Link Between Diet and Behavior in a 4 Year Old?

Being a picky eater can be a symptom of sensory processing disorder too. It might not be an allergy, but a deficiency in something due to the picky eating. Just an idea :)

Here's some information:
http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/picky-eaters.html

Don't make drastic changes to your child's diet before first consulting a doctor. You want to make sure your child isn't deprived of any vital nutrients or cause further health issues.

It sounds like it would be really helpful to talk to her pediatrician about the symptoms and see if it would be worth talking to a specialist for further evaluation.

If you guess wrong here and your daughter had medical issues causing the behavior challenges, you're missing out on valuable time to help her get on track. Don't play doctor trying to "fix" her yourself.

A couple of years ago, we went gluten free for a bit. We went cold turkey and removed anything that contained gluten in it out of the house. We couldn't budget pre-packaged gf foods, so we had to make everything on our own (except the pastas, those we did splurge on). The only difference I saw in the kids, especially my son, occurred too quickly to be attributed to the gf diet. After looking at what we ate we realized that all preservatives, dyes, etc. had been removed as well so we put it down to that and removed even more from our diet even when we went back to eating gluten. I still buy minimally processed foods, make most of it on our own, eat as much local and/or organic as possible, etc.

Fast forward to now. I recently, a couple of months ago, had a scan done for my oldest son, J. He has a ton of behavorial issues that have us concerned. He's 9, almost as big as I am and he had started getting violent. We didn't want to medicate him at all possible so we decided to see once more if it were food related. After the scan was done, it told us what t he foods and other substances (such as dyes, preservatives, etc.) he was most sensitive too so we could avoid them. Note I didn't say allergic; he's not. The worst offenders on his chart was soy & corn. Do you have any idea just how much corn & soy is in our diet, even when you don't realize it? It comes under many different names and shows up in the most unlikely of places. Trust me, I know. Pretty much when I go to the store now, I pretty much bypass 90% of it. Since in addition to the no soy or corn, J had to go on a low glycemic diet it has radically changed our eating habits. Since we've done this, we have seen a large difference in J's behavior. He's nowhere near a perfect angel but he doesn't have the huge rages he has had in the past. Oddly enough, his hair has also gotten softer! It's felt like a brillo pad for years and I'd almost forgotten how downy soft it used to be. I had just attributed it to his genes and him getting older. I had no idea his diet would have affected it that much! Also, we can always tell when he's had something he's not supposed to or if it's in the wrong proportion/ratio (such as in a low glycemic & low carb diet) but within an hour or so he really starts acting out.

SO, as to your son, before you start elimination diets you need to first, get him a much more rounded and balanced diet. That could actually be part of the problem right there. Where is his protein? That is a major building block, especially at this age! Two, you need to talk to your doctor as well as a licensed nutritionist. Never start an elimination diet without speaking to them first so they can help you. I would have been absolutely lost without J's nutritionist, especially as much as we had to change; she gave us a basic menu to get us going. J's nutritionist is also a naturopath and she had me give him several supplements, Natural Calm (for the magnesium), digestive enzymes as well as probiotics. All of this combined together to make a huge difference in J's behavior and well being.

Every child is different and he could be insensitive to the oddest things. For instance, on J's list, besides the corn & soy, is peaches, wild rice, eggs, buck wheat, quinoa, etc. It's all in varying degrees so depending on how high on the list they are depends on whether he can a little in moderation or if he had to cut it entirely. The other thing that's really high on his list is chocolate. He can't have it at all, poor little guy. :( Oddly enough, my mother reminded me that I absolutely couldn't stand chocolate when I was pregnant with him. She said I turned green just smelling it. Of course, the idea is for us to introduce these foods back into his diet eventually (since he's not allergic to them) but it will be some time in the future before we do so. His body needs the proper nutrition on a cellular level first. He's extremely low on all of his vitamins & minerals and he's actually experiencing a form of leaky gut so his whole system is out of sync and the easiest way to describe it is that the body is trying to fix itself but doesn't have the means to do so so in actuality is making things worse. Make sense? So an elimination diet can and will work, you just have to start in the right direction. You will have to do a lot of experimenting to find the things that may be affecting your son.

L.,

I know many people who have tried this. For kids with specific allegies, it is wonderful. If he is not allergic, forget it and get your son a good, multifactored evaluation from a Developmental Pediatrician. If your son's issues are dietary, the Developmental Pediatrician will send you to a dietician as part of his comprehensive evaluation, and you will not have any questions about it.

I said I know many who have tired. I know almost as many who have stopped becuase it was not effective. Don't get me wrong, they saw results, for a few weeks or months; it is called the placebo effect. Long term, it is not generally helpful unless you have a gluten or milk allergy causing the issue to begin with.

If you really think it is diet related, have you had his blood sugar checked when he has issues? Low blood sugar could cause mood and anger issues. If that were the case, limiteing his diet to things he may not eat well would be a very bad move for him. I would be seeing my doctor for a phsycial before I tinkered with the diet of a boy who is 1-2 percentile for weight.

Children with sensory issues and attention and anger issues should get full evaluations from Developmental Pediatricians so that you do not miss anything. SPD does not really stand alone, I see many kids whose parents find it palatable to say that the child has SPD and needs OT, when they really need a full evaluation for something that is much more complex, and needs more in depth intervention. I really see very few kids for whom Sensory issues stand alone, they are most often comorbid with a greater issue.

M.

I'm a little late in responding...

I would recommend having him tested for Celiac disease BEFORE stopping gluten, it would be extremely hard to diagnose after going gluten-free. It is important to long term health and a long life to rule out celiac first. It can be screened with a simple blood test to start.

I haven't worked on any of the diet issues but when my son was 3 he was very sensitive to not getting enough sleep (hyper, poor concentration, less self control). He gave up a nap at that age and it took a long while to adjust his schedule.

Yeppers!

Google, The Fiengold Diet. And just today I discovered Robyn O'Brien, a mom that had to figure out what food was doing to her children. You can Google her and she has a website. Or she also has You Tube videos which are very eye opening.

Let me know if I can help you do any research.

Lori
Certified Dr. Sears Coach

running out the door so this will be brief.

I cut gluten and corn out and have a delightful child versus the highly emotional one I had on Gluten and corn. For us it made all the difference. It is hard though because playdates , parties etc always have foods he can't eat. Good luck

I'm thinking he needs some veggies and more protein.

I had a friend who cut gluten from her diet and noticed an extreme difference in energy and behavior levels, she said she felt more alive than ever. Not sure how she did it, but it worked for her. I have heard of before offering the removed food back into the diet, to offer a placebo first. There are plenty of gluten free alternatives so he can still have breads and such. You may as well try that one thing for now. Really though, I never heard of dairy causing energy/behavior problems. I know many food additives and dyes can cause behavior problems. The media is talking about it now like it's some sort of new discovery, but we knew about it 30 years ago when we were kids.

You can read some more about it here:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/558797_5

I have a friend who has removed all corn products, gluten, dairy, most proteins, many fruits, many veggies and many grains from her kid's diets. She claims they are better kids, with more concentration and less behavioral issues. They actually never had allergies either and were always very intelligent and good kids. Anyways, if my kids were eating squash soup every night of the week, they'd be zombies too. So really, there is a point when it goes too far.

Hi L.
Just a thought ,maybe give him a worm dose. There was a dramatic change in my son's behaviour a few months ago and it turns out he had thread worms.
These are very easily passed between children and can cause moods swings.
It just another possible cause to eliminate.
Also an alllergy test is worth doing.
Good luck
B.

I have a child on the Autism Spectrum and before knowing it was autism, I knew that there were many food sensitivities that can mimic behavioral disorders. Let me just say that doing an elimination diet for suspected foods/chemicals was 100% worthwhile because even though eliminating certain things from her diet didn't eliminate the behaviors of concern it did drastically reduce them. It gave us a more accurate view of what her neurological problems really are.

We discovered through elimination diets that she's Lactose Intolerant; intolerant to whey and casein; very sensitive to Red 40; sensitive to blue, yellow, green dyes as well; very sensitive to High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Is it "inconvenient" when we go out to restaurants and other people's homes? Nope, not at all. Because she's my child. I've lived with a nut allergy, Splenda and other artificial sweeteners allergies, and other food allergies for most of my life. I know how to get around these things and people are very understanding. I also have no issues with providing my child with alternatives. It's not a hassle, it's a way of life and I'm happy to do it.

Anyone who tells you "it's not worth it" because it's "inconvenient" doesn't know what they're talking about. It's easier to make sure your child feels well so that they can behave better. Who CAN behave well when they don't ever feel good? It's more of a hassle dealing with difficult behaviors and a sick child.

Elimination diets are time-consuming, stressful, and not always successful. They make eating out or going to friends' houses very problematic. It is far easier to add in the right balance of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, trace elements and herbs in one fully balanced and synergistic supplement.

Those "allergies" in your family - they aren't genetic. They aren't even true allergies. They are all based in the gut (including the asthma) and are the result of not having the proper nutrients. They can all be minimized or even eliminated through adding nutrients in the proper form. I've done this and have helped a lot of other people do it. I'm no long lactose intolerant and no longer have hay fever, sinus issues.

Let me know if you want more info.

By the way, the AMA said that everyone absolutely must supplement - there is not enough nutrition in our food anymore. And that was in 2002.