Are soy milk and soy yogurt okay?
We are new to the board and new to the diet — just startedyesterday removing casein from my 3-year-old daughter’s diet andremoving much of the gluten too. I had read on the gfcf diet siteabout avoiding Rice Dream milk — but I thought good milkreplacements would be soy (such as the Silk brand.) My daughterLOVES milk and yogurt, so I got plenty of the soy versions of both,carefully reading labels to double-check. Now I’ve just read on thetacanow.com website that soy products are NOT okay because theyare “casein-like.”. Can anyone clarify for me — can we stick withsoy?
We are planning to phase in gluten-free over the next week or so –right now we’ve switched breakfast cereals and sandwich breads –will be changing out snacks, vitamins and miscellaneous things likeice cream cones over the next few weeks. My daughter has a veryself-limited diet — she does love fruit, but other than that, it’sbasically dairy and starches — she refuses all veggies and meat(though as a baby she LOVED spinach and broccoli), will not trythings like rice, hotdogs, pizza, spaghetti or other things Iimagine a lot of kids love.
A little about our history: we are currently in the process ofhaving our daughter evaluated, but she appears to be on the mild endof the spectrum. She has a HUGE vocabulary (ex. she could recitethe entire Night Before Christmas poem at age 2.4 and she knew bysight 54 different breeds of dogs before her 3rd birthday) butextremely limited two-way conversational skills; has a great memory,especially visually (will recognize if we’ve taken a wrong turn inthe car, for example, even if she has only been to the destinationonce or twice); is mostly clueless in social situations with peersand very anxious in any new situation — both situations usuallyresulting in severe echolalia; has limited imaginary play (can copyexactly a situation she has seen or we have suggested, but does notgenerate her own scenarios.) Loves to line up toys and empty andrefill boxes and baskets of toys. She has only recently, with ourwork and that of a speech therapist, started using a few completesentences and gesturing (such as pointing to a picture in a book.)She does not ask any “w” questions, is pretty much oblivious topain, and even though she knows how to get out of bed and open herdoor, waits every morning in bed (awake) for us to come and gether. She does not stim and does not appear to have any digestiveissues until now, no behavior problems at pre-school or with otherkids, except maybe being a little too timid and passive in playsituations (allows toys to be taken from her, is sometimes scared ofother kids on playground equipment.) Does this sound familiar toanyone whose child the diet has helped?
Would love to hear success stories from anyone whose child soundslike ours and for whom the diet has worked! Also, is there anyoneout there who has given it their best shot but found that diet wasnot an issue in their child’s autism?
This post tagged as: gfcf diet, casein, autism casein diet free gluten
Florentino Birchler said,
Wrote on May 17, 2007 @ 11:23 am
My son sounds a lot like your daughter. He does the same type ofthings. He hasn’t been diagnosed yet but when he does get a dx, itwill be high functioning autism or asperger’s. With the diet, i’mnoticing that my son is sleeping way better. I have noticed a weebit of language improvement, but that’s my son. Your daughter willhave different results i’m sure! I think that chelation is going tobe what helps most with my son.
Marisol Tua said,
Wrote on May 17, 2007 @ 9:41 pm
Hi, my daughter was 5 when she was first dxd with Aspergers, veryhigh functioning, very intelligent (could read by the time she wasthree, etc.). She also had some classic symptoms, lining up hertoys, pouring water into different cups over & over & over,insistence on routines, things staying the same; she not only hadher favorite colors/songs etc., she also picked out everyone else’sfavorites as well and insisted that they keep them; the penaltybeing meltdowns if things were varied from what she thought theyshould be. She stayed in a “zone,” didn’t get into the typicalroutines at preschool while the other kids did, talked ina “singsong,” or story-telling voice (probably echoing how adultsand Barney kids talked). Back then I had no idea of biomedicaltreatment, the psychologists that gave her the dx could only tell menothing could be done, just group therapy this, inclusion therapythat, blah blah blah… not saying these things are bad, but no onehad any answers for me, just a lot of description of the problemwhich I was already too familiar with.
About 3 years ago I heard a little about the GFCF diet and went sofar as to put her on soy milk, but that was about it. We didn’t getserious about the diet until about a year and half ago, Kaycie’sschoolwork was starting to suffer, she was definitely sufferingsocially (ignoring other children, talking to herself, most daysjust totally oblivious to her world. She had to have specialmodifications in school to keep her grades up (this was from astraight-A student too… grrr). We met a DAN doctor who put her onthe diet with a lot of supplements, and she has come a million milessince then. She has friends, she makes spontaneous conversations,she no longer has to have things rigidly her way (no more than anynormal 11 year old does) and she keeps right up with the otherchildren in the classroom, and gives total participation. There arestill some glitches like yeast issues, she still has times where shefeels compelled to talk to herself, and she’s still basically a shyperson and has a way to go to better take up for herself. Pluspuberty came early (yikes).
That brings me (finally) to the soy issue, she was on soy milkalmost exclusively for the last three years, plus when we went GFCFher margarine and cheese were soy as well. After I noticed herphysically developing pretty early (breasts, pubic hair, etc.) Iread somewhere that soy contains estrogens (what??!!) and that I hadbeen stuffing her with it for the last three years. I don’t know,she may have developed like this anyway, but I’ve begun rotating heroff the soy for several weeks, and using Vance’s Darifree and almondmilk, and corn-based margarine. The soy cheese is the only thing Iallow constantly, just because I’ve not been able to find anysuitable replacement.
My daughter sounds a lot like yours, and the diet (and a LOT ofprayer) has turned her around. She still has some issues but isnowhere NEAR the troubled child she used to be. Her teachers thatmeet her for the first time are shocked to learn she is on thespectrum. That’s the best compliment she could get, I think!
You’ve come to the right board, lots of great folks who know justwhere you’re coming from and are very very helpful. I hope thishelps you, sorry so long!
Flora Casley said,
Wrote on May 19, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
Your daughter sounds so much like my own 3yo girl. We started thediet last December and the results have been a miracle. She was aseemingly content child who could name any noun/object pictured orplaced in front of her and read license plates as we strolledthrough a parking lot at age 2, but made no effort to communicate orconnect with anyone other than myself, repetitive actions, nopurposeful play etc etc–all the classic stuff. Since the diet wehave seen the fog lift and all these months later it just continuesto get better. Her new-found spontaneous speech and social skillsare a constant part of our day now. She has left her “intensiveneeds” classroom and although we still have a way to go before I cancall her totally “recovered”, she is gaining conversation skills inthe same patterns that most (although younger) children learn tospeak (Starting off with nounds and then slowly adding verbs,descriptive words etc.) We still have a lack of “w” questions and ageneral lack of tense and possesive conjunctions in her speech, buther progress is so promising that I find myself in grateful tearsfrequently at the real prospect that we have come through the worstof it and truly defeated the autism. I don’t believe this diet is acure for all autism, but for many it can be a powerful foundationfor making advances that were out of the question before. In somecases, like our daughters, it truly seems to be the key to unlockingthe beautiful, sweet, vivacious child within and setting her free.Give it a whole hearted try and see if it doesn’t help your familyalso.
Helen said,
Wrote on January 14, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
Hello to all,
My Son was diagnosed with Autism aprox. 1 year ago.
Since then we have gone ahead and brought in an ABA therapist to assist with his everyday challenges.
Although our Son is considered to be on the “low” end of the spectrum, he has very little vocabulary and major oral sensitivity which prevents him from eating anything that is not in puree form.
Having turned 3 this past September, we decided it was time to pursue all of these “diets” we keep hearing about.
For aprox. 3 weeks he has been on a Gluten Free diet and as of today, we have begun the Casein free diet.
Most recently we hired a Nutritionist to ensure that we were on the right path. She advised that because of his age, Soya milk was a great way to go.
The milk of choice for us has been the “So Good” brand which actually comes in a variety of flavors (for the pickier drinkers).
Soy Milk is fortified with all the goodness of regular milk. It is an excellent source of Protein and very high in Calcium, not to mention contains Omega-6 & Omega-3 which is great for everyone.
Clinton Bashore said,
Wrote on February 11, 2008 @ 9:43 am
Hi, Give dogtorj.net a try, you may find some help there. He has helped a friend of mine with his diet; eliminating epilepsy and increasing bone density and if autism were present, I’m sure it would have been eliminated also…Clint