Re: New online enzyme articles - Suzanne

[Guest guest]

> ,

>

> Thank you for posting this. One of my concerns is that my GFCF son

won't eat

> MANY of the foods allowed on the diet. Of course, I have to say,

many of

> then he wouldn't eat before, the biggest example being meat. But

after the

> diet it got worse in some ways because I think also because I didn't

> introduce as many new foods because it was such a pain to make

something I

> didn't know if he would eat and then have him not eat it. I think

it's a

> viscious circle in a way.

>

Oh this is familiar - meat was always a big issue in our house. Nick

never did like any kind of meat, before the diet or after. Now I

know it is a sensory issue for him - too much chewing and too much

sensory info due to texture and taste. We are working on it with the

OT. And I can certainly relate to the pain of preparing the foods

thinking they will not eat it anyway. I would often prepare, let's

say, a casserole for us, then make a small one on the side for Nick

using only GFCF products. After all that loving care and concern -

he wouldn't touch any of it, and spit it out. Sigh..... that

happened a lot. I would try it, and it tasted fine. I know by the

end of our diet days, I gave up, and just made his familiar food on

the side that I know he would eat.

> I am curious, what were his four foods? My son, if left to his own

devices

> would eat rice, french fries, juice and imagine chocolate pudding.

And he

> wants pasta sauce on everything. He has started rejecting things

like

> peaches, pears, my chicken nuggets (AARG!), won't eat these rice

crackers

> that I have to even hide from my husband, he'll only eat Noah's

bread the

> day they come out of the oven... He wouldn't EVER drink

darifree. :-P My

> biggest bugaboo with him is ensuring adequate calcium.

about halfway through the 10 months of the diet would eat

GFCF hot dogs, ham, (both only really soft and warm), GFCF toast with

cinnamon and brown sugar, french fries, bananas, GFCF donuts and

cookies, GFCF waffles, GFCF flaxseed muffins (yay!) and would only

drink water. I tried all the milk subs - no go. By the end of our

ten month diet, he rejected all but french fries, GFCF toast with

cinn/brn sugar, bananas and the donuts/cookies. Nightmare diet full

of sugar. Of course he was on millions of supplements, but I still

felt terrible as a mother to watch him demand only these foods.

>

> But like you, I don't regret the diet, and unlike you, still pretty

much

> have him on the diet but am experimenting with infractions with

enzymes. My

> problem now is that he refuses to try new foods even if I tell him

he CAN

> try them. He just wants rice or fries & sprite when we go out. Last

weekend

> I let him try some chow mein (no msg) with a hearty dose of enzymes

and he

> liked it. Probably because it resembles what I have been feeding

him for the

> last year.

The first month after enzymes scared me - I posted here about it,

because once Nick had Cheerios again (his favorite food 10 months

earlier) that is all he wanted all day. I thought I was doomed, and

that we would have to go back on the diet. He would not try any

other foods he used to love before the diet. He would stand at the

cereal cupboard and point at it saying " eeyos, eeyos " . It took about

another month for this to settle down, and now he doesn't even want

them anymore! I still had a lot of trouble getting Nick to eat a

larger variety of foods, and so we are now using a purely ABA

behavioral approach at mealtime. For example, we had fish sticks,

mashed potatoes and carrots for supper tonight. I grab about 3 mini

Ritz crackers and break them into quarters, hiding them from Nick's

view. I cut up his food into bite size chunks and ask him if he

wants a cracker. He says " yes " then I say " fish first " or whatever.

Then I put the fish stick piece on his fork, and he will eat it (took

many times of me putting in his mouth before he realized I would not

take no for an answer) Then he gets a little piece of Ritz cracker.

This goes on for the whole meal. Tiring, but he is getting a lot

more willing to try new foods, and starting to feed himself more.

More and more often I do not have to use the Ritz lures. We often

also have to use a wadded-up paper towel and wipe vigourously on both

sides of his mouth from his cheek toward his mouth if the food is

quite sensory for him. Mashed potatoes are a good example - they

used to make him gag right away. We figured out this " wiping " by

accident, because I would pretend to wipe the food OUT of Nick's

mouth because he was sitting there going " oh,oh,oh, " with his mouth

open wanting to spit out the food. I would say " there, Mommy got it

out " , and he would close his mouth and start chewing automatically.

Our OT said Nick has lots of sensory issues to do with his mouth, and

by doing this wiping it kind of " numbs " the sensory over-stimulation

he is getting in his mouth by the taste, texture or whatever of the

food. I will ask him if he needs a " wipe " after a new food and he

will shake his head yes or no. Trust me, getting to this point has

not been easy!

He was doing so incredibly well on the enzymes with no regression

from the addition of gluten and casein foods, but mealtimes were a

nightmare as he still would not eat very many foods. So this was our

solution. As he is still young (turns three this month)he is

accepting of it now.

>

> I don't know about anyone else but I am sick of doing the diet. Of

course I

> will continue it as long as I have to and in many ways I don't know

how to

> make anything else anymore. My poor husband still mourns that I

haven't made

> home made pizza in a year. I still remember the last time I made

it. That

> will never happen again!!

>

I can relate to this - i had just started making homemade bread and

buns about 6 months before the GFCF diet, and stopped cold once we

started on the diet. I did not think it was fair to Nick for us all

to enjoy the treat in front of him - plus my baking had become GFCF

of course, and I did not have any time left for other baking.

I commend you for wanting to continue with the diet. You have to do

what is comfortable for you. I knew as soon as I started reading

about the enzymes that we would take them with the intent of

attempting to leave the diet. I guess I just had enough, but knew

that if it didn't work, I would have no choice but to continue on. I

have not seen ANY regression, only with some phenolic foods like

apples. Of course I still have the thought cross my mind that I am

doing some kind of slow-effect damage to the gains we made on the

diet. It is scary to move on after making that kind of commitment to

the diet for 10 months. We are now treating Nick for yeast with

Nystatin and probiotics, and have seen some regression with this, but

we are actually happy, bacause it means this is another area that can

be helped.

Good Luck with your son