The Power of Dairy

A little history first. December 2006 I had just had it with my allergies so I decided to try an elimination diet similar to the one explained here. It took me about two months to complete it but in the end I discovered the foods causing my main allergy problems. Dairy is of course, my biggest culprit. I'm also a little sensitive to corn (something my naturopath says is common in people with candida issues) and bananas. Through avoiding dairy I have eliminated the majority of my allergy issues.

Soooo, I was noticing some things with Tigger. Not only the sensory and potty training issues, but how he was getting little almost invisible bumps on his skin, redness around the mouth and cheeks and diaper rash. I decided to take him off dairy. He didn't have any more diaper rash, his face cleared up, he stopped chewing everything and he potty trained. Coincidence? Maybe, but my guess is that the dairy allergy was throwing his whole system off, including the sensory part. You don't have to react in an anaphalactic (spelling ?) way to have an allergy.

I have a SoyaPower machine which makes our soy and rice or almond milk. We have discovered cheeses from the health food store. Soy and rice ice cream doesn't taste as bad when it's the only thing you can eat.

Tigger is handling it all really well. He even told a friend he was visiting that he wanted a snack, but no cow's milk. ;D The only thing we haven't been able to find is a substitute for goldfish crackers. Some type of cracker that tastes cheesy would be really appreciated around here. If any of you reading this have a name brand for me, I could order it thru our local Whole Foods. I would greatly appreciate it. (and Tigger would LOVE it!)

So, any of you with potty issues and/or sensory issues going on with your kids, give non-dairy eating a try. It just might surprise you.

Potty Success

Due to the nature of the subject, expect some 'potty' words. :D

I'm constantly amazed at how things work out. Pooh potty trained in one week (numbers 1 & 2) the month he turned six. I did expect that, due to his autism. I was familiar with the late training aspect.

However (and that's a big however) I never expected it to take almost 5 years for Tigger my 'nt' child. He finally potty trained this month in a matter of 3 days. He'll be 5 in February. So i'm left to conclude that it isn't autism for my boys but sensory issues. I know that it wasn't connected this past spring when i tried training Tigger. I would ask him to try to pee and he would squeeze himself to try to get something out. This is a smart kid, but the potty sensations just eluded him. Sometime he would tell me he had a poopy diaper when it was just pee and vice versa. So what's a mom to do? I just had to let it go. After all, if the promise of a pirate party didn't inspire any motivation, what would? LOL

For any of you moms who may be despairing over potty training, here's an interesting article on the sensory issues involved in the whole process. (the only one i found i might add) I may or may not have previously mentioned that I did start noticing some signs of sensory disintegration in Tigger. He started with the chewing--clothes, toys, etc. I already knew he was bouncy. So i had to go with the fact that he needed more nutrition wise and more activity wise before his system would calm down enough for him to key in with his body's needs. Fortunately, it's worked, he's successful and very proud of himself and we will soon be having a great pirate party (as soon as it's warm enough).

Argh!!