What changes have you made in your child's diet?

[Mom2oneboy]

Since there are a lot of us who have newly diagnosed kiddos, I thought it might be interesting to get other's feedback on this.

What changes have you made in your child's diet since they were diagnosed with IBD?

My 10 year old was diagnosed with Crohn's last month. Since then I have cut out all soda and I'm weaning him off sugar. I switched to Lactaid milk even though I haven't been told he's lactose intolerant. He's also on a low residue diet.

Next......

Shelley

 

[imaboveitall]

I may be in the minority but NO CHANGES per Violet's GI.
He said from the start that she can eat ANYthing and she always has with no detriment including popcorn and roughage. She has NO GUT sx and perfect stools. Her disease is in the TI and that may be a reason why.

However, many many folks find that diet plays a BIG role in how their disease behaves.
Another gray area, mom2one; there is NO CLEAR answer as to what shall work for yours vs mine. It's all trial and error.
Yes, that makes me mad. :ymad:

 

[kimmidwife]

My daughters doctor also said no diet changes except no nuts or popcorn. I also keep her mostly away from deli meats and hot dogs as they seem to upset her.

 

[kimmidwife]

Oh and we limit red meat as well to a rare occasion.

 

[izzi'smom]

What have we *tried* you ask? lol!
We cut out...
caffeine, fat, red meat, wheat, corn, most fruits and veggies, strictly limited fiber (<1g/serving), chocolate, dairy
She ate chicken, lean fish, white rice/bread, rice pasta with low fiber sauce, well cooked carrots, and canned peaches/applesauce for about 3 months. (We were working with a nutritionist to identify ANY foods that tend to bother IBDers). It worked (literally her symptoms started easing the DAY the started the diet after worsening for weeks), and we eased her back on to a regular diet after she weaned from steroids. When her symptoms returned we tried again and it didn't work the second time.
It may be that it was a coincidence that she got better when we started the diet, but we changed nothing else, and if so it was uncanny timing lol!

 

[Tesscorm]

I haven't made big changes to Stephen's diet. Dietitian told us to eliminate seeds (sesame, sunflower, tomato, etc.), pieces of nuts (nutella, peanut butter are fine, just not pieces of nuts), popcorn. As per the dietitian, because of the seeds, we have also eliminated berries.

We were also told to avoid or limit veggie/fruit skins - apples are peeled now, no grapes (due to both seeds and skins).

When he has had a questionable food for the first time since diagnosis... spicy sauces, fast food breakfast sandwich, ribs/sausages/steak, beans - anything I think might be harder to digest, I let him have a bit and then keep an eye on things to see if he has any reactions to it. If not, I let him have a bit more next time, and so on.

Dietitian and GI also told us that diet doesn't cause flares, however, some people may have intolerances to certain foods and that diet can help alleviate symptoms, ie, low residue/fibre if in a flare, rice can help diarrhea, etc.

 

[DustyKat]

I haven't made any changes but the kids have made their own.

Sarah over time gravitated toward a vegetarian diet and she then took that one step further and is now vegan. A couple of months ago she all but eliminated sugar, she still has some but eats nothing that has over 1gram per serving. She also only eats organic where possible, this can be difficult being a university student living away from home but I think she does manage to maintain the organic side of things pretty well. She has said that she feels well on the vegan diet and now that she has eliminated sugar she feels even better and far more energised.

I notice Matt has made some changes to his diet, he is not eating as much oily/fatty food and he prefers smaller more frequent meals to larger ones. Prior to his diagnosis he seemed to prefer the foods that made up a very large part of the low residue diet. Looking back on it now he must have known what suited his body without really thinking about it. He still prefers those type of foods over all else.

Dusty. xxx

 

[imaboveitall]

Hey Dusty, my 28 y/o was raised vegetarian, has never had meat ever, and went VEGAN two years ago for ethical, not health, reasons. :heart:
I don't like vegan, when I was raising them vegetarian they got plenty of eggs and dairy. I worry about protein intake.

 

[momoftwinboys]

We have restricted popcorn and peanuts. Dr said let him eats what he wants unless it bothers him. Given that we avoid greasy food such as fried chicken and taco bell. Still learning and researching.

Rrecently got email w ccfa nutrician seminar that we signed up for. Various locations across US. See below
http://www.ccfa.org/info/localpatiented

The number one request we receive from patients is for more information on diet and nutrition. We've heard you! We are pleased to announce a new, live CCFA patient education event that will take place in cities around the country. Nutrition & IBD: Choices for Adults and Kids, will answer the questions you have about the role of diet and nutrition in IBD.

Local physicians and dieticians will provide an in-depth overview of nutrition and IBD. Attendees will receive vital information that empowers them to discuss their disease, treatment choices, and nutritional needs with their health care provider. Topics will include:

Diets used by IBD patients
Eating well with IBD: the roles of diet, nutrition, and supplements
Tools and nutritional resources
This event is free, and open to all patients, family members, caregivers, and community members. We hope to see you there!

Spring 2012 Programs:

March 14: Commack, New York
March 19: Greensburg, Pennsylvania
March 19: Ogden, Utah
March 28: Loveland, Colorado
March 29: Bellingham, Washington
April 5: Rogers, Arkansas
April 17: Morristown, New Jersey
April 19: San Diego, California
May 3: Overland Park, Kansas

 

[Johnnysmom]

We haven't really changed anything. No popcorn or nuts. But I have tried to give him more protein. I add extra calories where I can like whole milk instead of 2%. I have him drink more water but I let him eat sugar. He still has candy and soda but I limit it more than I use to. More because I want him to fill himself with things that will help him grow rather than because I think it will make his disease worse. His G.I. said he can eat anything.

I do notice that Johnny occasionally will say he can't eat something because he thinks it is too fatty. That is something that has changed for him since his diagnosis. I tell him to listen to his body and if something doesn't sound good then don't eat it.

Tiffany

 

[Jennifer]

My mom had me drink Lactaid milk (tastes like watered down melted whipped cream kind of, so not the same) because I actually am lactose intolerant and cut out cheese entirely and cut out red meat and dark meats (only chicken or turkey breast or fish), no corn allowed, no uncooked veggies or fruits (had some banana sometimes), no skins on fruits and veggies, no nuts, no candy and no more than 8oz of soda if I drank soda that day (didn't have it everyday though). She usually made me rice with steamed veggies and backed chicken breast and if we went out for fast food ever everything listed above would have to be taken out (going out for tacos sucked cause I also could only eat the soft flour tortillas, no corn or hard shells). Nothing spicy and nothing fried. Was the most boring diet I ever had and I hated it.

 

[izzi'smom]

^^crabby, this sounds like the diet we had dd on. Because it didn't always help, we took her off of it but looking back...if it made your symptoms better, would it have been worth doing??
It is such a delicate balance weighing quality of life issues vs treatment plans. If it were an acute disease it would be easier...do this until you are better. With a chronic disease the decision making (for someone else's life) feels so much more difficult.

 

[Jennifer]

She didn't enforce it so much once my flare was under control and I'm a firm believer in diet during a flare because it really does help lesson your symptoms. While in remission though, I haven't noticed food making any impact but its also not like I eat spicy fried popcorn for every meal. I think the diet my mom had me on (which is what my GI recommended) helped me eat more vegetables than I normally would have (which is a great thing for any kid). It was a pretty easy diet to stick to but with my families income it was limited because my mom couldn't go out and get fresh fish to mix it up a little so I ate a lot of chicken breast lol. I remember my mom nagging me about how much pepper I used. Salt and pepper are ok (most things are) as long as they are limited. Even sticking to a diabetic diet isn't that hard as long as you have a nicely stocked fridge of snack foods so it doesn't get boring which will reduce the temptation to "cheat."

If you got lots of food options to choose from (mix and match) and if it lessons the symptoms even a little, its definitely worth having your child on a special diet and on top of it all, they learn a lot about different foods where other kids have no idea what they're eating. Its healthy learning.

Edit: I actually started cooking for myself in junior high school because I realized the possibilities of the foods I was eating and I was tired of my mom making the same thing the same way all the time (I HATE breaded chicken breast now) so I changed it up. My mom noticed my interest in cooking and would help me out and then she taught me more and more recipes that I could convert into something I could actually eat. So I learned how to cook pretty early on and can make just about anything now. I haven't stuck to the diet of course since I've been in remission for so long but I have the tools now that I'm grown up.

 

[Jenn]

Not many changes and probably should do more. Doctor has Alex on low-fiber (to avoid any blockages) and lactose-free (general irritant). Nothing seems to bother him directly, except maybe popcorn (which he of course loves and misses). It's hard because he's picky and because he's young. I hope he'll eventually listen to our guidance to eat well as he becomes an adult. He may find out for himself what is more troublesome over time.

 

[Mom2oneboy]

Momoftwinboys,

I would love to attend one of those seminars but unfortunately none of them are close to me. I wonder if they will put of them up on a video on their website? Would be very interested to hear what they have to say about it!

Shelley

 

[S mom]

We haven't made a ton of changes either. It's kind of a relief to hear other people say that they are not limiting their kids' diet too much. I was wondering if I was missing something important. Despite keeping a food log, my son has not really found that food impacts him much right now (other than really greasy or spicy food - but we all feel that way at times, Crohns or not!). I agree that perhaps when you are in remission (as he seems to be) diet has less of an impact than when you are in a flare... then it can improve or worsen symptoms.
When he first finished his EN and started eating again, we did a low residue diet for a few weeks but the dietitian stressed that this should be short term only. My goal since then is to aim for a healthy diet packed with lots of nutrition... and hopefully lots of calories so he can continue to gain weight!

 

[polly13]

We haven't changed anything really in lucy's diet. We spoke to the GI about it and he told us basically to leave her eat what she likes. I will say however her diet is very while and very bland. We limit junk food but as you would with any 3 yo.