It has been over a year since my last post. I wanted to update and say that AJ is doing really well right now and I know why. Her liquid vitamin, "ADDED Attention" by, Burried Treasure, is like a miracle for her. I don't know about other kids on the spectrum but this is what she needs for sure. When she doesn't take it she is in a complete fog (one time we ran out and I couldn't get more for a month). After we give it to her for 3 days she gets a bit better...then after 2 weeks she is a new person. Her teachers can tell the difference too. We also are very good about giving her (and her siblings) "Rhino Gummy Calci-Bears with vitamin D. They are by "Nutrition Now."
It is huge for me to know what keeps AJ's head clear. Before we would have major ups and downs...some weeks were great and some were awful. Now I know that it must have been that some weeks she was randomly getting the nutrition she needed, and others, she wasn't. When I am good about giving her the vitamins she is able to talk to friends and keep friends. She still is horrible about getting her homework done...but less horrible than when she isn't on the vitamins. She is just happier and listens more. She is on "Earth" as we joke, when is taking the vitamins.
We have changed her diet a bit. I still am good about keeping her diet free of, gluten, soy, preservatives and artificial color, cows milk. But after we realized the vitamins had so much to do with her improvement, we do now successfully cheat with some food that was previously off limits because of the gfcf diet...and this is how we do it:
We have discovered that she can have cheese sometimes without it affecting her. This is great because the local "natural" pizza place makes an amazing gluten free pizza. This is AJ's favorite food and we have it every couple of weeks. Also now at Publix they have Annie's Gluten Free Pizza. Now I can keep something in my freezer that I can give to her when running out of time.
I still keep her far from cows milk. She is very happy with rice milk in her natural sweet rice flakes for breakfast. In face all my kids drink rice milk becuase my middle son is like a different kid on cows milk. When he drinks cows milk he asks for it all day long and is emotional and angry. When I take it away and give him rice milk, he is a great kid. I don't know why...I'm not a doctor or a scientist. But it is as clear as a bell with him. I don't keep cheese away from him but he doesn't seem to crave cheese like he does cows milk and I try not to serve it every day. We do put a bit of cheese on our rice pasta which makes the kids like it more though. So I have learned to use some stuff (cheese) that used to be on the "no" list. I have to be really tuned in to their needs and emotions. I am so happy now though because I have found a food/nutrition balance that works for them. Now I have happy kids even though they are not "typical" kids. Emmy (my 2-year-old) is completely typical and she is fine with cows milk. But...I give her rice milk anyway. She gets gummy supplements and breast milk still...not she is not missing out on any nutrition.
And...we got a microwave. Our friend was giving away her brand new one because she replaced it with a super fancy one for ther new kitchen. Our microwave mostly just sits there but every couple of weeks I heat up some frozen peas for my 2-year-old. I still don't use it to cook whole meals. If pregnant people are not supposed to be around microwaves...I don't think that kids with autism should really be either.
So that is my update. Things are good.
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