CASEIN AND BEHAVIOR

[Guest guest]

I recently put my 3 yo son on soy milk and took him off of dairy.

There was a period of a few days last week when he had milk and he

had behavior problems at school, which he had never had before!!

(hitting the same child each time for no obvious reason)When he was

back on the soy, there was no problem with this behavior. Thursday,

May 3rd he did it again, even though he has been on soy, and I'm at a

loss as to why he would behave this way. How long does it take for an

infraction to show up in a child's system? Last night my well

meaning oldest child gave him some pudding, which was gluten free

(surprising!), but not dairy free. He had five packs of it, which is

so very unlike him. He's a picky eater, and eats very little. He is

so big (muscular) though, that you would think he ate everything in

sight! Well, not long after eating the pudding he had a serious

breakdown. The kids were watching tv, and bubba got up suddenly, and

walked over to his big sister and started hitting and slapping her

for no reason.

Anyone out there experienced something like this? I'd really like to

know if I'm on the right track. I'm starting him on GF this weekend.

Thanks!

Anita Lankford

[Guest guest]

At Friday 5/4/01 12:49 PM, you wrote:

>I recently put my 3 yo son on soy milk and took him off of dairy.

>There was a period of a few days last week when he had milk and he

>had behavior problems at school, which he had never had before!!

>(hitting the same child each time for no obvious reason)When he was

>back on the soy, there was no problem with this behavior. Thursday,

>May 3rd he did it again, even though he has been on soy, and I'm at a

>loss as to why he would behave this way. How long does it take for an

>infraction to show up in a child's system?

Our four yr old's been on the diet four months now. There have been many

episodes of cheating since then, all on a smaller scale than five packs of

pudding though. We can't always attribute bad behavior to an episode, but I

think there are two things to bear in mind:

1. if we can't do daily blood tests we don't know scientifically what's

happening inside our kids

2. my son's 4, your's is 3... they aren't supposed to always behave well

> Last night my well

>meaning oldest child gave him some pudding, which was gluten free

>(surprising!), but not dairy free. He had five packs of it, which is

>so very unlike him. He's a picky eater, and eats very little. He is

>so big (muscular) though, that you would think he ate everything in

>sight! Well, not long after eating the pudding he had a serious

>breakdown. The kids were watching tv, and bubba got up suddenly, and

>walked over to his big sister and started hitting and slapping her

>for no reason.

used to hurt the younger of his two sisters, pulling her hair and even

scratching at her face. This was a reaction to her throwing a fit, because

the noise upset him... noises still do upset him though not as much.

Thankfully this stopped some time ago, in fact shortly before we put him on

the diet. He's started scratching at my wife lately, but by and large it's

been all me - the 'bad cop' in the family.

Which is preferable I guess to him attacking anyone else. Lately things

seem to be finding a way of working out. Two weeks ago he scratched my eye

first thing in the morning when I told him to go to the bathroom. According

to the doctor he scratched the cornea. But it all healed overnight, and

best of all when he came home that day and saw me with a bandage over my

eye he was upset.

He remembered what he'd done, and I gently explained the facts to him. He

understood me, and hasn't gone for my eyes since. Knowing my son understood

all that, cared and changed his behavior because of it was well worth the

day pain of what turned out to be a temporary injury.

That might make me sound like a nut in some circles, but among us I think

is perfectly understood.

>Anyone out there experienced something like this? I'd really like to

>know if I'm on the right track. I'm starting him on GF this weekend.

Anita, I can only share how I feel personally. And my confidence that all

of us do our best as parents to help our children.

For myself, I feel the stakes of this diet are so great that it behooves me

and my wife to fight back against the cheating and work to get 100%

compliance. This will mean getting rid of all G/C foods in our home, a

process we've started, and learning how to cook most everything from basic

ingredients.

In the long run I'm convinced my son will do very well, and decide for

himself if these foods really make him ill. And that he will make his own

decision at an appropriate age to forego eating things that are poisonous

to his system.

That said, I also think that science will have to catch up with our

children. Better more basic answers will have to be found, and more

essential cures than such dramatic alterations in diet will be coming our

kid's way.

But that's the future... now we have the diet.

Marty