GFCF Diet ChallengesI did not experience anything like that with my son and i can see why you would be concern. I also never heard of anyone saying that their child began getting sick because of it. What exactly is he eating? When on the diet, what will he eat? Also, did you go cold turkey or are you slowly substituting ? I would take out casein first and after maybe a week of slowly taking out casein I would then start substituting and taking out gluten but again, slowly. And honestly if he is getting sick I would really not go cold turkey because he might be getting withdrawal symptoms. I would definitely go about it another way and not go cold turkey. I hope someone else can advise you better and good luck! [/QUOTE]THANK YOU for responding; he is on Applegate Farms GF Chicken Nuggets and Glutino GF Crackers and as far as juices he will drink organic pear juice and sometimes organic apple, he is EXTREMELY picky and eating or introducing different foods has always been a challenge....he is not on any dairy; when we were transitioning (when he was younger), into whole milk, he started projectile vomiting it out; so we did soy for several years but he has been off of that for a while....the Dan Doctor we were seeing had suggested since he is sooo picky and not at all able to coax him into eating new foods, to go cold turkey.....(otherwise what was happening was he would absolutely refuse to eat, period other than foods he was eating before the diet which consisted of, BK Chicken Nuggets, TGIF Cheese Sticks, Apple Jacks Cereal (dry), and v8 fruit fusion; I've had him on all kinds of feeding groups & therapies and they all tell me the same thing: "He is one tough nut to crack".....not your typical "picky eater"; more of the EXTREME.....trust me, I've tried it all.... Definitely go slowly if you can; going onto the diet too abruptly can cause withdrawals, which may be what you're seeing. We took out casein first and saw a lot of withdrawal from it - irritability, diarrhea, lethargy, low fever, etc. It wasn't as dramatic when we took out gluten, but I think we'd taken out a lot of it anyway when we dropped casein. If it's not withdrawal that you're seeing, he probably just has a virus; I can't imagine that changing the diet would cause anything serious that quickly. I have a really picky eater too. It has taken us over a year to go from a regular diet of only four foods to a GFCF of about 15 (only 6 meals really; the rest are snacks or drinks). I tried the whole think of putting the food in front of him, getting him to poke it, etc., but it doesn't work for DS. I just have to coax and bribe, and usually if he can get one bite down, the second bite isn't as bad. One of our saving graces has been the So Delicious coconut milk yogurt. You can mix all sorts of supplements and protein powders into it, and while it does have more sugar than I'd like, it gets it all down him. To get him drinking oconut milk and hemp milk, I actually put it in a syringe and would squirt tiny drops in his mouth to get him used to the taste, then gradually increased it until he was willing to take it through a straw. It's weird, but it worked for us! I know what you mean, my son is so picky. He will only eat about 8 things total. I was wondering, does he give you a hard time with liquids as well. I have started making smoothies for my son with coconut milk and sometimes almond milk, and I put different fruits and some (not that much) veggies. He loves them! I am slowly increasing the veggies I put in them but I have to be careful that they still taste good enough for the kid to drink. I make him french toast with gluten and casein free bread. I put almond milk, eggs, cinnamon, and a little vanilla extract and beat it together. Then I dip the bread in the mix and cook the bread until it is soft (I keep the bread refrigerated because it gets bad quickly if left out). He loves this too. I just wanted to give you a couple of suggestions that have worked with my ds. Also, is he eating or especially drinking something too much. Like does he only really drink the pear juice all day every day. Because the other thing I have noticed with my ds is that I can not give him the same juice all the time because he becomes intolerant to it. This usually makes him get small bumps on his back and tummy and he sleeps horribly. When I notice this I make sure to give him a different kind of juice for the next couple of days and then I reintroduce the problematic juice. I usually give him different things to drink all day so that he doesn't become intolerant to anything in particular. Eg. apple juice, pear juice, fruit punch, almond milk, coconut milk, ect. All of these throughout the day. Never any one of them twice in one day. Sometimes he doesn't drink too much all day and so he will not get pear juice or something else that day. Sorry so long, I began to ramble! lol I did not experience anything like that with my son and i can see why you would be concern. I also never heard of anyone saying that their child began getting sick because of it. What exactly is he eating? When on the diet, what will he eat? Also, did you go cold turkey or are you slowly substituting ? I would take out casein first and after maybe a week of slowly taking out casein I would then start substituting and taking out gluten but again, slowly. And honestly if he is getting sick I would really not go cold turkey because he might be getting withdrawal symptoms. I would definitely go about it another way and not go cold turkey. I hope someone else can advise you better and good luck! Hello, I'm a mother to a beautiful 5 y/o Autistic boy with sensory integration disorder, apraxia, gastrointestinal & feeding issues; he is EXTREMELY picky and this is our second attempt at the GFCF Diet.The first time was back in August and he started to develop Diarrhea, vomiting once a week, then finally stopped eating and was starting to lose weight. I was told he was close to being G-tube Fed; his regular pediatrician checked his blood for indication of celiac, was negative; his Dan Doctor was a bit stomped and so they both agreed it's better for him to eat (even if it's foods not on the diet), than get a G-tube for not eating and losing weight; so I had gotten him off the diet, and ofcourse everything stopped, (diarrhea/vomiting); he began to eat. I had him tested (IgG food sensitivity) and it came up that he was High sensitive for Orange and during the diet he was ingesting allot of OJ. So, we thought, lets try the diet again, minus the OJ. Here we are, day 9 on the GFCF Diet and he started the diarrhea 4-5x's a day yesterday and vomited once today, earlier. Tonight he has a fever; I'm ready to give up unless someone has undergone the same thing?? I can't seem to get an answers from either doctor...??? [QUOTE=lovec55] I know what you mean, my son is so picky. He will only eat about 8 things total. I was wondering, does he give you a hard time with liquids as well. I have started making smoothies for my son with coconut milk and sometimes almond milk, and I put different fruits and some (not that much) veggies. He loves them! I am slowly increasing the veggies I put in them but I have to be careful that they still taste good enough for the kid to drink. I make him french toast with gluten and casein free bread. I put almond milk, eggs, cinnamon, and a little vanilla extract and beat it together. Then I dip the bread in the mix and cook the bread until it is soft (I keep the bread refrigerated because it gets bad quickly if left out). He loves this too. I just wanted to give you a couple of suggestions that have worked with my ds. Also, is he eating or especially drinking something too much. Like does he only really drink the pear juice all day every day. Because the other thing I have noticed with my ds is that I can not give him the same juice all the time because he becomes intolerant to it. This usually makes him get small bumps on his back and tummy and he sleeps horribly. When I notice this I make sure to give him a different kind of juice for the next couple of days and then I reintroduce the problematic juice. I usually give him different things to drink all day so that he doesn't become intolerant to anything in particular. Eg. apple juice, pear juice, fruit punch, almond milk, coconut milk, ect. All of these throughout the day. Never any one of them twice in one day. Sometimes he doesn't drink too much all day and so he will not get pear juice or something else that day. Sorry so long, I began to ramble! lol [/QUOTE]Thanks for responding; and please ramble away, I love talking/corresponding with parents of children similar to mine that understand our struggles, so thank you. Justin is such a creature of habit; he gets into certain juices --then he only wants that juice; at times when he will drink it-- I change it up; he does tend to get picky with Juices, not all the time; when we are out, and for example at someones house, he doesn't fight me on what they have to offer if he likes it and only if it's in his own cup..... [QUOTE=onlinedizzy] Is he drinking LOTS of pear juice as this tends to have quite a bit of fibre? The other thing that occured to my daughter when she and her brother started on the diet years ago , we went casein free first was some of the sy milks actually gave her diarrhoea. It turned out they contained maltodextrin from wheat - which has gluten in it. I was unknowingly giving her extra gluten. Maybe it is present in something your not aware of. The vomiting is very concerning though and the fever. Could one of the foods you are feeding him be contaminated and he has gastro/food poisoning? Why did you restart the diet when the issues resolved on a"normal diet"? Were there any any improvements in behaviours, decrease in self harm, increase in concentration on the diet? My kids are on the diet because it eliminated chronic diarrhoea and increased concentration, reduced hyperactivity and eliminated self harming. But it doesn't work for every child with autism [/QUOTE]Thanks for responding: We restarted the diet, because for the month and a half that he was on it before we saw sooooo many wonderful improvements in his focus; less stemming, more calmness (able to sit on a sofa and watch TV as opposed to jumping up and down the entire time in front of the TV); we started hearing 2 worded sentences too....but once he got off of the diet; everything changed back to endless pacing, jumping in front of the TV, everyone noticed his focus went downhill fast; even his speech went steps backward, we were devasted. So we are really trying to find out if what he is going thru is healing or withdrawal or what?? I'm a nervous nelly mom and take caution with him....but I also don't want my caution to limit his progress.... The vomitting has occured only Monday; he belches allot too.....which tells me something is going on maybe with acid in his stomach? He hasn't had much diarrhea yesterday, but stained the diaper....yes he still uses diapers mainly for his irregular bowel movements; he will not go on the potty for BM's...he does this dramatic thing of fear and anxiety; I have to try and get him to eat other things, I've tried so many things in the past that maybe it's time to re-introduce some of the tricks/methods to see if maybe now they might work...I don't know.... Thanks again for all of the responses...appreciate it If curious, I have a website with videos of Justin since we have been dependant on fundraising/donations for all of the biomedical stuff...I invite you to visit if you would like to see Justin in action....lol http://justinsrecoverywish.blogspot.com/ [QUOTE=Janie] Definitely go slowly if you can; going onto the diet too abruptly can cause withdrawals, which may be what you're seeing. We took out casein first and saw a lot of withdrawal from it - irritability, diarrhea, lethargy, low fever, etc. It wasn't as dramatic when we took out gluten, but I think we'd taken out a lot of it anyway when we dropped casein. If it's not withdrawal that you're seeing, he probably just has a virus; I can't imagine that changing the diet would cause anything serious that quickly. I have a really picky eater too. It has taken us over a year to go from a regular diet of only four foods to a GFCF of about 15 (only 6 meals really; the rest are snacks or drinks). I tried the whole think of putting the food in front of him, getting him to poke it, etc., but it doesn't work for DS. I just have to coax and bribe, and usually if he can get one bite down, the second bite isn't as bad. One of our saving graces has been the So Delicious coconut milk yogurt. You can mix all sorts of supplements and protein powders into it, and while it does have more sugar than I'd like, it gets it all down him. To get him drinking oconut milk and hemp milk, I actually put it in a syringe and would squirt tiny drops in his mouth to get him used to the taste, then gradually increased it until he was willing to take it through a straw. It's weird, but it worked for us! [/QUOTE]Thank you for responding; I am going to try a new approach with the "coax/bribe" ...I tried it in the past and he wasn't having it; but I haven't for a while; thanks... Coconut milk; tried it before he wasn't having it; I need to figure out tricks or things other than what I'm trying to get him to eat more; the last couple of days he hasn't really been eating, and where he wasn't drinking, now he is..... Recap: Sunday 11/22 started diarrhea Monday, vomited once...started not eating much, nibble here & there of cracker (monday night fever...) Tues. Drinking more but still just nibbling; no more fever, no more vomiting (Thank God!) Wed. This morning, so far not eating much, but is drinking... Anyone know how long the healing and/or withdrawal symptoms might last? Is he drinking LOTS of pear juice as this tends to have quite a bit of fibre? The other thing that occured to my daughter when she and her brother started on the diet years ago , we went casein free first was some of the sy milks actually gave her diarrhoea. It turned out they contained maltodextrin from wheat - which has gluten in it. I was unknowingly giving her extra gluten. Maybe it is present in something your not aware of. The vomiting is very concerning though and the fever. Could one of the foods you are feeding him be contaminated and he has gastro/food poisoning? Why did you restart the diet when the issues resolved on a"normal diet"? Were there any any improvements in behaviours, decrease in self harm, increase in concentration on the diet? My kids are on the diet because it eliminated chronic diarrhoea and increased concentration, reduced hyperactivity and eliminated self harming. But it doesn't work for every child with autism |
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