Anyone done a GFCF diet with their child
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| Thu, 08-10-2006 - 7:43pm |
Hi all.
I posted an intro yesterday but now I can't find it. Maybe because I goofed and posted it on 2 boards?
Anyway, I have a 6yo DS with AS/ADHD. His ped is concerned about his weight and nutritional intake as he has only gained 2 pounds in the last 13 months. I'm picking up an order tomorrow to have him (and his 2 yo sister) tested for Celiac disease. I've heard stories of parents with kids on the spectrum doing GFCF diets with their kids and it helping behaviors. Has anyone here tried that? How hard is it to go gluten free? With bread and pasta being staples in our home (dh's family is italian), I'm worried about having to change what and how we eat. Of course, I'm jumping the gun a little bit here since I haven't had the kids tested yet. IF it comes back positive, how hard is it to do? Does it really help with behaviors?
Jenni, mom to munchkin Christopher and princess Kimberleigh

We recently removed milk from our kids diets. We eat some GFCF foods but we haven't gone all the way with it. What we have done so far has been easy. We use Vance's DariFree milk substitue and we all like it a lot. We try to buy GFCF cereals and the kids seem to like them. We use kinninnick waffles mix which we think are better than reg. waffles. We also think GFCF peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies are also better than regular. Dd and I really like GFCF Breads From Anna bread mix. Ds didn't like them as much but if he had no other choice I think he'd be ok with it. We haven't tried any GFCF pasta's yet. We also use digestive enzymes to cover the stuff we haven't given up. You may want to look into them. A great place to start is www.enzymestuff.com We have found the enzymes to really help my ds to be healthier. Taking away cow's milk really improved his skin. We haven't noticed any change in behavior but it wasn't a problem for us anyway. There are two families in my local support group who are fully GFCF and swear by it.
You may also want to consider food allergy testing http://nbnus.com/testkits/product_info.php?products_id=24&osCsid=a598d094d3d1299ea6d8410b91660b91
Samantha
We have done diet changes but not full GF/CF (I have the same problem as you. Loads of italian cooking here of all kinds as DH is italian. We will have to exchange recipes). And we haven't had a compelling reason to go full GF. We have done sugar free and it wasn't as hard as I thought but sometimes it is still impossible. It is very hard to convince kids going to a birthday party not to have cake KWIM? So we allow some now and again for those kinds of things. Been way too lax lately and have to get back on the wagon. it is still limited but those rare instances are getting too frequent for me.
Have you considered digestive enzymes? That is supposed to help for those who have some troubles. I doubt it would work for a full celiac kind of problem but it can help if it isn't that. It might be a way you want to go first. We have had alot of luck with those.
Oh, and welcome,
Renee