Does your child have food allergies?

Diet
Does your child have food allergies? Are they on a restrictive diet? Are you supporting them, or tempting them?

When it was suggested to us to cut lactose out of my son’s diet my wife & I didn’t blink. We started gradually, first eliminating milk from the refrigerator, and then we didn’t re-supply other dairy products as they were used up. We explained to him what we were doing and why, and probably the biggest factor was that we participated with him.

In other words, we all went lactose/casein free. For my wife and I we figured it was for a short while, but we knew it would make a difference for our son if we did it with him. We were in for a surprise...

For years I suffered from minor digestive problems that would come and go. Guess what? They went away while we were all lactose free! After about 3 weeks I realized the situation and decided to test it. I went to Starbucks, drank my latte, and had problems. For the better part of 10 years I didn't know that I was lactose intolerant. So now my son & I enjoy being lactose free together.

In about a month we eliminated all lactose/casein from our home. We bought cartons of soy, rice, almond milk & others and let our son make the choice of what he liked. He chose the almond milk, so that's what we put on our cereal. Try using the chocolate almond milk when you mix your hot chocolate!

Six months down the road we decided to eliminate gluten from our son's diet. This presented a bigger challenge. My wife is a great cook, but this looked like a daunting task to her. Again we took it one step at a time. The key was not only telling him what we were going to do, but asking him which meal to start with. He chose breakfast. As each cereal box was emptied it was replaced with a gluten free cereal. When it came to cooking, we would all eat the same food. We didn't want our son to feel excluded.

We did not eat regular gluten pancakes, pizza, pasta, or other favorite foods of his in front of him for several months. As he got used to the new foods we were able to substitute foods for him if we were eating something he couldn't have. If we ordered pizza, we made him a custom gluten free pizza. We never tempted him with the foods he couldn't have.

It's been several years, and now he's fine if we eat foods in front of him. We've also taught him what to order in restaurants and how to read labels. After the first 6 months on the diet change the doctor suggested trying a small amount of gluten in his diet. We did this without telling him. In his case it makes him feel sick (not as severe as Celiac). We told him after a couple of days why he was feeling ill. At first he was mad, but he realized what will happen if he eats the wrong foods.

What did we learn though all of this? By joining with our son, and not forcing him to change his diet on his own, we had success.

Recently I ran across a dad whose son was gluten intolerant. The mom was angry that when she was away the dad would give his son the wrong foods. I asked him why he gave his son the snacks loaded with gluten, and his reply was that his son liked them. I asked him if his son was addicted to a certain drug would he give his son the drugs. For many kids giving in to their food cravings is literally giving their bodies a substance that is poison to them. We all need to support our kids as much as we can, which could mean we may have to give up something we like to help them accept the change they don't like.