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| Bye-bye, dairy! |
Well, that was fast. I'm convinced we need to eliminate casein. Today in my son's communication folder from his preschool, his teacher noted that he was aggressive toward another child. That is not my son. I searched on the Internet for links between dairy and aggression and was overwhelmed with the number of stories connecting the two, particularly with children on the spectrum. We did fine without dairy for 7 months, so I'm not too concerned about dietary changes.
My main concern is to get that casein or casomorphine out of his system asap! I'm not sure if there is anything I can do to help with that, but I look forward to a happier child. The first time around, we noticed improvements within a week. Hopefully that's the case again, but if not, it will take up to 3 weeks.
I should also note that after what I call "*The Cheese Curl Incident" which propelled us into reintroducing dairy, his communication folder has shown only one day of semi-good behavior, with the rest of it being uncooperative. Prior to The Incident, his mood was happy and generally cooperative. I love that communication folder. Anyway, at home, I saw exaggerations of what I consider classic autistic behavior: hand-flapping, jargon, extremely poor eye contact, etc. I hadn't realized how seldom these actions had occurred until I began seeing them again. His emotions were quick to change as well, and he would become so upset so quickly over the smallest reasons. Poor little guy.
The good news is, if it is this, then we know it and we have the power to do something about it. If not... we'll still keep the dairy out, and see what else we can do.
*The Cheese Curl Incident: Despite providing a Do-Not-Feed list to the school, they still gave him cheese curls at snack. Dairy AND Red40.
We are almost at 3 weeks in our reintroduction of casein/ dairy. Our son was never into drinking milk directly, but he LOVED yogurt. Cheese was also very popular. We figured we'd bring back dairy in cheese form, since cheese is the stuff dreams are made of. Also, he used to eat grilled cheese sandwiches with rice cheese (meh) and Earth Balance vegan buttery sticks, so slipping regular cheese into his gluten-free bread wouldn't be as conspicuous. If necessary, returning to non-dairy may have not been as obvious.
I'll admit we I was extremely wishy-washy about bringing back the dairy. My apologies to both sets of grandparents. They politely asked if dairy was okay, and both sides heard no which places many limitations on food options if you aren't accustomed to that diet.
What are we looking to happen? If all goes well, nothing will change. However, one of the most discouraging aspects of this journey are the many, many variables we encounter that have an impact on our son. For instance, he caught a little stomach bug the week dairy came back. Nothing major, but enough to disrupt his bowels for a few days. Not helpful, especially since we were checking them to see if that would have an effect (it was a bug though; I got a touch of it myself). Then a week off of school, which throws the routine off a bit.
What have we noticed... His language is pretty much where it was, and his interactions are slowly improving every day. I thought his emotions were quicker to change; he became upset quicker a few times, and that felt "off" to me (though he may have been affected by the stomach bug). I did notice some exaggerated hand-flapping from him. He hadn't done it in a while, so not only did that make it more noticeable, but the time he used it was odd to me. It seemed more stereotypical autistic hand-flapping. Honestly, I'm not sure what to make of all this. He did have a BM today (sorry for the TMI) and the consistency was good, so I was pleased to see that (Wow. Never thought I'd be here.).
Basically, I'm still not sure how I'm feeling about the dairy. I'll be revisiting this post over the next few weeks to see if I can make a decision on whether to keep the dairy or not. I can't believe how time flies with all this.
For anyone wondering if they should try a gfcf diet for any health-related reason, I say go for it, but know it can take up to 3 weeks to get the casein out of your system, and up to 6 months to get the gluten out. It can be challenging at times, but absolutely doable with proper preparation and information. We consulted a dietitian and discussed the diet with our son's pediatrician. I would recommend finding a similar professional who believes in the diet and seeing what recommendations they have for you.
