Here's the story and where we are now...
We spent about two weeks going gluten and casein free, cold turkey. The first few days went pretty well. He didn't want hardly any of the bread products we offered him, but I figured it'd take some adjusting.
By the end of the 2nd week, Noah was living off of potato chips. Granted, they were all natural and baked, but still. Not ideal. He would randomly eat an apple, but that was it.
He became very lethargic, refusing to do anything but lay on the couch. He slept a lot, and just didn't act like himself at all. I thought maybe it was just a bug, but he had no other symptoms. No fever, no upset tummy, no runny nose... nothing. After the fourth day of this, I was getting worried.
My mommy-brain panicked. He wasn't getting any nutrition at all, so I had to make a decision. Either I keep going and deprive his body of nutrients that he needs to develop correctly, or to slowly introduce wheat and dairy back into his diet and live with a few quirks, in hopes that he would be willing to eat other foods again.
I do believe in the brain-gut correlation. There was a difference in how he acted when he was off the gluten. His stimming decreased, and he was more engaged with us. The dairy doesn't seem to affect him as severely, if at all. However, I decided I wasn't willing to sacrifice his nutritional health so that he would appear more typical.
We introduced the gluten back into his diet very slowly, starting with a whole wheat PB&J sandwich. There really wasn't a drastic difference in his behavior.
What I did notice though was whenever he has a high-fat/high-sugar food, his symptoms get more severe. He has never had a problem digesting gluten or dairy products, although I still think it may affect him slightly. However, I think what really affects him (feel free to give me a big, resounding "DUH") is sugar and bad fats.
As of right now, he's still refusing to eat anything remotely healthy, which is really making me worry. The boy didn't poop for three days! I wouldn't care so much if I could get him to take some vitamins. But he doesn't like the texture of fruit snacks, so the gummy kind are out. And frankly, anything new that I introduce is met with a gross face. If I manage to get it in his mouth, he spits it back out. In a desperate attempt, I bought the liquid poly-vi-sol kind, but honestly, that stuff makes me gag just smelling it. Noah almost threw up when I gave it to him, and I don't blame him. It'd be so much easier if he'd just eat his fruits and veggies again, foods I know he loves! Remember the popsicles he was obsessed with? I considered it a success that he ate half of one the other day. The good news is that I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday who uses a liquid vitamin for her toddler that actually tastes good (and it's organic!). Totally going to check that out.
So yeah. That's where we are.
Any suggestions are welcome. :)
2 comments:
I was just about to suggest the poly-vi-sol just as I read it. That stuff STINKS. I gave it to Brinley almost everyday in a sippy of milk until she could take the gummy vitamins.
Does he like smoothies?? Whenever I make a smoothie for Brinley, I put a TON of spinach in it so that gives her lots of good vitamins for the day, but I mean, the smoothie doesn't LOOK tasty. Adding bananas and strawberries masks the flavor almost completely.
Would he drink pediasure? I know it is EXPENSIVE, but if he drank that every other day or something. My nephew who eats like a rabbit and ALWAYS fights food drinks pediasure sometimes just to balance his lack of real nutrients coming in.
What about juice? I know it's sugary but it has some nutritional value. Those V8 juices combine veggies and fruit and taste good.
Henry will eat fruit but won't touch a vegetable. He will bite on a carrot but spits it out. Drives me crazy.
They would eat fruit chews all day long if we let them but they are so bad for their teeth!!
Did you get my email about Melatonin drops at night? I'm convinced they work.
I really do think sugar is the evil here not gluten! I 100% agree with you on that.
Have you talked to your pediatrician about his diet? Was the doctor worried? I think kids can do OK on crappy diets. So many toddlers eat next to nothing of nutrition and turn out fine. :-)
Post a Comment