"Have you ever considered food allergies?" The question arose nearly every time I told friends and family about health and behavior issues in our three children. It took a while, but eventually I gave in and tried the unconventional food allergy route.
From what I’d heard, food allergies meant asthma or worse — anaphylactic reactions that closed up the airways. I was concerned about their personal health and wellness and gave them healthy foods to eat. My children weren’t that sick!
But something was wrong, and I wasn’t getting answers from doctors.
Tyler came home from the hospital a colicky baby. He cried from dinnertime until way past midnight. His doctor thought Tyler had breast milk allergy symptoms (he never explained that it’s generally foods passing through the breast milk, not the milk itself, that caused sensitivity), so we switched from formula to formula until we found one that worked.
By the time he was eating a few solid foods until he was nearly six, he had diarrhea. He threw nasty, angry tantrums at all times of the day, woke in the night screaming, and had continuous ear infections.
Meanwhile, two more children came along, and they had the same problems. Imagine a house full of tantrums and diarrhea! My two youngest children didn’t suffer from ear infections, but they did wake up screaming from terrible arm- and leg-aches.
All three children were tested for all sorts of ailments, from cystic fibrosis to parasites. The doctors even sent us to a psychologist, who suggested that it was my fault for having too many babies, too quickly. (As if having three children, two and three years apart, is too many, too fast.)
Bad Parents?
We thought we were terrible parents, something the psychologist seemed to affirm. What were we doing wrong? One doctor suggested that Tyler’s midnight rages were due to an empty stomach. So we fed him a peanut butter sandwich before going to bed. Somehow that made matters worse.
Finally I’d had enough and began to listen to the wisdom of friends and family. We picked up the book "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp, M.D. She described symptoms of children who suffered from food allergies — and they were my children exactly!
Rapp suggests that food allergies, also known as “food sensitivities,” are the cause of many chronic childhood problems such as diarrhea, ear infections, frequent raging tantrums, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, inattention, and more. She also pointed out something I had noticed about my children but never really thought much about: dark circles under their eyes. She calls them "allergy eyes," another indicator of allergies.
Elimination Diet
Even though some food allergies can be detected through blood tests (called RAST tests), the more accurate method is an Elimination Diet. This process eliminates nearly everything from the diet, then slowly reintroduces them to test for allergic reactions.
The most offensive foods -- citrus, eggs, sugar, wheat, corn, dairy, soy, food dyes, preservatives, and chocolate -- don’t all produce the same effects, and not every child reacts the same. Some other foods -- nuts and shellfish -- can cause life-threatening reactions that require immediate attention.
We were shocked at the results: our oldest was allergic to wheat and dairy. Our middle child showed severe reactions to corn, dairy and food dyes, and the youngest to dairy and food dyes. We were so surprised, we tested them all over again and got the same results. (And we suddenly understood why those late-night peanut butter sandwiches were the worst thing we could do for Tyler.)
Rapp predicts that the food one most craves is the one he is most allergic to. Who knows why--but it certainly was true for my children, who craved doughnuts, popcorn, cheese, pancakes and pizza.
Training Them To Say No
The next challenges were teaching them to say no to food offered by other people, and finding things everyone could eat. But the benefits were nearly immediate: healthier children, fewer tantrums, and peaceful nights. And over the next ten years our children slowly grew out of most of their allergies, as Dr. Rapp predicts many children will do.
Now, at 16, Tyler can eat pizza with the rest of the teenage population, and he doesn’t even have a meltdown! He even enjoys a peanut butter sandwich whenever he wants.
For more information on elimination diets, go to The Allergy Connection. For information about food allergies and hyperactivity: The Feingold Association is a long-time resource for parents seeking alternative ideas and options.
Shaunna Howat is the mother of three children who have almost totally grown out of their food allergies! She is a teacher and writer.