GFCF newbie

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My son Fredrick is 8 and has just recently been diagnosed with high-

functioning autism / Asperger's. I am glad in some ways for the

diagnosis, because a lot of things about him make more sense now and

there are things we can try to help!

My son has social problems, fine motor problems, chronic sniffles and

bedwetting, and can be pretty inflexible. He is also a really sweet

boy and I want to see him live as fully as possible like we all do

for our kids.

I've been trying to implement GFCF on my own. I worked through my

pediatrician, who recommeneded we try an allergy elimination diet,

cutting down to very few foods, and then reintroduce food. We

started in August, cutting out wheat and gluten, dairy, eggs, yeast,

citrus, potato, nuts, and artificial ingredients. I've seen his

sniffles disappear and his bedwetting decrease, but his behavior has

only modestly improved. I just read about hidden sources of gluten

on the GFCF website and realized whe have not been GFCF all this

time! There was gluten in his alternative flours, spices, shampoo

and toothpaste and possibly also his soy milk (Silk is not listed as

safe on the GFCF list). And there's lactose in his bedwetting

medication.

I've started hunting out sources of hidden gluten and trying to

replace them in his diet. He's getting bored of the really

restricted diet he's been on, which just got more restricted when I

realized I wasn't using safe ingredients. I've tried reintroductions

of some foods, and eggs, nitrates and yeast didn't seem to be a

problem. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and let him have those

things while I work out the GFCF part? And how quickly have people

seen improvements in kids his age? I've heard it takes longer for an

8 year old than a two year old to show improvement.

Thanks for your help!

Julja