So, it’s been over a year and a half since Micah went from eating chicken in a biscuit crackers, yogurt, oatmeal, and gerber graduates with cow’s milk to a GFCF diet with only a few items we allow him to “cheat” with like the breading on chicken nuggets, mozarella cheese, and of course breast milk.
Changing a diet is a HUGE deal. It isn’t easy AT ALL…I don’t care who you are. But when your kid gets physically ill from eating certain foods, you’ll try anything! Micah is VERY picky. In his case, a change in his diet wasn’t a “solution” or “cure” it was actually a “necessity.” We got some blood testing done (my husband didn’t want to change his diet unless he saw PROOF that he was allergic or sensitive to certain foods) and found out he had cow’s milk and gluten sensitivities, so the GFCF diet made sense for us. I’ll be honest here and say that for a LONG period of time when we started Micah on the diet he would only eat gluten free oatmeal, gluten free chicken nuggets, and Pediasure. Seriously…3 foods?
We thought Grandma Genius was going to have a stroke because he wouldn’t eat any other foods and she was freaked out that he was going to starve. 🙂 The whole “he‘ll eat when he is hungry” is a lie. We were so devastated and we just wanted to go back to cows milk and all the foods he would eat before the diet…but it wasn’t until we eliminated ALL dairy and gluten that we saw a difference in behavior and overall health. A bonus was I learned how to make some amazing gluten free cupcakes!
Currently, he drinks water, orange juice, green juice (veggie/wheatgrass/fruit blend), and rice or breast milk. He also takes his meds and supplements like a champ. We used to have to crush up his thyroid med and sneak it in his mouth and hide ALL of his vitamin supplements in some kind of liquid. Now, he chews his thyroid pill up and takes his magnesium/calcium straight from the syringe and loves it! He will eat chicken nuggets, veggie straws, kettle chips, fries, bananas, soy yogurt, and pizza toppings (mozarella cheese doesn’t bother him). Ok, yeah, so I know this still sounds horrible….but he eats WAY more now than he did before the diet. The added supplements help him get any vitamins/minerals he isn’t getting from the food and to help him with other health issues.
Here is a list of his supplements and what they do to help him:
Multivitamins – Helps with overall health & focus
GABA – calms him down and restores what his body doesn’t produce naturally
Zinc Drink – eliminated the rashes he gets on his body…if we skip this one, we immediately see the rash come back
Vitamin D drops – He is deficient in this, so it restores what he needs
We realize his diet doesn’t “cure” anything…but we also know we have seen great gains by making the change and we hope to continue to add new foods to his menu as he feels comfortable.
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