Has the GFCF diet helped your autistic child?

[sleepyhorse]

Just wondering if it's worth trying. My child doesn't have a diagnosis yet but he definately displays some autistic behaviour (poor concentration and short attention span, poor eye contact, in his own little world, hyperactive) as well as a language disorder. Did a bit of research on the net about this diet and seems like it can help some autistic children although from what I can gather more so the ones that have problems with digestion and constipation etc which my son doesn't have. Also what are your thoughts on the primrose oil and the eye q for helping with concentration. Would love to hear your experiences as need to decide whether to go for it which won't be easy as ds very fussy with food.

Had loads of threads about multivitamins, and dont want to say it all again. But, yes, the right vitamins help. Search for recent threads.

GF/CF did help my DS. But like you said he had digestive problems (constipation).

It's not rocket science. Gluten was hurting his tummy. (but obv I didn't realise). Cut out gluten and he no longer had a sore tummy all the time - and therefore his behaviour improved.

And dairy made him feel sick. So again cutting it out (and he used to have a lot) stopped him feeling sick all the time - and therefore his behaviour improved.

Do a search on the Sunderland Protocol and GAPS diet.

There's been lots of discussions under those two topic headings.

For general supplements but not GF/CF then Tinsley House and behavior balance are the two key headings to search.

Thanks indigo

So presumably if my son doesn't suffer from constipation then it's not really worth doing?

I will look at vitamins then

Thanks again

If he doesn't suffer from constipation or a sore tummy or stingy wees.

More specifically if his stools are type 4 then I wouldn't start with GF.

Are they?

No I have to say that whilst he isn't particularly regular with poo's, he doesn't seem to suffer any problems in this area. And wee is fine too.

So shall I concentrate on supplements then? I bought some eye q the other day so will see how that goes x

Thanks bochead

gfcf as done to help with autism is easily tested for via the SUnderland protocol.

how old is your ds?

if he is still quite young, I would be wary about saying 'not really constipated' if he is not having regular bowel movements - there are degrees of constipation.

it might be worth doing the Sunderland (urine sample) test, which would give you quite a good indicator as to whether gf/cf would help (even if symptoms, such as loose stools/constipation are not that apparent)

Thanks silverfrog

I just presumed he wasn't that regular as he doesn't eat huge amounts.

Is it expensive to get this test done?

it was about £60 when I did it with dd1 (5 years ago now). they used to offer payment plans, and possibly even a sliding scale according to ability to pay (not sure, as we didn't fit into that category)

they are incredibly helpful, and you get a lot of info and back up as well - solid info in the form of test results (some people have had success with then getting their GP to give gf stuff on prescription), and they were very happy ot answer any queries about that, and give support and help.

Sorry meant to say my ds is nearly 4 yrs old.

Cool am Definately going to do the test.

My main concern is that at aged 4 he is still unable to link 2 word sentences together and also he has really poor listening and concentration issues.

I started dd1 on gf/cf (following a (as it was then) Sunderland test when she was just under 3. I wanted the test because she was unable to tell me:

if her tummy hurt
if she felt better following dietary changes (the effects are not always immediate)
if she felt more or less tired/fuzzy headed/ill etc
and so on.

getting her tested helped me, as it gave me somethign concrete to follow.

this is the place you need now - the research unit moved (was based at Sunderland university), but the people are the same - there is loads of info on those pages, and as I said before they are really helpful if you contact them.

hi sleepy, we are thinking about gfcf as well. have contacted the sunderland people and just received the test kit. it is £65 now iirc.

i'm not sure what gfcf means but my son has quite a few problems, definitely some autistic traits and he has just been put on a dairy free diet due to constipation and tummy troubles (its taken 3 years for them to listen to me) im not sure if its coincidence but i have seen a difference in my boy x

Thank you for this post, we're just in early stages of reading up on this. DS is 4, had diagnosis in Oct, and the past couple of months seem to have seen increase in tummy aches (which he may have had before but couldn't say). His behaviour has gone right down. Just feel so powerless, Paed discharged us after dx, and other than SALT, we've had no info re interventions etc. Great to find some UK research, thank you.

GFCF is gluten free, casein (dairy) free.

Salad if you think removing dairy is helping, you could try removing gluten as well.

the dairy as really really helped, the same week it was removed he has made progress, he sees dietician again next month so might try it, but hes gone from needing medication to make him go to almost normal, no more windy bum its incredible x

Hi,
We have definitely found minimising gluten and dairy (in particular) to be of real benefit in DS asd behaviours. We also use a digestive enzme specially formulated for gluten and casein breakdown before all meals and we've found we don't have to be as rigorous in maintaining the diet.
The enzmes we use are TriEnza (Houston Enzymes)available from MandiMart
www.mandimart.co.uk/

I should also add that the enzymes along with a good probiotic (we use Bio-Kult Protexin) have also greatly improved digestive problems.