The most recommended diet is a casein and gluten free diet. Casein is a protein in milk that is said to be hard for some to digest. I had switched cows milk for almond and rice milk about 2 months before she was assessed because I was wondering if she was lactose intolerant and had gastrointestinal discomfort. So my suspicions were close to correct.
This left us with eliminating gluten.
I made the goal up in my mind to stick to 4 weeks. Also, if Vivian was doing this we were ALL doing it. I talked to Nick and he was on board. So I began to research gluten free living, and why some say this diet helps kids like Vivian.
The first thing I came upon was...Da da DAAA! Web MD.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/gluten-free-casein-free-diets-for-autism
In this report they say that all this is not scientifically proven. I use the term "they" quite a bit and I don't actually know who "they" are. I don't know if I trust "them". I don't know if I care.
According to many testimonials this diet was worth a shot, really whats the worst that could happen? We eat a bit healthier?? We feel the same? We feel better?
OR we see a change in Vivian? Worth it in my book.
One concern was bread. Vivian loved having toast in the morning. Cereal also was scary, but I was told Chex (rice and corn) as well as Rice Krisipies are naturally gluten free so that was nice. I was worried about pasta. I saw a women blogging about how she changed her expensive gluten free pasta to the oriental rice noodles and her kids didn't even notice. I also just decided we would buy giant bags of brown rice and use it in place of pasta. It has been great.
Now, the thought I put into my habitual store runs was put into tailspin. We are all creatures of habit. When we find something we like we form habits. I had formed a habit of buying crackers, crackers, and more crackers. Goldfish, Club crackers, Graham crackers, saltines, I was a one woman cracker house! I also bought the bags of honey nut wannabe Cheerios and cocoa puffs. We did eat rolled oats a lot, but I was giving my kids so many forms of gluten it was scary to start throwing it out.
I have to say it is more expensive to buy gluten free, but it doesn't have to be that drastic. Especially at first, my kids were excited to see NEW snacks. I bought rice cakes in 3 different flavors. I bought dried sugared mango, pineapple, and papya. I switched the crackers for Nature Valley honey oat crunchy granola bars naturally gluten free. I bought salted sunflower seeds and young pumpkin seeds and cashews. We had Oatmeal (with brown sugar) or chex every morning with rice milk and a splash of coconut milk. A spoon full of peanut butter has been one of Vivians favorite snacks, and I look at EVERY label I buy now for the "MAY CONTAIN: WHEAT or GLUTEN / BARLEY or RYE" I don't care so much if it may contain milk, but I avoid it if I can.
I made a protein, a veggie and rice for every meal for almost 2 weeks or I would buy a whole roasted chicken and remove the breasts for lunch time, and boil down the rest into a broth for soup. This broth was something I read about from Dr.Natasha Campbell-McBride Who invented to G.A.P.S. diet. I read a lot about this diet and I read even her criticisms. I found it to be very interesting, but do not feel I wanted to take Vivians diet that far at this point.
http://www.gapsdiet.com/
This Dr. describes her research showing connections directly from the neurology of the brain to the gut.
It makes sense in the way if you drink alcohol or take a substance that alters your brain activity, it disrupts your speech and cognitive thinking, also your motor skills. It supposes that certain foods, including gluten have an effect in the gut that causes the brain to react as if it is dealing with an opiate. It causes the brain to go into a disrupted neurological state. She encourages within her specific diet that natural beef and chicken bone broth is essential to help "heal" the gut and help the mind balance with the gut again. According to her and many testimonials you can, after a period, reintroduce foods, including gluten back into the diet once the gut lining is healed.
So I just took to the broth part because they do have many great nutrients, and even gelatin the body needs.
After the first 3 days gluten free, Vivi slept through the night, then the next night (ok this has happened before) then the next night. She hadn't had a melt down or even a regular tantrum either.... then the next night she slept all night. After Vivian slept 7 consecutive days in a row for the FIRST TIME in 3 years I was flabbergasted. I felt like I was sleeping on borrowed time, and I would soon be back in reality. I couldn't believe it, but she kept sleeping through the night over and over. She had also not had a melt down for the whole first 2 weeks.
Then she did something I couldn't believe. Someone in a store asked if her and Patsey were twins, which has been common lately since Patsey is petite and Vivian is over average, and I said no. They then asked them each their names and Patsey introduced herself shyly, " I'm Pastey." and then Vivian like she had done it a million times before said "I Vivian!" I almost peed my pants. She had never said her name before, she had never interacted with someone socially like that before and she was 3 yrs old.
The next big change was when her and Patsey stared fighting over a toy. She had already stopped the complete melt downs over something like this. Patsey had even learned to try to avoid Vivian most the day for fear of being attacked or screamed at. We had been fully gluten free for about 3 weeks. Vivian kicked Patsey and as we had done so many times we scolded her and said "No Vivi, that wasn't nice." We were currently working to teach Vivian to say "sorry", and hug after she hurt someone, there was a motion she would go through but it was clear there was not a "connection" as to what it meant. After she kicked Patsey, and we scolded her, she turned to Nick and I, lowered her head, shirked her shoulders and started to cry. She then turned to Patsey and hugged her and said "Sowwy" and it was so clear she was showing guilt. She was not crying because we scolded her, it was like for the first time she realized she had hurt Patsey and felt bad about it. Nick and I both just watched in awe.
It has been 2 months since we went Gluten free. Vivian has been going to preschool 4 days a week and coming home giddy and happy everyday. She comes home with more and more vocabulary every time. She is asking real questions and reasoning answers. She interacts with her sisters in a way we've never seen. She is interacting with Nick and I in a way we've never seen. I know that this preschool is helping her, but they are not the ones teaching her to sleep through the night, she started that before she started preschool, on her 3rd day gluten and casein free. They are not teaching her guilt or remorse, her brain is connecting things that children usually start to understand around 18 months, and I have watched her do what seems like a years worth of development within 2 months. I have watched her gain the ability to calm herself and self soothe for the first time in 3 years. This is something babies start doing within weeks of being born.
WE are ecstatic that Vivian is doing so well, we are happy to see her progressing and finally seeming to enjoy daily activities. We are hopeful she can continue to develop and learn and adapt. We know every child is different and to compare one to another is not practical. We are thankful for the support we have from each other and others. And oh how happy we are to be getting some sleep and a little quiet :-)
The first thing I came upon was...Da da DAAA! Web MD.
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/gluten-free-casein-free-diets-for-autism
In this report they say that all this is not scientifically proven. I use the term "they" quite a bit and I don't actually know who "they" are. I don't know if I trust "them". I don't know if I care.
According to many testimonials this diet was worth a shot, really whats the worst that could happen? We eat a bit healthier?? We feel the same? We feel better?
OR we see a change in Vivian? Worth it in my book.
One concern was bread. Vivian loved having toast in the morning. Cereal also was scary, but I was told Chex (rice and corn) as well as Rice Krisipies are naturally gluten free so that was nice. I was worried about pasta. I saw a women blogging about how she changed her expensive gluten free pasta to the oriental rice noodles and her kids didn't even notice. I also just decided we would buy giant bags of brown rice and use it in place of pasta. It has been great.
Now, the thought I put into my habitual store runs was put into tailspin. We are all creatures of habit. When we find something we like we form habits. I had formed a habit of buying crackers, crackers, and more crackers. Goldfish, Club crackers, Graham crackers, saltines, I was a one woman cracker house! I also bought the bags of honey nut wannabe Cheerios and cocoa puffs. We did eat rolled oats a lot, but I was giving my kids so many forms of gluten it was scary to start throwing it out.
I have to say it is more expensive to buy gluten free, but it doesn't have to be that drastic. Especially at first, my kids were excited to see NEW snacks. I bought rice cakes in 3 different flavors. I bought dried sugared mango, pineapple, and papya. I switched the crackers for Nature Valley honey oat crunchy granola bars naturally gluten free. I bought salted sunflower seeds and young pumpkin seeds and cashews. We had Oatmeal (with brown sugar) or chex every morning with rice milk and a splash of coconut milk. A spoon full of peanut butter has been one of Vivians favorite snacks, and I look at EVERY label I buy now for the "MAY CONTAIN: WHEAT or GLUTEN / BARLEY or RYE" I don't care so much if it may contain milk, but I avoid it if I can.
I made a protein, a veggie and rice for every meal for almost 2 weeks or I would buy a whole roasted chicken and remove the breasts for lunch time, and boil down the rest into a broth for soup. This broth was something I read about from Dr.Natasha Campbell-McBride Who invented to G.A.P.S. diet. I read a lot about this diet and I read even her criticisms. I found it to be very interesting, but do not feel I wanted to take Vivians diet that far at this point.
http://www.gapsdiet.com/
This Dr. describes her research showing connections directly from the neurology of the brain to the gut.
It makes sense in the way if you drink alcohol or take a substance that alters your brain activity, it disrupts your speech and cognitive thinking, also your motor skills. It supposes that certain foods, including gluten have an effect in the gut that causes the brain to react as if it is dealing with an opiate. It causes the brain to go into a disrupted neurological state. She encourages within her specific diet that natural beef and chicken bone broth is essential to help "heal" the gut and help the mind balance with the gut again. According to her and many testimonials you can, after a period, reintroduce foods, including gluten back into the diet once the gut lining is healed.
So I just took to the broth part because they do have many great nutrients, and even gelatin the body needs.
After the first 3 days gluten free, Vivi slept through the night, then the next night (ok this has happened before) then the next night. She hadn't had a melt down or even a regular tantrum either.... then the next night she slept all night. After Vivian slept 7 consecutive days in a row for the FIRST TIME in 3 years I was flabbergasted. I felt like I was sleeping on borrowed time, and I would soon be back in reality. I couldn't believe it, but she kept sleeping through the night over and over. She had also not had a melt down for the whole first 2 weeks.
Then she did something I couldn't believe. Someone in a store asked if her and Patsey were twins, which has been common lately since Patsey is petite and Vivian is over average, and I said no. They then asked them each their names and Patsey introduced herself shyly, " I'm Pastey." and then Vivian like she had done it a million times before said "I Vivian!" I almost peed my pants. She had never said her name before, she had never interacted with someone socially like that before and she was 3 yrs old.
The next big change was when her and Patsey stared fighting over a toy. She had already stopped the complete melt downs over something like this. Patsey had even learned to try to avoid Vivian most the day for fear of being attacked or screamed at. We had been fully gluten free for about 3 weeks. Vivian kicked Patsey and as we had done so many times we scolded her and said "No Vivi, that wasn't nice." We were currently working to teach Vivian to say "sorry", and hug after she hurt someone, there was a motion she would go through but it was clear there was not a "connection" as to what it meant. After she kicked Patsey, and we scolded her, she turned to Nick and I, lowered her head, shirked her shoulders and started to cry. She then turned to Patsey and hugged her and said "Sowwy" and it was so clear she was showing guilt. She was not crying because we scolded her, it was like for the first time she realized she had hurt Patsey and felt bad about it. Nick and I both just watched in awe.
It has been 2 months since we went Gluten free. Vivian has been going to preschool 4 days a week and coming home giddy and happy everyday. She comes home with more and more vocabulary every time. She is asking real questions and reasoning answers. She interacts with her sisters in a way we've never seen. She is interacting with Nick and I in a way we've never seen. I know that this preschool is helping her, but they are not the ones teaching her to sleep through the night, she started that before she started preschool, on her 3rd day gluten and casein free. They are not teaching her guilt or remorse, her brain is connecting things that children usually start to understand around 18 months, and I have watched her do what seems like a years worth of development within 2 months. I have watched her gain the ability to calm herself and self soothe for the first time in 3 years. This is something babies start doing within weeks of being born.
WE are ecstatic that Vivian is doing so well, we are happy to see her progressing and finally seeming to enjoy daily activities. We are hopeful she can continue to develop and learn and adapt. We know every child is different and to compare one to another is not practical. We are thankful for the support we have from each other and others. And oh how happy we are to be getting some sleep and a little quiet :-)
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