In Part Four (Having a New Baby in the GAPS Family) of Gut and Psychology Syndrome, Dr. Natasha describes the process of gently introducing solid foods to babies at around age 4 to 6 months. She recommends starting with Chicken Stock, properly sourced and prepared, of course, as it is particularly gentle on baby's developing digestive system. Chicken Stock is used for the first week of solids in small amounts. Over the second week and the weeks to follow, the servings are increased incrementally as the baby's appetite increases and once it is confirmed that baby can tolerate it well. I popped in to give a little demonstration of Chicken Stock preparation for a new mom and baby. It was really fun to watch the little one get excited about trying a new food and sweet to see a mom care so much about her baby's nourishment. To begin, Mom sourced a whole, fully pastured chicken from a local grower and cooked it in a crockpot with filtered water and no salt (no salt because we are not giving salt to baby just yet...but Mom and Dad will liberally salt their meat stock with a high quality mineral salt when they use it for their meals). When I arrived for this session, I removed the cooked chicken from the crockpot and set it on a large cutting board. I separated the meat into a storage container for later use, separated the bones into a freezer bag to make Bone Broth at a later date, and added the skin and connective tissue back into the crockpot with the liquid where I blended it together with an immersion blender. Very important: We include all the precious fat. To clarify, we are making Meat (Chicken) Stock which calls for meaty bones with joints, not Bone Broth which calls for boney bones with little meat, so using a whole chicken is ideal for this. Bone Broth is high in glutamic acid which can trigger nervous system symptoms for those with fragile guts. And with a new baby, we want to be extra cautious as we introduce foods as our goal is maximum absorption of nutrients without gut discomfort or damage. Therefore, we use Meat Stock. The gelatin and amino acids in Meat Stock are gentle and healing to a baby's developing gut lining and, unlike Bone Broth, Meat Stock is low in glutamic acid. Beginning baby's feeding regimen with Meat Stock lays a solid foundation on which a strong body and mind can be built. We poured the stock into jars and also filled a candy mold so that Mom would have convenient portions at mealtime. We placed the mold in the freezer. After the Meat Stock in the candy mold has frozen, she can pop them out and store them in freezer safe, BPA-free storage bags. Over the course of the first few days of introducing this new food, Mom can simply warm one or more portions on the stove in a glass measuring cup set in a pot of warm water. GAPS cooking is economical. Purchasing one chicken yielded over 3 1/2 quarts of nourishing stock that contains no harmful mystery ingredients, bones for later use in making Bone Broth, and approximately four cups of tender chicken, cooked with loving intention, for a casserole or chicken salad. This mom is taking care of her family! Next we will discuss fresh pressed Vegetable Juice and then move on to probiotic foods!
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joanna francisco, cgcThis is my personal experience with the GAPS nutritional protocol. I hope you find it helpful. Archives
April 2023
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