Ok! Now if you opened this link thinking I was going to go on a rant about Vladimir Putin. Wrong! We're here to talk a little bit about Gluten! My almost 4 year old Calls it Putin (evil just like the Dictator) she came up with that all on her own. There is no coincidence ;)
About two weeks ago we pulled her off of Gluten. This was a last resort for us. We had tried everything. I had read all the books, tried different strategies and I had even talked to Early Intervention specialist and a therapist about the possibility of a a brain disorder. See, Ruby had been having meltdowns; I am talking meltdowns not tantrums, at home for about a year and a half. I remember the first time she had one. In the middle of the tram line at Disneyland. It was 100 degrees outside, only one tram was running, about 1000 people (at least it felt like it) were waiting for it and she lost it. It was HORRIBLE. The meltdowns continued. Sometimes multiple times a day. It was exhausting and I started getting anxiety on my way home from work, knowing that our evening could be very rough. I didn't want to come home. To be honest I didn't even want to be around my daughter.
As a mom. I felt like a failure. Feeling that feeling about your own child is awful. It comes with a heavy weight. I felt like as a family, we were failing and that there was something seriously wrong and I didn't have any clue how to fix it. Her ability to process information and express her emotions was stunted.
Fast Forward to two weeks ago. I think I was finally able to open up my ears enough to actually listen. Yeah, sometimes I can be stubborn ;) And decided lets just give it a try and see what happens. We will give it two weeks and if we don't see a change then we can go back to eating regularly.
I started to notice a difference in two days. I thought " this has to be a fluke" "this is just wishful thinking" but nevertheless I persisted (see what I did there) Honestly though, we had two days of no meltdowns, the keratosis on her arms was starting to fade and her Eczema was going away. This was a new Years Miracle! Here we are, right now her arms are clear, her eczema is almost completely gone and she is Happy. This is the part that makes me teary. Guys, she is happy! It is like my little girl is finally coming out. Before we got little glimpses of who she was when she was feeling good, but that was so often overshadowed by anger, meltdowns and violence. She is a like a completely different person and I feel like I am finally able to start connecting with her the way I have been wanting. Just last night she started to meltdown a little bit and within minutes she said " My Feelings are hurt because someone called me yucky at school today." In the past getting to the point of her being able to say that would of taken 45 minutes.
We are completely overjoyed and I will shout it from the ROOFTOPS! We feel peace. Our family is working better. The stress is melting away daily and it feels sooo good! <3 <3
* I know that Gluten free isn't the answer for everything but I know for us, for her; for now this is the answer.
Here are some foods we have tried that we really like as a family
- Anything by Wholesome Chow ( Amazon or LifeSource)
- Any Bobs Red Mill mixes ( you can get these anywhere)
- Bobs Red mill Gluten Free Oats ( Lifesource)
- Trader Joes Gluten Free Pizza Crust
- Pamela's Products especially the graham crackers ( LifeSource)
- Betty Crocker gluten free brownies
- Lara Bars
- Franz Gluten free bread - Mountain white (because Kaleb still thinks its regular bread)
- Annies Gluten Free Pasta boxes. Or what I do with the old boxes we have, is swap out GF noodles and still use the sauce packets.
Cheers for BIG victories!
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