Does the food autistic kids eat affect them in any way?
I have always wondered if the food my son eats affects any of his behaviors. I have also wondered if I altered his diet in any way if I would see improvements.
Well today I would like to talk about my friend Sherri’s experience with her autistic son and the results she has seen. Now please note that there is no cure for autism. There are things we can do to make life a little more easier.
Meet Sherri.
Sherri’s son has mild autism, celiac disease,asthma, severe allergies to corn, eggs, chicken, dairy, and soy. She was instructed to put her son on a Gluten Free and Casein Free diet.
Since the diet change she has noticed that he sleeps through the night, which is not something her son use to do. He had no more awful diaper rashes. He didn’t suffer from constant ear and sinus infections. Her son doesn’t have much gas and stomach discomfort any more. Stimming has decreased.
In case your wondering what stimming is I will give you a couple examples. Stimming can be some strange finger mannerisms, rocking back and forth, pacing, and etc.
Another Mother of a son with Aspergers.
My other friend Miriam has a son with Aspergers. He was also put on a Gluten Free and Dairy Free diet. He suffered constipation and after the diet change that lessend greatly. His falling apart was few and far between and only seemed to happen during odd times.
My Thoughts
Please don’t think that by mention a Gluten Free, Casein Free or Dairy Free diet will cure autism. It is NOT a cure. It just makes things a little more easy to deal with. By no means am I recommending this as I am not a doctor.
I find the feed back from both mothers’ very interesting. I have read articles that don’t speak very highly of these diets and claim they don’t work. Makes you wonder if they actually really know what they are testing for and if they have tested and interviewed the right people.
I also think that parents are a much better judge of character when it comes down to our kids. We don’t know what works or what doesn’t if we don’t try it.
Stay tuned for my up coming post on this mini series this week. It is a 4 part series into Autistic kids and food. For Part 2 I will talk about the findings that agree with the food interferences.
6 Responses to “Autistic Kids and Food: Does Food Affect Kids, Really?”
leighcopin
11 months ago
Good info here. I am forwarding it to a friend who's son has autism.
Thanks, Stacie
MKlosterman
11 months ago
Stacie,
Thank you for the different views from both moms. It looks like everything is on a case-by-case basis when it comes to how a certain diet affects each child.
Mimi
Stacie
11 months ago
You are very welcome. I was very curious on this topic and I am glad that someone brought it up to research it. Gives me a lot to think about when it comes down to my autistic son.
a49erfangirl
11 months ago
You are right Mimi. It's also nice to hear that others tried it and their results.
Janine
6 months ago
Without a doubt the GF/CF diet helped my autistic son. Within a few days of him going oin that diet, his red cheeks and red ears went away. Then he slept through the night. After a little more time his big belly went away. After a few more weeks, I heard him say his first word (teeth) after months of being completely silent.
I have no doubt that it helped my son.
Janine
6 months ago
I also want to say that I think when people don't have good results with the diet, they are not strict enough with it. You can't give the child ANYTHING with even traces of wheat or milk in it. It's very time consuming to read all the labels and expensive, so I think a lot of people just give up.