Bye Bye Dyes

I’m poisoning my child. At least that’s how I felt when I looked through my pantry on Monday. As I scrutinized the nutrition panels I came to the realization that all of my soon-to-be 3-year-old son’s favorite foods contained food dyes. Even his Flinstone chewy vitamins and tooth paste contain artificial colors. Two weeks ago I had never given a second thought to food dyes. But then a friend mentioned that her son’s behavior had improved after cutting the not-so-innocent dyes out of his diet.  So I started to Google and the more I read, the more my husband and I became convinced that we needed to give this a try. 

Let me be perfectly clear, I am not crunchy.

I didn’t cloth diaper. I don’t shop at Whole Foods. I’m skeptical of organic food claims.  I embrace Western medicine and my kids are up-to-date on their vaccines.   Yet, I chose to deliver both of my children without medication because I didn’t want to expose them to unnecessary medication. 

I’m open to trying “natural” solutions when they’re backed with sound medical research. Thanks to years of working in medical PR, I can read a complex medical study and (usually) make sense of it. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent in this area.

I remember someone telling me once that EVERY mother of a toddler boy thinks her son is hyperactive at one point or another.  I get it – boys are active.  But in my gut I believe his behavior is not just typical toddler behavior.

Ty has always been very active. He’s aggressive in a playful way (at least that’s what I tell myself when he tackles kids on the playground). He doesn’t respond to timeouts and other attempts at discipline. He’s very impulsive and can’t seem to control his body/actions at times.  And lately his “twitch” has returned. When he gets really excited his face gets serious and intense and he moves his hands very fast. We got him checked out last year to rule out seizures. They said he was just getting excited.  It went away for months, but now he’s doing it ALL.THE.TIME. As a parent, it really scares me.

So we’re going to give this crazy diet a try. We figure, if nothing else, it can’t hurt. I’ve talked to several people who tried it with their kids and saw drastic changes almost right away.  I’m hopeful.  But to be completely honest, I’m also kind of scared.  I really can’t imagine never giving Ty candy or cookies with sprinkles again.  One step at a time, I guess.

So there you have it -- that’s where this story starts.