Food allergies/intolerances and behavior questions

[Mom2legomaniacs]

My 6 yr ds has dairy intolerance issues. As an infant, he screamed for about a 6 week period until I got it figured out. Now, he gets a stomach ache if too much builds up in his system.

He has been more temper-mental off and on. He is very sensitive. He is very hard on himself and holds on to things a long time. Part of this is just from family -- lots in our families have areas of issue with one or more of these things. I am wondering, if this latest never-ending phase might be intensified by possible food issues as well.

One thing I am suspecting is soy. He drinks a lot of soy milk. I didn't buy any for a while. What I cannot recall is the timing of the worse anger with the soy at that point. This week I had a jug of soy milk. His behavior has worsened over the week. He is more tantrum-prone. He realizes it and it bothers him so much because he doesn't know why he feels so grumpy and angry. He emptied the jug a couple of days ago and I am going to experiment with not buying any more to see if this week, he starts to improve.

There's the scoop and my suspicions. I realize that each person probably has a different reaction to offenders. However, can you share your experiences with suspected food issues and negative behavior. Did anyone have an experience similar to this with soy? We also would like to see what possible substitutions there might be for that bowl of cereal instead of using the soy milk. Not too fond of rice, but would give it try it someone has one that is really good and not "ricey".

Thanks! I am so frustrated and sad with this situation. We aren't in dire straits or anything. But there are moments that my heart is breaking with sadness and feelings of helplessness when he gets in these cycles.

Thanks the help!

[rivendellmom]

Soy milk had the same effects on my son that dairy milk did. We had to eliminate it entirely. I read somewhere that the protein in soy is very close to that of cows milk- so you may see a similar reaction. In our case our 2 year old starts biting, hair pulling and banging his head on the wall if he has any dairy or soy products. Needless to say the whole family keeps an eye on what he's eating now!

My boys love chocolate almond milk. We buy the Blue diamond Brand Natural Almond Breeze. We use Rice Dream Vanilla Rice milk in cereal and in anything I bake.

Hope this helps!

[Amy in Orlando]

We have to be very careful with dairy and soy here. Ian's behavior and moods definitely go downhill when he eats much of either.

If you don't have nut allergies, almond milk is delicious on cereal!

Try taking the soy out for at least two weeks and see what happens. For us it is worth it.

[DIY-DY]

My 6 yr ds has dairy intolerance issues...

He has been more temper-mental off and on. He is very sensitive. He is very hard on himself and holds on to things a long time. Part of this is just from family -- lots in our families have areas of issue with one or more of these things. I am wondering, if this latest never-ending phase might be intensified by possible food issues as well.

One thing I am suspecting is soy. He drinks a lot of soy milk. I didn't buy any for a while. What I cannot recall is the timing of the worse anger with the soy at that point. This week I had a jug of soy milk. His behavior has worsened over the week. He is more tantrum-prone. He realizes it and it bothers him so much because he doesn't know why he feels so grumpy and angry. He emptied the jug a couple of days ago and I am going to experiment with not buying any more to see if this week, he starts to improve...

can you share your experiences with suspected food issues and negative behavior. Did anyone have an experience similar to this with soy? We also would like to see what possible substitutions there might be for that bowl of cereal instead of using the soy milk. Not too fond of rice, but would give it try it someone has one that is really good and not "ricey".

Thanks! I am so frustrated and sad with this situation. We aren't in dire straits or anything. But there are moments that my heart is breaking with sadness and feelings of helplessness when he gets in these cycles.

Thanks the help!

John (7) didn't have a full-blown food "allergy" - it was more of a sensitivity. (He may still have it - we're doing a wheat-challenge right now, and so far, so good.) I found that at the onset, it took about two weeks to see some serious changes. Changes we weren't looking for, actually. I was hoping to get rid of the rash. What I got rid of was the child who cried uncontrollably at the drop of a hat, the child who awoke groggy and pissed off at the world for two hours every morning and naptime, the child who could not use his words to express his emotions b/c he went from fine to distraught in half a breath. Once the wheat left his system entirely, it was like getting a whole new child. We'd always thought he was excessively sensitive! WOW!

At first, he could handle little bits now and then. But within six months, I realized he needed to be completely free of the issue food in order for his body to heal. A donut w/ Dad would have him grouchy and tearful the next morning. A piece of bagel from Granny and he'd be down that afternoon. A bite of something at somebody's house a few days later and *BAM*, total and complete meltdown of Chernobyl proportions.

We eliminated it entirely for four years. Completely. And while he is still a very sensitive child, a child who wears his heart on his sleeve, he doesn't have those careening out-of-control crying jags at all now. (The fact that your ds recognizes something's wrong reminds me so very much of how John was. I'd ask him what was wrong, and he would say, "I don't know! I just can't stop!" Oh, it's heartbreaking. It's awful.) But now, we can see the child's innate nature through the chemical response of the food sensitivities. That's helped so much.

Now, I don't know much about dairy. I've heard that it takes longer to get out of the system than wheat does. We were still seeing improvement after two months, so I'd give it at least that long. And I'd eliminate it in all its forms - casein, whey, etc. - as well as the soy, in order to give him a chance to detox. Then take it from there.

{{hugs}} It's hard to be the mama and not be able to "fixitrightnow" isn't it?

[CalicoKat]

head banginig?! I've got two kids who do this. I wonder. . . .

Anyway,

ds 4 was/is allergic to milk. He ended up drinking alot of almond milk there for a while and then we switched back to milk. His primary issue was migraine headaches. His forehead was completely scratched up. We think he also had tummy aches, but couldn't confirm as this was all pre-talking.

Lately I've suspected that perhaps this allergy didn't clear up completely. there are days that he is very sensitive to any rough play, whiney, pouting, very partciular about his foods, etc. I've also wondering if it's just his age. But my mother who is also astute in this area is pushing me to do the elimination diet with him again "Just to see."

Interestingly he was also very allergic to disposable diapers and when we eliminated that his symptoms cleared up a ton. that's also about the time we tried milk again.

Soy milk had the same effects on my son that dairy milk did. We had to eliminate it entirely. I read somewhere that the protein in soy is very close to that of cows milk- so you may see a similar reaction. In our case our 2 year old starts biting, hair pulling and banging his head on the wall if he has any dairy or soy products. Needless to say the whole family keeps an eye on what he's eating now!

My boys love chocolate almond milk. We buy the Blue diamond Brand Natural Almond Breeze. We use Rice Dream Vanilla Rice milk in cereal and in anything I bake.

Hope this helps!

[Karin]

Soy is one of the more highly allergenic foods that people can also be intolerant or have immune system sensitivities to. I'd go off it completely if you see this pattern.

[JennifersLost]

That's what all my boys grew up on - none of them could tolerate milk or soy. They did fine - they could eat cheese and get their calcium that way easily.

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Thanks for the ideas all. I went out and got some Almond Milk today. We'll give that a try. A lot of what you all said seems to be happening here. I hope this is an "easy fix". It is miserable to feel grumpy and have no idea why!

Thanks so much! I have more questions, but don't have it together tonight. I'll gather my thoughts and post at another time.