If Your Child's Moods And Behavior Improved After gluten-free, How Long Did It Take?

[Sarah8793]

My 8 year old has only been gluten and casein free now for about 2 months. I do see some improvement in his attending and paying attention, but not much more. So I was just wondering if any of you have seen obvious mental changes for the better in your kids and how long it took?

Thanks!

[celiacgirls]

I noticed improvement within the first few days of being off gluten for my older daughter. Then about a month later, I noticed she had to avoid casein, too. Her behaviour and mood immediately improved unless she has casein.

My younger daughter shows signs of having ADHD. It was months after she started the diet that I noticed she wasn't acting that way any more. I wasn't watching for it though. I think now she has a problem with soy and acts like she has ADHD when she has it. She was complaining about her tummy hurting after having some soy so I tried to eliminate it. Last week, she was acting hyper and couldn't focus on her homework again and I realized she had been having some soy every day. I made sure she didn't have it on Friday and she came home visibly calmer that day.

[wolfie]

With DS, I saw some changes within the first few days. However, it has taken a few months to see some of the other changes. His grades are wonderful this year....he gets As for the most part, with the rare B. He doesn't struggle to do homework anymore (doesn't fight me, either). He has been gluten-free since the middle of July.

We had been getting him evaluated for ADHD and found out about his Celiac in the middle. We now think that it was the gluten causing those symptoms in him (lack of focus & concentration, behavior issues).

[2kids4me]

Daughter improved almost immediately (first couple weeks after gluten-free) - energy levels went way up, school work improved as did her attention and focus. Son took a month or more, bedwetting ceased, blood glucose levels stabalized and he slept better.

Recently we also descovered she had problem with lactose - ability to complete work in class went down, tired a lot, and diarrhea /nausea. Eliminated lactose and she was able to stay on task better and had no homework for the weekend that just passed.

[dd has Aspergers so imnproved attention helped her A LOT]

[Sarah8793]

I noticed improvement within the first few days of being off gluten for my older daughter. Then about a month later, I noticed she had to avoid casein, too. Her behaviour and mood immediately improved unless she has casein.

That is interesting that the casein and soy are affecting her mood. My children are casein free also, but they went cf at the same time as gluten-free, so I don't know how each one affects them independantly. I'll keep an eye on how mine react with soy also. Thanks!

We had been getting him evaluated for ADHD and found out about his Celiac in the middle. We now think that it was the gluten causing those symptoms in him (lack of focus & concentration, behavior issues).

I'm so glad you found out about the celiac first before having him tested for ADHD. Sounds like now you may not have to go down that road. My ds's attention span is improving also, but he still has some mood issues that I am hoping will resolve also.

Daughter improved almost immediately (first couple weeks after gluten-free) - energy levels went way up, school work improved as did her attention and focus. Son took a month or more, bedwetting ceased, glucose levels stabalized and he slept better.

My ds also has problems with bed wetting. Hasn't resolved yet, but hopefully will. Seeing the difference in recovery time between your children helps me to remember that each person is different. Thank you.

[2kids4me]

My ds also has problems with bed wetting. Hasn't resolved yet, but hopefully will. Seeing the difference in recovery time between your children helps me to remember that each person is different. Thank you.

You're welcome - with the bedwetting - that took about 6 weeks if I remember right - he wet the bed almost every night, then I noticed it was very 3rd night then once a week, then it was like 2 weeks went by and no soaking wet boy in the middle of the night needing a hug and dry clothes

He still occasionally wets the bed - I think once in the last 6 months - usually when he is really tired after a long day.... and its not soaking wet like before - he will wake up in the middle of doing it and get to the bathroom for the rest

[lonewolf]

My ds also has problems with bed wetting. Hasn't resolved yet, but hopefully will. Seeing the difference in recovery time between your children helps me to remember that each person is different. Thank you.

My 11 year old son still has problems with bedwetting. Gluten doesn't seem to affect it either way. He's gluten-free and dairy-free and I honestly can't say that going gluten-free helped at all with the wetting. I was hoping for a miracle for him, because it's so hard at his age. He's already dreading 6th grade camp, because even the medication doesn't always work for him. We give that to him for things like summer camp and it usually helps, but he still needs to sneak a "Good Night" pullup on inside his sleeping bag.

As for behavior, etc., my son's attitude, attention span and emotions all improved immediately after going gluten-free. His teacher last year wanted him tested for ADD. After 3 days off gluten she said he was "a different child". When he gets into wheat/gluten he gets very negative and distracted. He's still not convinced that going gluten-free is necessary, but the rest of the family can see the difference.

[wonkabar]

My 8 year old has only been gluten and casein free now for about 2 months. I do see some improvement in his attending and paying attention, but not much more. So I was just wondering if any of you have seen obvious mental changes for the better in your kids and how long it took?

Thanks!

I saw a dramatic change in my son's behavior and some attenional changes within two days. That being said, while gluten can cause certain types of behaviors in children, ADD is still a very real issue and Dx. Yes, we did see improvement in his ability to attend and level of distractability however, he is still extremely distractable and has a great deal of difficulty attending both at home and school (as per his teacher). The gluten-free diet didn't "make the ADD go away". There is a strong genetic component to ADD in my family so none of this is a surprise. What it did make "go away" were the tantrums, yelling, crying and waking up in the middle of the night crying/screaming for no apparent reason. These changes in behavior were nearly miraculous. The gluten-free diet completely eliminated the retropspective pain and discomfort he was experiencing.

Many people put their children on a gluten-free diet to address some of the issues related to ADD. We chose to remove gluten from our son's diet to address medical concerns involving gluten. His attentional issues were never even a consideration to be honest. What the gluten-free diet did do in terms of his difficulties with attention and distractability was make it *much easier* to see the difference b/t gluten type of behaviors and *true* difficulties in terms of ADD. I don't doubt that some people see a different child when they remove gluten from their diets; I certainly did. BUT, ADD is far more involved and complicated than removing gluten. It is a real, Dx problem with a neurological etiology that needs to be addressed at home and at school. I would hate to see someone dismiss the possibility of their child truly having ADD soley based on a gluten-free diet. If someone's child is that inattentive, distractable and active I'd err on the side of them truly having ADD and finding relief of the symptoms through the diet.

I don't mean to come across as harsh or very opinionated; that's certainly not my intention. I'm not trying to stand on a soapbox. I am the mother of a child with attentional difficulties as well as Sensory Modulation Dysfunction so I KNOW all about the distractable, inattentive, "active" child! He's busily moving around the house as we speak!! I also taught self-contained special education for a long time and worked with many, many kids who were Dx with ADD among other things. Removing gluten is certainly a cure-all for many things, but a gluten-free diet isn't the answer to everything. We would *never* put our son back on gluten; it's nasty stuff. But, it's not the end all and be all in terms of helping him learn how to manage ADD.

[GFBetsy]

Lonewolf -

Give it one more year or so. I wet the bed until I was 12 . . . tried all sorts of things, but nothing worked. My parents actually used to come in my room beating pots and pans with wooden spoons in an attempt to wake me up, but it never worked! I'd sleep right through it after the first night or two. One of the doctors my mom took me to told her that bedwetting goes along with deep sleeping .. . kids who sleep really deeply are just like babies . . . all of their muscles relax while they sleep (including that big one called the bladder!). She told my mom that most kids grow out of it as they move into adolescence because they stop sleeping so deeply. And TA-DAH! I DID grow out of it when I hit adolescence! So did my little brother (when he was just about age 12, I believe). Before that, he did the same thing your son does with the Good Nights. So it should get better soon!