Why I Went Casein (and Gluten Free) for my Niklas
by Kati
It started noticing that when I would
breastfeed Niklas, he seemed to cry more when I had eaten a lot of dairy
that day. He seemed to be okay if I just ate a little bit, though.
When he was one year old, I needed to stop
breastfeeding so I gave him baby formula instead. I didn’t want to give
him normal cow’s milk for many reasons. He handled the baby formula
well, so I thought that everything was okay. He also starting eating
some solid food which included gluten and dairy. But I noticed that he
was often a cranky little boy. I felt terrible because I couldn’t
understand why he was in such a bad mood so often. He didn’t have any
noticeable symptoms like skin rash, loose bowel movements, etc. No
“typical” symptoms that would give me a clue that it could be his diet.
So I blamed myself. Then he started to
develop constant ear infections and also bad laryngitis. When I heard
that some milk allergies may disturb the intestinal flora and immunity
in a way that would cause infections without any other symptoms, this
rang a bell. So I put my son on a dairy free diet to see if he would get
better.
To my surprise, I felt I got a new son: his
cranky mood wasn’t a part of his personality – he had been just feeling
bad because of the dairy! So we got an easygoing, happy child after we
gave up casein!
He got ear tubes at 18 months old because of
earlier problems and because he had developed a lot of ear wax, but
since cutting out dairy (and having tubes) he has had only one ear
infection in the last 2 years. In general, he is now a happy and content
little boy who is not any more sick than any other children — maybe
even less!
Niklas was tested for a milk allergy at the
allergy clinic. He didn’t react to the prick test nor did he have bad
symptoms from the double blind test of milk formula. As an experiment,
he was given dairy-based infant formula for one week. He managed that
week fine. But after it, his immunity dropped and he got sick with
laryngitis again – in the middle of summer — when he normally would have
been very healthy. I suspect that it was the milk that caused it.
So the allergy tests showed nothing, but if
he gets creamy food, he gets a stomach ache and feels bad. Even our
doctor noticed it. Medical people often do not recognize this problem of
immunity etc, but I have heard of a boy whose only problem with milk is
eye infections. Reflux can be one symptom,which is usually treated with
medication and not a dairy free diet.
So if my child was cranky, had infections a
lot, had GER (reflux) or many other symptoms, I would certainly try a
dairy free diet for a while to see if it helps. Some people may add
dairy back into their diet with proper enzyme therapy.
What it comes to a gluten free diet, Niklas
shows some changes in his attention span and concentration if he gets a
lot of gluten. He starts to act as if he is “not present” and he loses
good eye contact. I am also happy I noticed that this is because of
gluten intolerance (he is not celiac), because these traits are easily
thought just to be “part of DS”. I am working on healing the gut with
enzymes and probiotics in order to return gluten into his diet one day.
Meanwhile he will continue to be on a gluten free diet as well. Whatever
it takes to keep him healthy!
