need advice regarding son's diet PLEASE.

[elizawill]

i have cross posted this in health & healing regarding my son's health and behavior. i was advised to come here, as they thought it might be more helpful. but to keep from retyping my story...i will cut & paste below if that's okay?? i could really use some advice and insight. TIA


__________________________________________________ _______


hi,

i'm trying something new with my kids (specifically my son). i'd like to take foods out of their diet that contain red dye. i'm trying to narrow down what is causing my son's hyperactivity and acting out, and a lot of my research suggest it could be a sensitivity to red dye, etc. a little history about ds...he was born sick - literally. he always had a runny nose as a baby & sunken dark eyes, and he caught EVERYTHING. a common cold would turn to pneumonia for him. he had mono at the age of 1, pneumonia a few times before the age of 3, strep throat a dozen times, as well as severe cases of tonsilitis, etc (not to mention, all of the common colds and high fevers he has had over the years). at age 2 he was diagnosed with asthma, but does not take asthma medication on a regular basis at all. i keep it in the house of course, but we do not usually need it unless he gets a bad cold & his asthma flares up. he also had cradle cap really bad until age 3!!! i finally used dandruff shampoo to get rid of it because it was suggested by my ped. my ds still has a little eczema around one of his ear lobes. he has always slept poorly too...until just recently. now he can finally sleep through the night without waking up. he had his adnoids and tonsils taken out at age 3, and although many people will judge me for that decision...it was actually a blessing!! his health has changed drastically after that for the good. anyway - this is all i can think of. maybe the additional info will help those who can offer me some advice.

oh...he's also very hyper and can be whiny, he can have bad mood swings, etc. he's super sweet and incredibly loving and funny (i'm not trying to slam my own kid here - yk?), but his behavior can also be over the top and it doesn't seem like "typical" 4 year old stuff imo. even as a baby he would bang his head very hard when he was upset. That lasted for a long time. He also can have out of control tantrums. They are definitely improving A LOT since he's getting older and can "reason" through communication.....but as a toddler - it was extreme.

anyway - this long story is what has lead to my continued research to help my sweet little son. but i'm overwhelmed and a bit confused. does anyone else have children who have successfully responded to a change in diet??? where did you start? i'd love to hear your story and get support and good referrals as to what i should read or websites i should visit??? thanks for reading all of this! sorry there is no rhyme or reason to the order of this post...i'm just typing along as i'm remembering things i think i should share.

it's really long though! so kudos if you made it this far.

[Chinese Pistache]

I think it would be worth it to look into the FAILSAFE diet. It focuses on artificial and naturally occuring chemicals in foods (salicylates, amines, etc.) that cause problems in children (behavioral, allergic, etc.). There are some moms on MDC who use this w/ their dcs.

I'm guessing that your little guy has had lots of antibiotics with his many illnesses. As such, his gut bacteria is probably pretty compromised. I'd work on getting him on some strong probiotics (at his age, he can take one with a broad range of bacteria strains). Also, vitamin C and cod liver oil.

As a general note, I would cut out all dairy and probably gluten, too (wheat, barley, rye, spelt, kamut) because those are big culprits when it comes to hyperactive behavior and sensory issues. The dark eyes and runny nose would point to a sensitivity/allergy, too.

[Chinese Pistache]

Here are some links:

Failsafe stuff
http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/
http://www.plantpoisonsandrottenstuf.../failsafe.aspx

Probiotics
There are lots of brands, but you want to make sure you get one that's dairy and gluten free. The brands mentioned the most on this board are HMF, Klaire, Kirkman and . . . I'm forgetting all of them, so hopefully, someone else with chime in with ideas.

gluten and casein free
http://gfcf-diet.talkaboutcuringautism.org/

This site is focused on autism specifically, but her information about gfcf is good. I like her food substitution lists a lot.

[elizawill]

YES! my ds has been on TONS of antibiotics since birth!!! they gave him rocephin shots all.of.the.time too he is also fully vaxed til 8 months because i just did whatever i was told to be honest. at that time, i stopped listening to mainstream doctors and tried researching to see what in the world was wrong with him!! it was obvious what the doctors were doing was simply not working for my little guy. i'm still at a loss to be honest. thank you. i am off to search the sites you suggested asap! i appreciate your response so much! thanks again!

amy

[changingseasons]

Is This Your Child by Doris Rapp talks a lot about food allergies and behavioral problems.

From the symptoms listed, I would look into more food sensitivities than just the dyes (dark eyes, eczema/cradle cap, not sleeping, etc.) That book also has information about doing an elimination diet I believe. If not, there's also Dealing with Food Allergies in Babies and Children by Janice Joneja.

There are also some tests that check for allergies to dyes as well as foods- although they're not 100% accurate. I know some of the ELISA tests check for dyes, and I think the ALCAT does too. We did the ELISA through Sage Labs and it tested for a few dyes, but it is crazy expensive. I'm sure there are cheaper ones that test more dyes.

[JaneSmith1010]

First, tell us honestly what your diet is and was like when you were pregnant and what you feed your kids. Don't hold back. The chronic infections he's dealt with sounds like a seriously compromised immune system but not much worse than alot of the kids I'm around--mainstream ones. However, if you eat whole, organic, healthy foods there may be some biologically based factor in his poor immunity.
It sounds to me like all of this can be quite seriously related to your/his diet, to a much deeper extent than red dye goes. I assume if you are talking about trying to take that out of his diet you all eat alot of sugary and processed foods, as that is what red dye comes in. Um, I always tell people who are confused about which ingredients and foods to look out for when eliminating something from their diet that they just need to stop the processed foods. You need to shop the perimeter of your grocery store--where all of the whole foods are so that things aren't so confusing and so you aren't replacing one processed food for another. You simply can't expect anyone to be healthy while eating that stuff.

[elizawill]

we don't eat all organic food. i honestly budget and mealplan to the dime, so often it's what's on sale that i purchase and incorporate into our weekly menu. we don't drink soda, and fast food or take-out or any restaurants aren't in out budget. that's a "treat" that happens every so often but not on a weekly basis by any means. he loves apple juice and he loves hot dogs (but i buy kosher). i do buy cheetos sometimes too or pretzels. he does eat fruit loops or honey nut cheerios, toast, or pancakes for breakfast....and this week he's had homemade bran muffins a lot. both my kids love pb&j too. i'll really think about what else is in his diet and post back here as i think of more. tonight we had spaghetti and homemade sauce with a side of garlic bread. no dessert or anything though. we do eat some processed foods for sure - so i will look at changing that first and get some tips from the ladies in the meal planning forum to create my menu.

now, onto me and my diet and pregnancy. when i was 5 months pregnant with my son my back went out completely. i was hospitalized for 3 days, and had to go through physical therapy & use a walker, etc. it was awful. i was in so much pain and they gave me lots of pain medication in the hospital through i.v. i remember throwing up because i was so doped up. the doctors new i was 5 months pregnant and i asked if it would hurt the baby - they said no. i totally believed them and did not question anything back then, assuming doctors are experts and know best. they also gave me prescription medicine to take during recovery. after i was able to walk again, i went to the chiropractor to get help. my diet when i was pregnant was not as good as it could have been - but it was not all fast-food or junk either. i worked when i was pregnant and exercised daily and drank a lot of water up until my back went out.

when my son was born, he had jaundice. he also had to go to the NICU because he had fluid in his lungs. anyway - the rest of my story picks up in my first post.

ask me questions & i''ll be honest. i definitely need help and direction. i know my son has something going on that needs my intervention & i honestly just have no idea what to do or how to help him in this moment. i can't change what's been done in the past though - which sucks bad.

Anyway - thank you!

[kjbrown92]

When I just got the ALCAT test, they do test for food, plus 10 additives (like nitrates, MSG, aspartame, etc.) and 10 food dyes.

I think it's food too (I'm the one that suggested the switch to this forum). I don't know that the antibiotics are the "cause" here, since you say that he's had some of the symptoms since birth. Though I'm sure the antibiotics didn't help.

The Feingold Diet does alot with dyes too. But again, I think it's more likely to be food in general, and not the additives, or at least not JUST the additives.

[caedmyn]

Some foods (notably gluten, there's probably others) can suppress the immune system in someone who's intolerant to them, and so can at least one naturally occurring food chemical (salicylates). I know both gluten and a whole host of both natural and artificial food chemicals can cause behavioral issues. And food chemicals cause the same symptoms as individual food intolerances. The link CP gave are good resources for learning about food chemical sensitivity.