Sep 3, 2026 · 53 min · 11 segments
What if the symptoms we see in our children are only one piece of a much larger story? In this episode of *Root Cause Conversations*, Amanda sits down with Kristin from Bloom Pediatrics to explore a…
Amanda MavrakosHostOkay.
Now,

you've talked about behavior follows biology, and you do post a lot about that on your Instagram and social media page discussing, you know, gut health, detoxification.

Can you kind of walk us through how you actually find the root cause for a child that may be having some challenges with anxiety or sensory issues instead of just treating the symptoms?
Sure.
I'm a huge proponent of functional medicine labs.
And just like in the adult world, you can go to your doctor and have all these symptoms.
You know in your body something is not right.
And your typical blood labs can look normal.
And it's the same thing.
And that's a lot of times how we're dismissed by conventional medicine is when these conventional labs look normal.
And it's the exact same thing in kids.
I really am a huge proponent of functional medicine labs, which are very, very different and test very specific aspects of health that give us really a roadmap for our treatment and give us just data.
My parents love the functional medicine labs because it's the first time that they've ever been given data.
as to why these underlying challenging behaviors and things like that could be happening.
So yes, where I usually start is functional medicine labs.
And a GI map is one that I love that just tests the gut, gut imbalances, gives us so much information.
Most of these tests are... multiple multiple pages long they test many different things and another one that I love is an oats test I test for heavy metals sometimes we'll do genetics and food sensitivities and test for micronutrient imbalancers but all of those tests basically provide that root cause insight as to what What are the underlying factors that could be affecting our behavior, our functioning, our anxiety levels, and our ability to focus and executive functioning skills?

Several years ago, I had like a nutritionist, dietitian, and she did some functional labs on me.
And

it was pretty good, except for the fact that I came back with like a lot of yeast overgrowth in my gut.

If you typically do a GI map on somebody, what are some things that you're seeing? Like across the board, you're seeing this, this, or this.
Absolutely.
Okay.
Now,

you've talked about behavior follows biology, and you do post a lot about that on your Instagram and social media page discussing, you know, gut health, detoxification.

Can you kind of walk us through how you actually find the root cause for a child that may be having some challenges with anxiety or sensory issues instead of just treating the symptoms?
Sure.
I'm a huge proponent of functional medicine labs.
And just like in the adult world, you can go to your doctor and have all these symptoms.
You know in your body something is not right.
And your typical blood labs can look normal.
And it's the same thing.
And that's a lot of times how we're dismissed by conventional medicine is when these conventional labs look normal.
And it's the exact same thing in kids.
I really am a huge proponent of functional medicine labs, which are very, very different and test very specific aspects of health that give us really a roadmap for our treatment and give us just data.
My parents love the functional medicine labs because it's the first time that they've ever been given data.
as to why these underlying challenging behaviors and things like that could be happening.
So yes, where I usually start is functional medicine labs.
And a GI map is one that I love that just tests the gut, gut imbalances, gives us so much information.
Most of these tests are... multiple multiple pages long they test many different things and another one that I love is an oats test I test for heavy metals sometimes we'll do genetics and food sensitivities and test for micronutrient imbalancers but all of those tests basically provide that root cause insight as to what What are the underlying factors that could be affecting our behavior, our functioning, our anxiety levels, and our ability to focus and executive functioning skills?

Several years ago, I had like a nutritionist, dietitian, and she did some functional labs on me.
And

it was pretty good, except for the fact that I came back with like a lot of yeast overgrowth in my gut.

If you typically do a GI map on somebody, what are some things that you're seeing? Like across the board, you're seeing this, this, or this.
Absolutely.
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