Matthew gets RSV

Even writing about this brings up memories that were really hard for me. At 10 months old, Matthew caught a cold that seemed to just get worse with each day.

When I took him to the doctors, they said that he may have broncholitis but did not give me anything for it because there was no fever.  They did not seem too concerned about it.

A week went by and because I was so unfamiliar with all of this, I trusted the doctors.  Well, it did not get better and once again I took him into another doctor who told me he was okay because he did not have a fever.

By the third time, his breathing was fast and I decided to take him in again.  They told me to give him breathing treatments and that should help him.  He was so happy that I did not think he was super sick.

After one day, the treatments started not working and one scary night that still brings up so much anxiety,  his breathing took a major turn for the worse. He was pushing for air and I did not understand what was going on except that I felt we needed to go to the emergency room.   I wish so bad that through all of this I would have understood more of what was going on.  I wish I would have understood the breathing issues already that Matthew was susceptible to. I wish my doctor would have known more about dwarfism.

Within a few minutes of bringing him to the children's hospital, they immediately sent him up to PICU. And he was placed on oxygen immediately. After tests, it came clear that the little boy had double pneumonia and a test came back that he had RSV as well.   I wish I would have known how to be more in tuned to what was going on earlier on. I had never dealt with an issue like this.  It scares me to think what may have happened had I tried to wait until the morning to bring him in.  I wish the doctors would have done a test to see if he had RSV.

Lots of wishes and regrets of not knowing still go through my mind.  I worry a lot about him still when he gets sick because I never knew just how sick he really was.  I did not know the signs.  Well the nurses and doctors in the PICU were amazing.  And knowing he was in such good hands, I was actually able to relax a bit and slept the best I had for several nights.

Seeing it all, I felt like the most terrible mom ever. I felt like I should have known better.   He was so sick and I had no idea until they wheeled him to

PICU.  It took him so long to get better. He could not get off the oxygen and they sucked so much out of his lungs and nose.  Looking back I realized that all that mucous over the last several weeks had been accumulating.

I think I also realized that because of the size of Matthew's lungs, he did not cough it up even as a one year old.  He never has coughed much which is the way most kids get the mucous out of their lungs.


I did learn quite a few things about what RSV was, about the make-up of Matthew's body.  In fact one thing I learned was that the treatments were not working as much as the sucking out the mucous from his airways.  It seemed like so much of his problem was the build up of mucous in the airways of his neck but I am sure there was plenty in his lungs too.

On day eight, we left the hospital with a strong antibiotic, steroids, and abuterol. It was hard for me to have to use these but I knew it was definitely necessary and I would use other means to help combat the side effects of these drugs. 

My diet as a nursing mom

I felt that if I was going to be feeding this baby, I needed to ensure that I was taking important things.

I chose to take Perfect Prenatal by New Chapter.  They are all organic.  In addition to this, I drank MonaVie and I took a product called Perfect Food. It is a green drink that really seemed to keep my energy and health up.

I gave Matthew a probiotic called BabyDophillus from Jarro. 

After visiting the naturopath, I chose to become gluten free as well as dairy free. 

Ear and Nose Issues

From what I read, I found that many achondroplasia children can have problems with their ears and nose.  Some children tend to have many issues with ear infections and nasal infections.  They can have lots of runny noses as well.  This is mainly due to the fact that the airways are so much smaller. 

As I learned this, I thought about Matthew's diet and wondered if there could be anything I could do to keep the inflammation up there down.  And I thought about some food that may be more likely to cause infections in a small area.  

So with my thinking cap on, I decided to not introduce dairy to Matthew. I was nursing him at the time and chose not to eat dairy myself. 

Along with this, I decided to visit a naturopath to see if she had any good ideas.  She advised me that he was too young for an allergy test but that avoiding the most common allergy foods in my diet may help him.  So, I chose at that point not to eat much gluten, eggs, dairy, or soy.  It did seem to help.

When Matthew caught his first cold, I used a product called Xlear.  It helped a lot.  It is made of xylitol. What I understand is that Xylitol is sweet enough to attract the bacteria. However, once the bacteria is there to eat the xylitol, it cannot because of the make up of it.  Therefore, the bacteria will starve and die.  It is great for sinus and nasal issues.

Matty Moo and his Diet

I have decided to dedicate this blog to Matthew and his diet.  As I have searched and learned about achondroplasia, I have found that most information out there is all medical.  And while that serves an amazing purpose, I have desired to find information on whether diet can play a difference in benefiting these little ones.

Before I begin, I think it is vital that I state that with Achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, we must be extra careful to ensure that the right diagnosis are done from multiple specialists.  Matthew has seen an ENT, a pulmonlogist, orthopedic specialist, a neurologist, and a pediatrician.  We must study and find out all we can medically to ensure that the proper care is done for these little ones.  I am in no means saying that medical help is not needed nor will I ever say that.

However, my intent is if there is anyway that a natural method could work, I am all for it. And that is my purpose for this blog. I want to share that which has seemed to help Matthew perhaps in avoiding certain things.