Regarding the food allergies discussion, I have personally had great success
with treating my own ADHD son (now almost 10) with dietary intervention.  We
have seen enormous improvement (beginning at age 6 when his teacher wanted
him evaluated for ADHD and then insisted that we treat it with Ritalin if we
wanted him in HER classroom--we pulled him out and homeschooled him after a
2 month trial of Ritalin).  Anyway, he appears to be quite sensitive to dyes
and BHT, BHA & TBHQ (some of which are illegal in other countries).  We were
first clued into this when he had an anaphylactic reaction to a candy cane
(very scarey).

There are mixed findings in the literature about this (see NIH reports on
food allergies) but we do know it works for us (others, not knowing when he
was on or off the diet, have commented many times as to his + or - behavior
change).  The group that has been most helpful to us is the Feingold
Association (http://www.feingold.org).  Maybe some of you would find their
info helpful in dealing with food allergies in bf moms/babies.  Sometimes it
is not the food per se (such as the protein), but the chemicals used on the
food.  This is why using allergy tests strictly for food can give erroneous
results.  Dealing with additives can be very trying.  For example, BHT is
sprayed on the boxes and bags of many processed cereals, but doesn't have to
be listed on the contents because it's not on the food.  However, once one
narrows down what it is, life is much better.
-- Chris Hafner-Eaton, PhD, MPH, CHES, IBCLC    [log in to unmask]

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