GF/CF Diet for Child with ASD

[mumtojoshandsam]

My 3yo has just been diagnosed with ASD and I am looking for any help to improve him. He is only mild but doesn't talk and am hoping their will be something out there that will help improve him. I understand their is no cure for ASD but anything will help right?

I have heard that Gluten Free and Casein Free diets can help children with ASD behaviorally and in other ways. Could I get some stories from people who have tried this and have seen an improvement in their child/ren with ASD please?

Rachael

[MyFourCubs]

Hi :) My 2 and a half year old was diagnosed with ASD in Feb. He is allergic to dairy / soy but I have had him off wheat also for about 6 months. It is one of those things, it is very difficult to know whether it is helping or not. I introduce wheat every now and then and inevitably he ends up having some very hideous days but truthfully, he has hideous days when he is off the wheat so who knows? One thing that definately makes a difference with Alex is artificial colours, flavours preservatives. No doubt at all.
Alex is also having OT, speech therapy and he sees an osteopath for cranial therapy- We have seen definate improvement with this and every time we slack off he gets worse so we notice the difference.
If you need any other help or advice, please feel free to PM me. I did a lot of research after Alex was dx.
Sara:)

[mum2peanut]

My sister tried with with my niece for a little while, and she didn't notice an improvement. Her paed has worked with a few ASD specialists and didn't think it made any difference. It's so hard to stick to, and going out for a meal is impossible. But she wanted to at least say she'd given it a go. DN has play therapy, ASD preschool, and will be starting speech soon, the first two have already shown huge improvement.
Happy to share her story with you, PM me. DN turned 3 in March, and was diagnosed about 6 months ago.

[mumtojoshandsam]

One thing that definately makes a difference with Alex is artificial colours, flavours preservatives. No doubt at all.
Alex is also having OT, speech therapy and he sees an osteopath for cranial therapy- We have seen definate improvement with this and every time we slack off he gets worse so we notice the difference.

Might just stick to the preservative free diet. Which brings me to my next question (which I will list in a seperate topic) about bread mix or make bread from scratch.

Josh is not yet having OT but he is having ST and then when she feels we cant go any further she will get Josh into OT and he also goes to a playgroup run for children with special needs. what does the cranial therapy do?

Thanks for your help.

Rachael

[MamaRabbit]

Hi, this link may help with some initial info and diet plans. I think it is like anything - it's not a miracle cure but if it provides even the smallest improvement it will have been worth it. My son has various disabilities and at one point we were dealing with some behaviour issues, I changed his diet and we have seen huge improvements. Granted some ingredients still sneak in as I am kind of "winging it" until we see a dietician but after having eliminated the key ingredients such as milk, yoghurt, breakfast cereals with wheat and gluten etc. we have seen great results.

http://mindd.org/serendipity/uploads/pdf/GFCFSampleWeeklyMenu.pdf

[MyFourCubs]

Might just stick to the preservative free diet. Which brings me to my next question (which I will list in a seperate topic) about bread mix or make bread from scratch.

Josh is not yet having OT but he is having ST and then when she feels we cant go any further she will get Josh into OT and he also goes to a playgroup run for children with special needs. what does the cranial therapy do?

Rachael

Alex has bread made from scratch- Orgran brand. When I get desperate he has gluten free bread from freezer section in supermarket. Problem is it's hard bread and can only really be toasted so he eats a lot of corn cruskits, corn thins etc. With the diet, I think it's too hard to cut everything out at once. I started with preservatives, colours, flavours etc. If you cut out things progressively you also get more of an idea which things are problems and which aren't. Other option is to cut out evrything, go very minimal and slowly reintroduce to see which things are problems, eg. dairy, wheat etc. That can be a huge shock to the system though so maybe a gentler approach would be best, (and not such a huge shock to you either because it's so hard shopping and cooking wise!!)

Cranial therapy is basically about making sure everything in the brain, spine etc is aligned and working properly. Our osteopath says Alex has auditory processing problem so I know the cranial stuff works on that. (Everyone says he has a major auditory processing problem!)

He also goes to early intervention playgroup which is great:)
Sara

[mumtolach]

Hi,

Just new to the bub hub. I have a DS who is 4 and was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2 1/2. We had heard about the GF/CF Diet and thought we would give it a go. We eliminated both at the same time - we saw a great improvement. We found that Gluten makes him hypo and his behaviour is uncontrolable and with dairy he is really spaced out. I know that it does not make a difference to all children but I think it is worth a go - I heard that try something for 3 months and if you see no change that it is not working for your child.

Cheers Jo.:flowerz:

[elissas]

I recommend trying it.

About a month ago we removed wheat from DS' diet and reduced his gluten intake to oatmeal only.

Within 24 hours of doing this he put 3 words together in a mini sentence and had stopped squealing. It's like a cloud lifted from his head. He also started responding to his name being called, when before I couldn't get his attention 80% of the time. He became a lot more responsive and a lot more relaxed.

His language is improving daily, and the high pitched squealing and noises have stopped.

Last week we did have an incident where I bought a new bread from our local bakehouse (that specialises in gluten free). But the girl who served me sold me a loaf that was wheat free but not gluten free, but she said it was gluten free.

Anyway, after 48 hrs the squealing returned. The next day the blood curdling screams as he went into angry fits. The cloud returned to his head and his motor skills dropped, and sleeping went downhill. We're just getting out of the tail end of it now. He stopped squealing today and his head is clearer.

I haven't tried removing dairy yet, but have reduced it. I am planning to remove cow's milk in the next month or so, but we use A2 milk, which does help somewhat anyway.

Just a word of warning - I'm not sure if others have experienced this, but in the first 10-14 days after cutting out wheat, DS was pooing and vomiting chunks of yeast. Our GP said this certainly can happen and is a sign of intolerance and of excess candida in the body, so I'm glad it's all out!

As long as you are still providing from the grains/cereals food group, then all is well. We use gluten free organic porridge for brekky now, mixed with home made yoghurt or cooked apples.

To be honest, everyone said it's hard, but I don't find it hard all that much. DS has been on the Failsafe additive free diet since he was 16mths anyway, so I'm used to taking his food everywhere and he's used to not taking food from anyone except from me or DH.

Failsafe could help you a lot. There are lots of hidden additives and it's a minefield to navigate.

The worst additive for DS by far is synthetic antioxidants, used in a lot of vegetable oils, and hence in A LOT of products (but manufacturers don't need to list the antioxidants in the oil unless the oil comprises more than 5% of the total product).

Check out www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info for more information. You can spend days on this site and still find info you didn't find before!

[elissas]

Also, just a word of warning re Orgran products. About last September (2007) they changed suppliers of their vegetable oil used in baked products. All products manufactured before this date contain synthetic antioxidants.

All products manufactured after this date are Failsafe (ie. antioxidant free).

The average turnaround time from factory to supermarket shelf is 12mths, so I now have to wait till next September (at least) to guarantee that their products won't contain antioxidants.

I learnt the hard way - after a few Outback Animals biscuits a day for 2-3 days, I had the devil child returned in my DS. He threw his body around in extreme tantrums, I had to pin him down a few times so he wouldn't hurt himself :(

So now I'm just waiting waiting waiting... Doing a lot of baking in the meantime (hehe, I'll probably keep baking now anyway instead of buying them, even when they do become safe).