WAS: yet another MR NOW: Food and behavior story (sorry -- long!)

[Guest guest]

I have a recent personal experience to share regarding food and

behavior. has been doing so well in kindergarten and with

his NACD program, knows about 100 sight words, doesn't qualify for

speech or OT, and has had excellent behavior reports from school --

until this week. His teacher has said more than once that he is a

typical (boy) student, and that she would never have known about his

previous issues if I had not brought them to her attention. He even

got a special certificate for excellence the first week back from

Christmas break, because he transitioned back to school BETTER than

most!

Because we do not have lab tests confirming food allergies, my

husband has often thought that an infraction here and there is

harmless, especially since we use digestive enzymes. It is, however,

a slippery slope. First, it was dinner out for pizza once a month,

this month we went out every weekend. I also let him eat whatever he

wanted at the class Valentine's Day party. At the same time, Girl

Scout cookies and Valentine's Day candy entered the house in a big

way. (I am a Brownie leader.) Some have dairy, some don't, but all

have ARTIFICIALS. At first, we both thought we might be getting away

with something, then we received a note from his teacher. Here is an

excerpt:

" I am writing to let you know that over the past few weeks I have

noticed a significant change in 's behavior. Normally, I

would hardly ever need to speak to , but lately, I need to

speak with him up to 10 times a day. Some of the behavior I am

observing includes being very active, not sitting in his chair, and a

lack of following instructions. He truly seems unable to control

himself at times. I have observed kicking and jumping on

things (nap mats & backpacks.) "

As described by his teacher in this note and the follow-up

conversation, he has turned into ADHD kid practically overnight! In

addition to what she described, we have noticed the following at home:

--He is having increased difficulty paying attention during program

work. (e.g. After doing his new set of sight words for a whole

week, I checked to see how many he knew. Normally, he knows about 75%

+ after one week. He knew 0%!)

--His handwriting has been inconsistently terrible. Occasionally, he

can write a single word neatly, but mostly it's sloppy. Drawing

skills have been less detailed.

--Lots of crying over nothing.

--Uncooperative across the board.

--Spitting at his sister.

--Sour mood, even when he should be happy. (e.g. no veggies at

dinner, playing with favorite toys, I said " yes " to something like

watching TV)

--Softer BM's and also touching his private areas occasionally. (The

latter is totally new.)

During this time period, he has not been sick, changed sleep habits,

added or subtracted any supplements, or had any major life changes of

any kind.

Unfortunately, because of the nature of the infractions, the

detective work is a bit more complicated than normal. It could be

the dairy infraction (always a favorite target here), but I have two

other possibilities as well. His enzymes work on dairy, but they do

not work on artificals, so given the sharp turn in his behavior that

could be the real culprit. Other than the cookies, eats a

100% artifical-free diet with almost no MSG or HFCS (except the

occasional restaurant meal, which may be tainted with any of those

things.)

Another possibility is that it could be a yeast problem due to the

sugar in the cookies. While dairy can feed yeast, none of the

infractions were a full-blown milk item like straight milk or yogurt.

It could also be a little of all three.

Either way, my husband is now on board with the no dairy, no

artificials components, and we were already on a restaurant ban due

to the naughtiness on our last visit. (Tyler in particular.)

This is just one personal experience and not generally applicable.

However, it does point to the effect diet can have on behavior and

also to the difficult in nailing down the culprit, even when there

haven't been other major changes going on.

For anyone considering dietary changes to improve their children's

skills or behavior, eliminating artifical colors, flavors, sweetners,

and preservatives should absolutely be the first step. It is by far

the easiest dietary intervention, and you may see complete success

without eliminating any typically-allergenic foods. Check out the

Feingold program website for a lot more informationon this topic.

(We eliminated artificals back when he was in preschool, and it took

us far, but not the whole way. We still needed to get rid of the

dairy.) Eliminating MSG and HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) should

also be strongly considered.

in NJ

> > >

> > > Dawn,

> > >

> > > You have a very bright and wonderful child. I wish you great

> > success in

> > > finding whatever she needs to help the world see the smart and

> > ingenius

> > > little girl you have always known her to be.

> > >

> > > For what it is worth, a lot of my reading seems to point to

> > metabolic

> > > and allergy as a factor in spotty and inconsistent performance.

> If

> > you

> > > need help looking or the list of docs I am considering talking

to

> > in

> > > this area to rule things in or out for my guy please feel free

to

> > email

> > > me on or offlist.

> > >

> > > Best Wishes!

> > > Liz

> > >

> >

>