Food Allergies and Artificial Dyes

I began this blog 3 years ago as I was investigating food choices for Silas. I needed someplace to gather my research and organize my thoughts as I was preparing to make some pretty drastic changes in the food we eat. Lately, I've been blogging more about the boys in general and haven't spent much time on my food soap box. It's time for me to climb back up...

The Center for Science in the Public Interest published an article about Food Dyes and Children's Behavior which raised my awareness of these potentially harmful additives. I decided I was going to try to eliminate them from our diet (as much as possible) and was stunned by how many products contain them! Yogurt, cereal, juice... I had to read labels for everything! I've been at it long enough now that I have found lots of good products that are acceptable, and so we are able to eat a "normal" diet without the food dyes.

Sadly, I spent an entire year frustrated by Silas' preschool. We were pleased with many things about the school, but felt that we were fighting a losing battle when it came to the nutrition they offered the children. Snack time was every morning between 9:30 and 10:00, and most days it was a cheap, sugar-laden cereal of some kind, including generic "fruit loops" and "golden grahams". I tried to casually experess my concerns, but nothing changed.

I ended up confronting the director of the preschool in late winter about the dye-containing sugar cereals offered for snack. I felt like she did not understand where I was coming from, even though at the beginning of the year I had provided her with copies of the studies backing my position. At the end of our conversation, I felt that she was so weary from everything else and that I was just another "problem" for her to deal with. She did agree that cereal was not a snack that the preschool children should be offered and that she would address it. Honestly, I can't remember if it changed or not.

A funny story about Silas' awareness:
Of course, I had to explain to Silas why he wasn't allowed to have many of his favorite foods. I explained to him that the "bad food dyes" are not good for his little body, that they make it hard for him to listen sometimes. He would sometimes ask me for treats that he saw his friends getting in their packed lunches and I always felt bad telling him he couldn't have something that would have made him so happy.

One day at school, he informed his friend Nick that the juice he was drinking had the "bad food dyes". Well, apparently, Nick misunderstood Silas and thought that he was saying that his drink was going to make him DIE! The teacher told me the whole incident and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why Silas would say such a thing to his friend. I asked him and he said that he hadn't meant that, but couldn't tell me what did he mean. It was a few days later when I realized the error based on the sound-alike words Die and Dye. I explained it to his teacher, who was a bit relieved, and the next time I saw Nick's mom, I apologized and explained it all to her. She was unaware that this had all taken place (perhaps Nick had forgotten it by the time she picked up from school), but I used it as an opportunity to raise awareness about the behavior connection as Nick was always getting in trouble at school. It was the first she had heard of anything like this, and so she said she would look into it.

Sleep Update

Several weeks ago, I attempted to let Josiah "cry it out". He had been waking up every 2-3 hours and the only thing that would soothe him was nursing. After a very painful 2 hours of him crying and me going in there to rub his back, I finally caved and nursed him to sleep. Of course, the next morning I noticed this HUGE mass on his gum line where a molar was working its way through (see picture), so mommy guilt set in and I refrained from letting him cry again the next night.

Part of the problem was his new talent at standing in the crib. He would wake in the night, pull himself to standing, and then not know where to go from there. I would find him screaming at the end of his bed, but really, had he not woken himself up that way, he would have been fine.

A few nights ago, Steve was inspired to let him cry again. It was a Saturday night, so daddy didn't have to be up for work in the morning, and he got the process going. After about 90 minutes, Steve was spent, so I took over. Did I mention that the power was out? Yes, we had no electricity, but I still was on board as I could tell that this was "the night". That being said, I was still tethering myself to the bed to refrain from going in there too quickly. It was agonizing. Without a clock to watch, I lay there counting to 60 over and over in my head until five minutes had expired and then I went into him. He did wind down and finished the night without needing mommy's milk.

We had a few more nights of going in every five minutes or so, but most times now, he gets himself back to sleep pretty quickly, before I even go in. And last night, he didn't need me AT ALL! Woohoo!