Hello everyone, I pray everyone is in good spirits and your week is getting off to a great start. As we all know ASD is an ever evolving, complex disease state. I guess that’s why they call it a spectrum. The autism spectrum often presents with concomitant disorders such as feeding disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, seizure disorders, attention deficit and anxiety disorders. Today I want to briefly skim the surface on gastrointestinal disorders as I am sure some of it, not all ASD kiddos are dealing with. This is certainly a controversial topic and by no means am I an expert on it but I can share my experiences that I have had with Jayson and some strategies that have helped Jayson and I pray I could help your kiddo as well. A study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders May 2018 showed an association between ASD and irritable bowel disease. This retrospective study done in almost 300,000 children revealed that autistic children were 67% more likely than non-ASD children to have a diagnosis of irritable bowel disease. Another study from 2014 showed that children with ASD are four times more likely as compared to other children to have symptoms of constipation, diarrhea or abdominal discomfort. Multiple dietary strategies have been employed by parents and caregivers with the hopes of finding some relief for their children. Example diets include
- Casein-free diet: eliminating milk and all by-products of milk
- Gluten-free diet: eliminating grains
- Feingold diet: eliminating additives, preservatives, dyes, artificial colors, artificial
flavoring/sweeteners
- Specific carbohydrate diet: removing grains, lactose and sucrose
- Yeast-free diet: eliminating yeast and sugars
By no means am I advocating for one specific diet or another. As a parent, you have to do what you believe is best for your kiddo. My advice is do your research—speak to your pediatric developmental specialist and a registered dietician who specializes in ASD.
Jayson’s GI symptoms, I thank God, were not that bad. On occasion he suffers with constipation. That usually resolves fairly quickly with Miralax. He doesn’t like most textured foods because of his sensory sensitives, but thank God he eats what he does eat. His dietary issues have been difficult especially with him being in school full time, but by God’s grace he is getting through the day. I remember packing his school lunch and putting cookies, chips and gummies and I thought to myself, they must think I am a horrible parent. Then I thought again, LET THEM JUDGE ME, NO ONE KNOWS MY STORY! He doesn’t eat a lot during the school day but once he gets home he eats a heavy dinner and he is good to go. The school at one point sent me this paper:
and all I could do was laugh, as though I don’t know my food groups hut I took it as they were educating ALL parents not just me. We work along with Jayson’s ABA therapists to introduce new foods to him and, so far, it has been working out. We don’t follow a strict “diet” per se, but we try to restrict artificial sweeteners.
Please leave a comment below and let us know if you have used any of the above listed diets and what your experience was. I pray this blog opens up a conversation we need to have ways and ideas to help our kiddos.
Love you all!
God bless you.
M.J.