I am coming to this late... But my entire family is on a strict elimination diet & for the most part we haven't managed to re-introduce anything much that was eliminated without reaction. As a result our diet is somewhat limited but EVERYONE is healthier, happier, calmer, more stable and focused than we have ever been or have been in years. Oh and weight has just effortlessly come off both DH and I, which, given the number of homemade cookies we are eating, is not due to reduced intake but our bodies just coping better.

DD1s OT suggested we take her off dairy and wheat to see what happened. We didn't do it because I was pregnant and had hyperemisis at the time and it was just one thing too many. Ironically it probably would have been the "cure" I needed. DD3 was miserable from the day she was born, severe reflux, overly sensitive to everything, it was a rough time for everyone. But it was when we tried to get her onto solids that things got really interesting as she started poo-ing green mucus (we stopped and it went away, started and it came back, we did this three times, same result each time).

I had a friend whose kids have severe intolerances, so I knew that was likely what was going on. I first tried to see if eliminating salicylates helped and it not only helped DD3, it helped me too, for the first time ever she was reflux free and started to cry less. So then we embarked on the full elimination diet. Given it had been suggested that DD1 do it and DD3 and I had to do it, we decided DH and DD2 should come along for the ride. The most dramatic results have happened for DD3 and I, then DD1, but DH and DD2 are also clearly better off.

Some of our responses are physical -

I no longer wake up with my joints aching (just think of the $500 I didn't need to spend on a specialist ultrasound of my ankles!). Each morning my feet used to feel like I had broken them overnight.

DD3 can eat without pooing mucus or getting eczema, she cries less and sleeps more.

My skin is healthier than it has ever been, I sleep better, my sinuses are better.

DD1 only complains of tummy pains now when she has had a diet malfunction.

Some of the effects are mental/emotional -

DD3 is WAY less cranky.

DD1 & 2 are calmer and quieter, enough such that school has noticed the difference.

I am calmer, happier, more balanced and my brain fog (which I thought was induced by 9 years of breastfeeding and sleep deprivation) is gone, though I am still breastfeeding and chronically sleep deprived.

Basically it's all good.

Whenever we have challenged foods (dairy, gluten, salicylate, amines, preservatives, colours, flavours) we have had clear reactions, some within minutes or hours, some within days, depending on the food and the person. My kids both go NUTS when they have dairy. DD1 is horrible to her sister (and everyone else) when she has amines. Everyone gets tummy pains on gluten. And so on...

DD1 has not been diagnosed with ADHD, but I suspect that we will probably have her investigated shortly and I will be talking to the paed in advance about whether we need to take her off the diet before testing in the same way that we would have to take her off meds if she were on them. If so, she is likely to be bouncing off the ceiling and have everyone, including herself, in tears before the appt.