Autism GFCF Diet: How Long?

Okay, folks, we learned this one the hard way. Our boy loves him some bread, and our family adores it. One of their favorite things in the whole world is when I grab some cheddar cheese bagels from Safeway, the LEAST gluten free casein free items on the planet, I’m sure. Sure enough, whenever we pull out those suckers, our boy pounces. And we feel bad.

So even though we had seen a slew of awesome benefits from the GFCF diet (his rash disappeared, his focus and eye contact increased, he slept better, etc), we finally caved and took the lad off of the Gluten Free Casein Free diet more than five months into the experiment. Just to see. Maybe he had outgrown his aversion to it, right? Well, we let him indulge in some bready goodness, and sure enough, his behavior headed south, and fast. His rash returned, and his attention span tanked. So much for that experiment.

And then we found out that Gluten proteins can take as long as 6 months to be removed from your system! (D’OH!) We just lost all of our hard-fought momentum.

From our little lesson, I need to recommend the obvious: If you’re going to try to go Gluten Free, you’re going to need to try for at least 6 months. During this time, it’s a good idea to track foods, any infractions, and changes in rashes, behaviors, bowel movements, sleep. This information will be extremely important for you to determine if the diet is working for your child. Whether or not your pediatrician is a believer in foods affecting behavior, he will at very least be pleased to see your thouroughness in tracking these items.

So give GFCF a fair trial. It really is worth it. Just take your time. Certainly don’t give up simply because you experience resistance to the new changes. You WILL see behavioral issues if Charlie is denied his favorite McDonald’s chicken nuggets. So count on it, but don’t let behavioral challenges discourage you. Charlie might just be able to thank you some day.

…Just give it time.