Food Sensitivities and Difficult Behavior in Children
While every parent may dream of having a healthy, happy baby, some of us are blessed instead with a more complex “BUNDLE OF JOY ”. We noticed a change of behavior in the 6th (of 7!) child after we started him on wheat at the age of ~ 16 months. Our blonde, beautiful baby boy that always smiled began banging and bruising his head, losing eye contact, non-verbal, biting others, and pulling my own blonde locks at night while he fought off sleep. My family is not the only one to have a puzzling and heart-wrenching story like this, but what may be looked at as a “phase” or “personality” that we were just expected to live with is something that I decided to look into and take a different approach to remedy these problems.
A big question that each parent may ask in uncomfortable situations like this is “WHY?”; why did my child suddenly change, why is this happening- and yet they may come up short with no answers that lead to change. I have experienced a lifetime of medical issues, especially centered around the food, chemicals, and substances that I use in and on my body and that are used around me, so I decided to look into my son’s problems with a mindset that there was something in his environment that was causing his behavior that we could change.
My son is now 7 years old and we have learned a lot together through the years (and tears). I have learned how to read his subtle behavior changes to help me determine his needs and reactions to certain foods and substances. For instance, I notice that when he has wheat, corn, oranges to name a few foods; he exhibits aggression, hair-pulling, screaming, biting, and contorts his face by sticking his tongue up his nose which are actions that he normally does not do. I believe that this is because his body is reacting adversely to particular substances in his diet.
My husband and I decided to nourish our son with the “GAPS Diet” which focuses on gut health and the variety of bacteria that flourish and live in your body depending on the different foods you eat. When we focus on giving our son the nutrients that he needs to help his little body grow and avoid the substances that may create reactions in his little belly, we notice that his behavior is pleasant and he is the smiling angel baby that I dreamed of.
You can learn more about the GAPS diet I hope that my story can give some hope to other parents that are dealing with difficult behavior in their otherwise wonderful child and that I can encourage folks to pay attention to how they themselves act and feel based on the food and substance that you consume.
