I’d like to tell you a story. It’s about a lot of things, but mostly it’s about how food can have a major effect on a young family’s life. My own family has history of food intolerances. This includes me, two of my children and as it turns out, my father, brother and aunt. When my son was younger, he always had a constantly runny nose that I simply put down to ‘just being a kid who picked up every cold’, but at eight years of age he suddenly developed migraines. Behind-the-eye, excruciatingly painful throbbing, vomiting, light phobia and a 24-hour recovery period. Not nice for anyone, let alone an active, sports-mad 8-year-old. My aunt, an MD with an interest in complementary medicines suggested we look at his diet, after all she was wheat intolerant and maybe it was familial. As it turns out, my aunt was spot on. My son was intolerant to both wheat and cow’s milk, and so was I! I changed our entire family’s diet for my son, and I felt better! To add to the cooking challenge, as my daughter got older and started eating out, she also found a major intolerance to MSG (not just added as salt, but glutamate in natural foods as well). Move to the latest generation. Two of my young grandchildren have food intolerances, but it would be too simple for them to have the same intolerances as the rest of the family… or to each other for that matter! One has intolerances to salicylates and wheat and the other intolerances to glutamates and cow’s milk. Both of my grandchildren are delightful… until they eat the wrong food. She goes, what we call in our home as ‘gaga’ while he gets terrible eczema and his behaviour can be accurately described as ‘rank’. Sleep is poor, tolerance of each other falls, there are more toileting ‘accidents’, cooperation and concentration deteriorate and life in general becomes miserable for the whole family. Being aware that food may have been the cause of these problems circumvented what could have been a very traumatic first few years of life… as it was, it took time to work through the food challenges and determine each child’s intolerances.
However, having worked it all out, life is (mostly) settled and for those visiting for dinner, they can expect an ‘interesting’ food experience. We have wheat-free, dairy-free, Salicylate and Glutamate-free food that has no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives added (they are full of glutamates and salicylates). Over time and between my daughter and I, we have learned to find substitutes for just about every food ingredient so that every meal works for everyone. Sometimes I get it wrong and we all suffer… children and families alike, but fortunately, it is far easier to find these substitutes today than it was 30 years ago when we first started out on this food intolerance journey! My early efforts making gluten free bread (available then for everyday purchase) with a bread maker not designed for such a treat turned out what my children called ‘rock cakes’, and my rice flour cakes turned into cereal (with rice milk added)!
Why did I tell you this story about my own family’s dietary challenges? Because, I thought you may be wondering if your own grandchild’s behaviour, sleep pattern, inability to concentrate or obstinance is a reflection of their personality, or if it is something else entirely out of their control. It is, most likely something out of their control, and it is up to us, their carers, to act as Sherlock Holmes and find out what is affecting them. Babies and young children are programmed to create close relationships with their key carers, not to be distressingly difficult. They love praise, positive feedback and they love to please. If their behaviours and responses are otherwise, we need find that ‘something’ within their immediate environment that is affecting them. These are called environmental triggers and can include a number of things, but in my work, I have noticed that the food a child consumes (or a breast-feeding mother consumes) is extremely important and one that we can easily and immediately control if it is the trigger. So, if you feel that your grandchild is ‘difficult to manage’ or has poor quality sleep, lacks concentration or has toileting issues, look to his or her diet. There are many nutritional specialists who can assist a family in getting a child onto the right dietary track. There is also an outstanding website that will provide you with more information and guidance www.fedup.com.au and of course, you can read more about it in our book Grandparenting Grandchildren. We feel this topic is so important, we have dedicated a whole chapter to the importance of Guts and the food children eat . Oh, and my son with the migraines, I guess you would like to know how he fared? I hate to report that while altering his diet did assist reducing his migraines, it did not fully solve the problem. He is now in his late 30’s and still suffers from migraines, so the detection work continues. He does, however, find diet continues to make a difference, and now not only excludes wheat and dairy, but also caffeine, chocolate, alcohol and certain other foods from his daily fare. You must admit, that’s healthy, and perhaps something we all should consider doing…?
