It's been a while since I have last posted about the kids. So many of you know that Conner aka Stink or Crazy Conner has some issues with not listening or following directions (hence the nick names). So about two weeks ago I was talking to a mom about how he acts and his attitude so on and so fourth, she began to tell me about her daughter and surprising they are very similar in actions - ie, can't sit still, throws tantrums at the drop of a hat...... she started to tell me about how her little one has food allergies and that once she got her tested and removed the foods from her diet she was a different kid almost over night. Well later that day Conner took it to the extreme of throwing a tantrum at the Y (yes Russ works their part time so it was a little embarrassing) for a good 45mins. I finally get him to calm down enough to go back in side just in time to find Russ walking out the front door, Conner's basketball game was over. We get to the car and I just lose it, I was at my breaking point with C that I told Russ if we didn't do something the kids was going to end up on Ritalin (most kids who are add/adhd are on) and then I remembered this mom telling me about her daughter and how they removed certain foods out of her diet and how drastically she changed. So the rest of the weekend I did a ton of research on the Elimination Diet, and come to find out most kids who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD don't really have it they just have food allergies. Russ and I are the type of people who do not want to put our kids on drugs, so after doing my research and lots of pray I decided to try this diet out.
I'm not kidding you when I tell you I thought Conner was going to have a heart attack when I told him for one week he couldn't have certain foods (milk & cereal), but much to my amazement he did really well. I prepared him for this diet and make it kind of fun for him. We went shopping on the first day just for "Conner's diet food" he thought that was the coolest thing on the planet that he was able to have just his own little pile of food and that he didn't have to share with anyone.
The first week we eliminated a lot of his staple foods, milk, cheese, bread and cereal and introduced a lot of new things in to his diet. With in 24hrs I saw an improvement, he was calmer, listen to me when asked on the first try just in general a totally different child. I had prayed really hard and long the days leading up to this change asking God to show me and help me guide my child thru this new change in his life, and he did. I even noticed a change in my behavior towards Conner, I wasn't frustrated with him all the time and we actually enjoyed hanging out during the day. The first week breezed by with no real issues other than reminding him that he couldn't have certain foods and he was fine with that. The start of the second week was here and on this week you start to reintroduce the old foods back to see how they react to them. The first day was Dairy day, well let's just say we had our old crazy out of control child back with in 10mins of having a glass of milk. Well I let him have a couple more glasses and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and by the time his dad got home I was on the verge of losing my mind, right then I knew he couldn't have dairy anymore - he hasn't had any dairy since then. Everything else that we have reintroduced back into his diet is fine and have had no issues other than with the diary, thank you God for giving us the blessing of the dairy allergy and not the gluten allergy - really thank you.
Now I have a normal (in my sense of normal) 4yr old, he is much happier and sleeps so much better. Granted we do have our days when he does act out and wants what he wants when he wants it but other than that he is a changed child.
I am so glad that I talked to that mom that day and went home and did so much research before taking my child to be put on medication. I know for Russ and I medicating one of our children would be the last option for them and I am glad that I did the research instead of just submitting to how society would handle it.
4 comments:
What an answer to prayers!
Good for you on choosing an alternative to psychotropic drugs! A good source for even MORE information on this kind of stuff is www.diannecraft.org. I've listened to The Biology of Behavior and have a cheat sheet of how the program works on a weekly basis. All we've done for our little guy is introduce probiotics and from time to time, put grapefruit seed extract in something he's eating, like applesauce. Keep up the good work and research! ~Genny - a fellow TTT contributor
Way to go! I SO believe that food is key to so many many things. A good book to check out is Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food." Nothing to do with add/adha, but lots to do with food and what true nutrition is.
What a huge success for your son and your family! Woohoo! I'm happy for you!
Hey Crystal, yesterday I read an article that talked about how the mother would allow her children to eat sweeta and what have you when they wanted to, her only rule was for the kids to pay attention to how the sweets made her body feel. It made me think of you and your situation as Connor gets older.
I don't know if he'll be in school or sports or church, but those groups usually end up having things like ice cream socials for kids. It would be such a bummer for him to miss out on those things as he gets older, but I thought about how cool of a teaching tool it would be to say, "sure, have some ice cream, but please think about how it makes your body feel." In the future he can then decide if the feeling is worth it or not.
Of course, this is for an older kiddo. But I thought it was a cool concept, and I guess your blog was still on my mind, so I wanted to share. :)
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