autism and milk?

[hunnybun1981]

My daughter who is nearly 4 got her diagnosis earlier this year.
we have decided not to put her on the gluten free diet, however am very interested in any views on the cows milk debate

we read recently about the Jersey and Guernsey cows producing the a2 milk however they do not sell a2 in northern ireland

i bought jersey milk just which is supposed to be richer and have more calcium etc

this was a few days ago but would i be better scrapping that idea and putting her on goats milk at least until a2 milk is more readily available

any views would be greatly received!!

hi hunnybun,

My ds (now age 5) used to go crazy for milk, he wanted it constantly. He drank it through the night as he woke and screamed the house down until we gave it to him. We did notice that the more he drank the more he wanted.

Like you I also read about the a1/a2 milk and decided to give goats milk a try - I drank it too, really there isnt much difference. Honestly you wouldnt beleive how much he changed and how fast it happened. The first night after having goats milk he never woke up for more (first time ever) - the following night he said he didnt want any milk. I was shocked, but happy as it seemed to curb his craving.

2 days after stopping cows milk i noticed that he had better eye contact, better fine motor control (no shaky hand), happier, more cuddly (cound bear this before). Most of all I noticed that his morning conjestion cleared up (it was really bad before), constipation went away and his excema went away.

Dont get me wrong i dont think that Milk alone is the problem, i think it is multiple problems, but i would definatly reccomend trying goats milk.

We no longer buy goats milk. DS has NEVER had a cup of milk since. He still eats regular cheese, yoghurt and other milk products, but just in moderation. I think that his poor little digestive system was so clogged up when he was drinking all the milk. He does seem to be able to tolerate small amounts of milk products now.

After witnessing such dramatic changes I decided to put this story on the internet. you can find it at www.lynnesweb.co.uk - without the internet i would have never known about any interventions.

I find that the worst milk product that causes an obvious reaction is Ice-cream, it sends him bonkers.

Good luck - and feel free to ask me if you want to know anything else.

that is great well i just bought the goats milk when i was out shopping there so i will give it a go.

thats a real inspirational story thank you

my daughter doesnt take it much she would have it with her ceral and then hot going to bed but she says 'warm milk' several times a day but we distract her and she is fine.

ice cream is a problem i would defo agree with my mum gives her a treat of ice cream when she sees her and she goes nuts

will have to stop those treats i think

off to have a wee read now thanks

Deepthoughts just had a wee read its amazing the differences

have u introduced gluten free at any stage we had thought about it but not sure its very expensive

i was wondering if i switched basiss you know like milk yoghurt bread butter etc

i am going to try her with no cordial as well, she loves plain flavoured water and if its fizzy she calls it coke. lol

I never did remove gluten, i did think about it, but with the improvements removing milk, i felt that it wasn't really needed just now. I did try and cut down his bread intake as I am certain that this also affects him.
I have switched him from white to best of both.

To be honest it is very hard as you feel these little ones are having a hard time already. My DS loves 'treats' (chocolate stuff) - he asks for them non-stop. His diet improved dramatically after we stopped milk, but he is now just starting to become a little more picky again. I beleive that he always worsens in winter due to lack of vitamin D (summer sun).

I do buy dairy free butter for him and i give him yoghurts that contain pro-biotic.
I have just ordered a lactase Digestive Enzymes than I plan to give to him whenever he has these 'treats'

As for the drinks I know that these can really have a crazy impact on him. Just half a cup of orange squash and he rambles in whispers. We give him ribena made with mineral water or fruit smoothies. He used to drink lots of Fresh pinapple juice, but he has now stopped liking this too I do wish he would drink water on its own sometimes.

thats why i didnt do gluten for her as i thought she was having a hard enough time anyway.

but will maybe introduce some basics like the butter and see how that and the milk effects her

will let you know how i go

thanks for the advice

I dont know if I wrote on the website about the negative side effects about a week after stopping cows milk. It may be coincidence, maybe not, since both me and ds stopped cows milk together and both got the same symptoms so I should let you know.

About 7 days after stopping cows milk and sugar we both got a sore throat, mild temperature and aches. This only lasted a few days, and it could have been a bug, but im sure it was the system clearing. I had read about that before hand. Afterwards I personally felt fantastic and ds seemed so much happier. He didnt get half as bad as I did, i guess that would make sense.

Regarding the website i really need to take time out and update it. i now understand so much more about the effect of lack of sunshine.

Thinking about moving to a warmer climate ;) - I Wish!

We switched to goats. It is high in a2 apparently anyway.

Saw a huge difference in ds3 (not autistic although think he was heading that way before we switched and he has IAG in urine). And maybe a difference in ds1 (severely autistic) too. But that's harder to tell.

deepthoughts

just had a look again at your wee site nearly in tears reading about mathews sports day.

we have a school concert to go to on the 10th and this will be the first one i cant wait will be an emotional wreck

can i ask you where you purchase the bath salts?

we have our daughter on the goats milk and we went shopping today which is usually and no go !! and her dad couldnt believe the difference in her behaviour although to be fair i have noticed since she started her special needs school she has improved dramatically

hope ur well an your kiddy winks

Hiya Hunnybun,

That's great news about your ds. I really am overjoyed for you.

I have just wrote so much more for the website as I have a lot more developments and information. I plan to upload it all tonight.

As for the Epsom salts I purchased them from here: www.dietaryneedsdirect.co.uk the site is a little difficult to navivate but I have found them under the 'Suppliments' category. I have just actually received another bag as we ran out about 2 months ago and again I have seen a huge gain from them.

What makes it better is when other people comment on the differences as you know that it is not just you.

If you want to talk to me sometime then you can email me through the site, I check the email multiple times a day and I will be able to reply quicker.
The email link is at the bottom of the main page. I dont know if i could post it here.

Take care, Lynne x

DS was completely hooked on cow's milk. When it became apparent at 3 he had severe language delay (was waiting for assessment for ASD), I drastically cut down his milk consumption. Basically he could have it once a day at nursery and a glass at a friend's house, but not at home. This made a huge difference to his stools, and I feel a slight but noticeable difference to his sociability and alertness. Funnily enough I never found ice cream a particular trigger - milk and yoghurt were the problems. I may let him have the odd drink Jersey as a treat if I can get hold of it, shall look into this further. At the moment he's got language delay and some social communication difficulties, but it is felt he probably isn't on the spectrum, I think only time will tell.

My DS is almost 4, he is not on the spectrum, he has a general delay in his development, including a severe language delay. I started giving him goats milk about a month ago, stopped cheese and yogurt as well. I have seen improvements in his general behaviour and speech, I have no idea if it is because of the cut on milk or just natural progress.

When the changes happen over time you do wonder whether they are just naturally growing out of things, but with our ds it really was an instant change. Luckily i often took video recordings of him and now looking back you can see so many more things that he used to be troubled with. For instance i always got somebody to record him receiving his birthday cake, and every year you can so him turning with obvoius pain from the brightness of the candles. Also he could not blow, not really anyway. Well his latest birday in august he blew out all candles and never had to turn his head.
It is the same with so many aspects, like when he was in the bath, to rinse his hair i had to turn out the light so he could put his head back (was normally too bright) - well this also stopped happenening in a matter of days.

I couldnt blame the milk alone, but i know that the milk did cause his bad breath, conjestion, constipation and excema.
It just so happened that i started the vitamins, reduced sugar, removed sweetners and e-numbers all at the same time.

I watched an article from 2 ladies whom talk about candida causing most of the problem with autistic children and they said that alot of these children have an overload on their digestive system.

Honestly when i made the few changes i didnt expect any change, but i knew that i had to give it a go. I will never forget the day that i saw the improvements begin to surface, changed my life forever...and his.

I do not regard him as recovered, we are still seeking a diagnosis, however he no longer suffers, he is much more confident, sociable and willing to try new things.

deep thoughts thank you for that info.

that site is fantastic some great products pity they charge so high p&p we r northern ireland so they charge 7.10

i think our health shop does them will check next time

thanks