kids group I am in. I was touched by her experience of the Maternal Child Health Nurse (MCHN) service in Victoria, as mine was similar. No chopping and changing of appointments, but the nurse that I had was focused on so many micro details, that she failed to see I had a happy healthy baby on my hands. I was given very poor advice on numerous occasions, and I ended up changing nurses. I too made a complaint but it was not even followed up with a phone call. But how many mums would actually take the time to complain when they are sleep deprived and juggling new motherhood The system needs an overhaul. We need support at times like this, more than ever.

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Should we eat wheat? (and what is the deal with gluten anyway?)

Back in 2013 I embarked on my gluten free life. At the time I didn’t know it would be so permanent but now that I have thoroughly researched it, I am glad that I am (mostly) gluten free.

It started off by having a baby. Why would that have an impact? Well this newborn baby of mine screamed his head off every time I ate wheat. No, he didn’t have a strange phobia of sandwiches but rather, 7 hours later, the components of the sandwich ended up in my breast-milk which he then drank. It took me a few weeks to figure it out (and you can read more about it in another blog post) but he had silent reflux and the “wheat” upset his tummy. It was more specific than wheat, actually the protein in wheat – the gluten.

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Reflux in babies

If you have a baby with reflux your life can almost be a living hell. They scream, they are very unsettled and unhappy, and they don’t sleep. They also like to be held upright which (although cuddles are wonderful) is exhausting when it is 24/7.

I had one of these babies and It was very difficult until I figured out how to fix it. For my experience, within 24 hours I had a very different baby. No screaming, no crying, and more sleeping. Within a couple of months it was totally gone.

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