Regimens: Restrictive Diets May Not Be Appropriate for Children With Autism

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  Sherri said,

  I thought I would chime in here. Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I put my son on the GFCF(gluten and casein free) soy, egg, and corn free diet. We just started it back in May. I put my son Gannon on it due to medical recommendation(his reg ped not a DAN dr). My son has had severe allergies(both me and the hubby have allergies) and asthma since 14 months old. My son was not able to digest my breast milk as a newborn/infant he had to have the broken down..expensive stuff. Anywho….we have had a great success with the diet! My son’s asthma is MUCH better, we don’t have awful diaper rashes(which used to be daily) we don’t have constant ear/sinus infections any longer, not near as much gas and stomach discomfort. The biggest for us is the sleeping! Before the diet, my son would wake up at 3-4am every single night. We could never get him back to sleep…up for good. It was awful. Now that my son is on a restricted diet, he is able to sleep a full 8 hrs! My son has NEVER slept that long at a time(before the diet). My son does have celiacs disease but his biggest allergies(we did the blood tests and skin) were severe to soy and corn, minor to dairy, casein, egg whites, chicken, and eggs. We removed everything at once. My son didn’t really go thru withdraws persay. As a bonus, his “stemming” has decreased. My son is almost 5 yrs old. Non verbal. Has mild autism. And is amazing:D
  Sherri´s last blog ..AThousandWordThursday

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  admin Reply:
  July 31st, 2009 at 7:23 am

  Sherri I am so glad that you shared this with me. I have heard a lot of people that raise autistic kids do this type of diet. I never did bother to ask them if they had problems with digestion or anything in that matter. So after I read this it really had me wondering. I am really glad to hear that this has helped in many ways. Thank you so much.

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  Annette Piper said,

  Providing the children get sufficient fibre from grains not containing gluten (and more fibre from veggies) I would think it would actually be a healthier diet!
  Annette Piper´s last blog ..Clothes Lines and Artisan Markets

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  admin Reply:
  July 31st, 2009 at 7:27 am

  Thanks Annette! I don’t know much about gluten free. So I am going to have to dig a little deeper and see more what it is all about.

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  Annette Piper said,

  Providing the children get sufficient fibre from grains not containing gluten (and more fibre from veggies) I would think it would actually be a healthier diet!
  Annette Piper´s last blog ..Clothes Lines and Artisan Markets
  Sorry, forgot to add great post! Can’t wait to see your next post!

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  Sherri said,

  Another thing is skin…I can’t believe I forgot to tell you. My son has had exzema since he was 18 months…these little tiny bumps all over his skin…kinda like sandpaper, but not rough if that makes sense. At the 3 week(into the diet) mark we noticed his skin was clearing up! I mean seriously for 3 yrs we have been dealing with what is called “nutmeg skin”! All because of allergies. Now I will say, here in KS there is alot of houpla surrounding the diet and wasting money. We are only doing 3 supplements that I buy(in allergy free gummy form). My son hasn’t gotten used to his new “milk” aka ALmond milk, so we drinks water and juice. So we give him calcium, a multivitamin, and Omega 3’s because I can’t stomach cooking fish . I also took my 2 yr old daughter off all dairy/casein(beyond severe constipation) she can actually poop without screaming, her tummy isn’t always distended, and is much happier! Her hair ironically has taken off growing, and I have also noticed her nails are much firmer. She LOVES the almond milk. I will say that I do NOT believe the diet “works” on curing autism my any means. But I do feel for children/adults who are sensative and have true allegies…it does work! I remember back in 2004, I was told NO child could be allergic to mother’s milk. So I get nursing my son, and within 5 min of stopping…he would pass out! Turn blue and everything…after multiple trips to the ER they said I needed to stop immediatly. We found out as soon as my milk proteins hit his system…it went into anaphlatic shock. So we did try the diet when Jenny McCarthy started rambling on about curing her son. But my child ended up in the ER again! Well, that was not the diets fault, but ours. We have NO clue Gannon was allergic to soy! So after giving him soy milk….NOT good. But now, that we are much more informed and have had medical DRS helps, it makes it much easier! We see the reg ped. and a dietian and allergies/asthma to make sure everything is in check! When I mess up and not read the label correctly now, my son’s skin flairs up big time from head to toe! Our biggest problem is soy and corn. We had to remove those, and when it gets down to it…everything has either soy or corn! So we decided to just to the whole “autism diet” deal and go everything free
  Sherri´s last blog ..AThousandWordThursday

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  admin Reply:
  July 31st, 2009 at 9:52 am

  I understand what your saying that you know it’s not curing the autism it’s just making life easier. If that’s the correct way to put it. LOL I know what I want to say I just can’t put it into words. Wow that must have been scary having to take him to the ER like that. Any trip to the ER is scary. I am glad you shared this as I learned lots of new things today. It’s nice to hear what has helped others and what they went through. Dakota has a lot of issues all into one. Right now it’s a matter of figuring out where it’s all coming from. How old is your son?

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  Miriam said,

  My son with Aspergers is on a restrictive diet. Wow what a difference! We took him off gluten and most dairy (except the parmesian cheese on GF pizza and spaghetti!). He was able to have bowel movements in the toilet for the first time at 8 years old. His falling apart lessened. Now he rarely falls apart and it is usually under odd circumstances. No, he’s not cured. He still has his Asperger oddities, but his life and ours is a lot better. We had him tested with bio feedback and found he was intollerant of gluten, dairy, but not eggs. We are on a specific carb diet and that took us a step further! I wondered if I would damage him by taking out wheat. I look back on that thought and am laughing as I write this. It did such aweful things to him. You won’t know how your child will respond until you try it. If it’s not working the way you thought it should, there may be hidden gluten your child is consuming ( like in twizlers and meds) or your child may have other food intolerances that are keeping him/her from thriving. It’s a journey. Feel free to check me out on twitter. I’m trying to put helpful tidbits on there. twitter.com/miriambolton
  I’m cheering for you all the way!
  Miriam´s last blog ..miriambolton: Come watch videos and live shows on Ustream.Tv http://www.ustream.tv!

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  admin Reply:
  July 31st, 2009 at 8:33 pm

  Hi Miriam. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. After reading the article and hear from parents who actually have done this it makes one wonder where they get their information from. I have heard many parents say with this diet things have gotten better. Again thank you!

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  Sherri said,

  Sorry to just get back with you. My son Gannon is 4 yrs old but will turn 5 in December. He doesn’t talk at all, 100% non verbal, but has been making new sounds and trying out his voice since on the diet. Its like they finally are able to come out of the “foggy-ness” that the gluten causes in the brain. We are doing all kinds of therapy, he goes to a structured autism room at our public school system, we are also on our states Autism waiver which allows us all kinds of help(not with the diet or anything like that) but he does also get free medical insurance-medicaid because of the State program he is in he has to have their insurance. So we have someone come into our home and work with Gannon 20 hrs a week, he goes to school 15 hrs a week, and also gets Speech, PT, and OT. We use PECS mainly but he also knows a handfull of signs too. Looking back at Gannon’s abilites this time last year…he has came a LONG way
  Sherri´s last blog ..Moments with Impact-"pre"

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  admin Reply:
  August 1st, 2009 at 11:07 pm

  We have a state waiver program here too. There are not to many states that have waiver programs for autism. So we are pretty lucky. I am so happy to hear he has come along way. It’s always great to hear the positive. I think it’s fantastic he uses his voice too!

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  admin Reply:
  August 1st, 2009 at 11:07 pm

  I meant I think it’s fantastic he is trying even if it’s new sounds. It’s still fantastic.

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