Does anyone know anything about the GFCF(gluten free casein free) diet and why it helps autistic children?
My son is almost 3 and is autistic. He has been having problems going poop for about 1 1/2 months. He has an appointment to GI specialist, but it’s not until May 14, 2010. He has all the symptoms of someone who has an intolerance to gluten except diarrhea. I have been reading about the GFCF diet and how it can help with autism and some of these GI problems my son has. The diet is so restrictive 
, I feel like he can’t eat anything. Is there anyone who has an autistic child and does NOT have their child on a GFCF diet? If so, has your child progressed in his/her speech and social skills? Also, I would like to hear from the parents how do have their child on a GFCF diet, and the results of it. Thanks everyone, I really could use any valuable information on food and autism.
real answers please, and this is a special diet, not for weight loss.
I understand your hesitance to do GFCF, 3 months ago I felt the same way. My daughter was such a picky eater I thought there was no way we could do it, not to mention the GFCF foods are so expensive. My daughter had all the symptoms too- Self restrictive diet ( the only non GFCF foods she would eat were bananas and eggs), I dreaded meal times and often gave in and gave her a peanut butter sandwich when she refused to eat supper. Her bowel symptoms were constant loose stool and diarrhea, she never had constipation problems. Its not always diarrhea and constipation problems, it can be one or the other.
The reason I finally gave in and tried the diet was because of the pain she was in. She had always woken up a lot through the night but had started throwing huge tantrums when she woke up because her stomach hurt so much. After the first day on GFCF, the tantrums stopped. So did the loose stool and diarrhea. Her restricted diet was harder to overcome. Its took a couple of months before I could get her to be willing to try new foods but she is doing really good with that now.
We haven’t seen too many dramatic behaviour changes like some other stories I had read about. The most dramatic behaviour change was after being GFCF for 2 weeks she suddenly started playing pretend. Other areas (social and speech) we are seeing improvement in but its not as drastic so its really hard to tell if its from GFCF or if it would have happened anyways. I do know that it can take up to 8 months to get gluten out of your system so some kids do take a bit longer to make progress on the diet.
I know it sounds so hard to do but you do get used to it. For birthday parties we bring our own cupcake, if we go out for dinner I will bring her own food if there’s nothing on the menu she can have, and despite the fact that I have never been much of a cook I am learning to make a lot of simple GFCF meals and baked goods. I’m so glad we tried the diet. TO me the behavioural improvements are just a bonus the reason I tried it and keep on doing it is because of the difference it mad to her GI problems. Honestly its worth a try just to see if it helps with that.