Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Prepping for a new baby with Labs


When you are ready to have another baby, it is extra important to make sure that your body is not depleted of nutrients going into the pregnancy.  Being pregnant and depleted can lead to all sorts of problems for both mom and baby including an increase in morning sickness or a lack of nutrients to actually build a healthy baby and this can be the worst problem of all.

We recommend getting the following testing done in advance of trying to get pregnant.  Most tests are done with a blood draw, however different variations of this testing is done based on the patients needs.

Micronutrient testing – analysis for vitamin and minerals
MTHFR testing for Folate metabolism
Hormone Testing – Estrogen, Progesterone, FSH, LH, Prolactin, Testosterone (total and free), Thyroid Panel (TSH, T3, Free T3, T4 Free T4, Thyroid Anti-body)
Fatty Acid Balance Testing (Omega 3 DHA, EPA and Omega 6 ALA, GLA)


Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Multi-vitamins for Toddlers and Babies


The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn’t necessarily advise giving your child a multi-vitamin supplement unless your doctor recommends one.  However they also claim that giving your child a multi-vitamin that follows common RDA value practices won’t do any harm.  Two key pieces of advise when are as follows:

·      Multi-vitamin is not a substitute for real foods but can be a helpful adage.
·      Children with lots of food sensitivies or children on very strick diets ( some vegetarians, vegan families, paleo etc.) may need a multi-vitamin to supplement missing vitamin’s and minerals.
·      Optional:  Dr. Walker also advises mom’s of picky eaters to try doing multi-vitamins to supplement there children for both health and peace of mind.

Here is how to choose a vitamin for you:

·      Children under 4 years of age need to do a liquid multi-vitamin as the chewable can be a choking hazard.
·      Vegetarians need vitamins B12 and Vitamin D as they may not get this in their diet.

If calcium is a great concern choose green leaf veggies as the calcium in these foods is more bioavailable and digestible to the body than milk based calcium.

Dr. Walker Choose Dr. Advantage Liquid Children’s Multi-Vitamin for Zara and it has a nice citrus flavor to it.