red dye sensitivity

My friends daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and she was advised to put her on meds for the condition. Since the little girl in question was just 6 my friend was not liking the idea of meds that mess with her brain. We did research and found that we could try diet improvement. The main thing we were advised was to remove all food dyes. With the removal of dyes, dairy, processed foods (white flour and non whole foods), sugar and the addition of Natural factors learning aid we found that the little girl was able to control her behavior. I personaly think that kids that we see as high needs and with behavior issues realy have allergies or intollerances. I also have heard that refined flour can act like sugar in childrens bodies giving them a sugar high and then crashing them later. I have all my kids on whole grains and no dairy, that and I add alot of nuts and seeds as snack food so they have healthy fats to feed their brains.

I have found that organic foods I buy don't have alot of dye's and coloring. The last "candies" we bought had blueberry juice to make them the color they were. As with anything though we have to read those labels.

I had a student in my class year before last that was experiencing explosive outbursts of anger. After much work and monitoring mom suspected allergies and began to eliminate items from his diet. During summer camp, he had been eating sno cones and after every one of them he would have a terrible night at home with mom and dad. The consistent factor: Orange dye. They removed both orange and red dyes from his diet and there were no more outbursts.

I think I'm going to try Feingold after reading this. I had noticed a bad reaction to red dye which dd was getting from church, but we still have a lot of problems. DH is a special ed teacher and says she would be labeled ADHD if she were older.

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I saw you had not posted yet, so I thought I would

cam&kat's_mom - be carfull buyinh the program used. The information is updated monthly, so an old program will not help you much. That is one fo the best things about the program is the constantly updated food shopping list.

So what do you all do when your child is going to a party or given something at school? Several times after having a bad day I'll ask him what he ate at school. His responses have been: cheetos, blue cupcakes, red vines, etc. I send him with his own snack and I've spoken with DS' teacher a couple times about his sensitivity to dyes, even made my own cupcakes to keep in the school freezer for days that parents bring colorful treats (so he won't feel left out). Well during their holiday celebration she gave each child a little box with a note from her and skittles . I got to school to pick him up and there he was sitting next to her eating them!!!! I couldn't believe it. I'm going to talk to her again after school starts up again but OMG she said she understood that he can't have that crap!!

Glad someone posted and brought this thread to my inbox so I can give an update...you wouldn't believe the difference in my child. She still has "fits" sometimes when she doesn't get her way, but they are much more managable, she's much more reasonable, and the wetting incidents have all but stopped. She got some strawberry yogurt at my mom's that had red dye in it (the peach in the same package did not and was a wild child for several hours. I still think there's another additive that's bothering her...something that's apparently in Rolos

To answer Moochie's question, my best helper in keeping dd dye free is dd herself. She asks if things have dye and flat refuses anything that does. She doesn't like the way it makes her feel...and she's 3 and a rule follower right now, so those are definitely in my favor. The rest of the family isn't as diligent about reading labels and sometimes accidentally give her something she shouldn't have, but everyone is trying. It might help to tell the teacher and others that it's an allergy...might garner more "respect" than "sensitivity" does.

Christa

Yes, we call it an "Allergy" also. I have found lots more people respect it that way. I also have a cute little one page list that explaines exactly what she can't and can have and send it everywhere with her (I had DH print a bunch of them on posterboard type paper at work, so it does not blend in with regular sheets of paper).

DD is also very good about reading labels and telling what she can and can't have. Although at 8 she will sometimes have something she should not. We deal with it the bast we can and talk about consequenses and making proper desisions, even if it is not the fun thing. She goes to a very small school, so she or the teacher will call me if there is a question about something she can have a school. I also try to have a few snacks that are saved up in the freezer at school.

The best thing as for dd's teacher respecting nad understanding what happens was having the teacher as dd's soccor coach this fall. She saw exactly what happened when dd had something she was not supposed to :LOL, and she is much better about making sure she does not anymore!

Can red food dye allergies can cause insomnia and sleeplessness? Also, can the allergy suddenly develop? DD's ped prescribed her a cough medicine containing CODEINE (so it should knock her out, right?) because she has had a terrible, intractable nighttime cough. The first few nights it worked like a charm. Last night (night 3) she "went to bed" at 8 and didn't fall asleep till 3 in the morning--was singing, yelling, jumping, and talking (not crying--she was quite happy, almost manic) all that time. : This is utterly, totally atypical for her and we were in shock. The medicine is BRIGHT red.

DD has no other known allergies. She has been on a lot of OTC and RX medications this fall, however, because of an incredibly resistant ear infection and a series of bad colds : (can you tell she started daycare this fall?) I am sure many of these meds must contain the dye, but she has never had a reaction to them before. Could it suddenly "kick in" like this? Again, I can't express how out of the ordinary this incident was. It seemed like it HAD to be something chemical or physical.