Help with my 4yo

[rds989]

Wow! I really hope this does the trick for you! I'll totally be watching this thread to see how it all works out!

[Julesmom23girls]

OH that sounds great. Please keep us posted. I may have to give this a try as well. DD is better than she was last year, but we still have a lot of moments. None seem as sever as what you have discribed but if cutting out a few things makes that big of a difference then I am willing to do it.

[camdensmommy]

I am sooo happy to hear that! we have been having some good success over here too. Now granted I have only been able to completely eliminate red dye over here so far because prior to me learning all this stuff we ate like CRAP. Most of the food that we have in the house has artificial something in it, whether it is color, flavor or preservatives. Even Wheat Thins! So I have been trying hard to avoid it as much as possible but until we can go shopping again I will just have to pick and choose.

Anyway my daughter slept for six hours straight (she is 20 mo) woke to nurse and then slept until 10:00 am. 12 hours! She then took a 2 1/2 hour nap today which hasn't happened in like 6 months. She was also very mild mannered and only had her typical toddler tantrums. Tantrums that were predictable and explainable not just crazy what in the heck are you screaming about tantrums like she was doing before.

I am so happy to have discovered all of this. At the same time it sucks to have my ignorance stolen away from me. If you really want some eye opening knowledge and to get your blood boiling you should read: "The Crazy Makers - How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children" by Carol Simontacchi. I am only a few chapters in so far but all ready I am dumbfounded. I can not believe the things I am reading.

Ok, sorry. Didn't mean to hijack your thread!

Jessica

[camdensmommy]

P.S. I found my copy of the book at the library and it was written in 2000 so it is fairly recent compared to a lot of the books out there on the subject.

[dessismama]

Just wanted to add that 4 is a hard age and my DD also got very sassy and bahaved horribly for about a month. Then... back to her normal and more mature self.

Hang in there!!

Oh, and my DD is extremely sensitive to artificial foods and corn syrup.

[Luvmybabies]

I absolutely understand that 4 is a hard age, 3 was too I'm not saying that she turned into a total angel overnight or anything - just much closer to being the way she used to be. She'll do something fresh but she immediately knows that she shouldn't have and apologizes without me having to ask. Over the past few weeks that wasn't the case at all - when I spoke to her about the behavior that made the situation SOOOO much worse, there would be screaming and crying for hours after.

Chloe has always eaten good food, little to no junk. We sat down last night and talked about the changes in her diet and even my DH is convinced that this is the problem.

I also decided to order the Feingold Program (I'm that convinced!)

[sesa70]

Its incredible to me how much of a difference it can make! I am glad that you were able to discover it.

I am also very grateful for this info, I have a cousin who has some behavior issues, alot of hyperactivity, difficulty concentrating, impulse control problems, cant sit still, etc. He practically LIVES on junk food. Fruit snacks all day, canned soup or boxed noodles for lunch, candy all the time, cupcakes, sparkly spiderman toothpaste, gatoraide instead of water, you name the junk food he eats it. I have never seen him eat a piece of fruit or a veggie in his life and he is 8! I am going to pass this info on to his mom. I hope she actually tries it!

[momof4]

Wow, this is so interesting! My ds has ADHD, and we tried Feingold for a while, but found that limiting those particular foods made no difference whatsoever in his behavior over time, and it happened that some of his favorite healthy foods (tomato, cantelope) were on the forbidden list. So we ditched it and looked for other things.

My 4 y.o. daughter, who is normally a sweetie, had some behavior changes around the birth of her brother (now 2 mo.) The technique that has worked for us is whenever she does something a little bit bad, I ask, "Are you looking for some attention? What's a better way to let me know that?" Of course, for really bad stuff, we do timeouts, but followed with more talks about the better ways of getting love & attention.

Our other proven strategy is humor. She has finished PL for a long time, but started having multiple accidents, but refusing to go on the potty when I asked her to. Two techniques worked: 1) "Go sit on the potty and tell that pee not to come out!" "Mommy, it didn't listen! It came out anyway!" -- which let her express her negative feelings in a way that worked for me; and 2) being silly afterwards ("Did you remember to wash and flush your hands, oops, I mean flush and wash your hands -- I get so confused!").

These same techniques work for other times I need to make demands of her as well.

HTH, and I'm looking forward to hearing more positive stories about the Feingold diet working for someone, if not for us!

[Luvmybabies]

She went to bed like a champ again last night, slept straight through until 7am I'm lovin this!