I Give Up!

I have had this child gluten free and casein free for 6 months. If you know me, you know that there are no mistakes, no cake for a special occasion, no ice cream just because everyone else is having it. I cook, I bake, I pack food to take everywhere.

Wasn't it just 3 weeks ago that my sister and I were talking about how wonderful and happy he seemed? Wasn't I mentally patting myself on the back, thinking that I finally had it figured out? No casein, no gluten, no citrus, no soy. More protein, more fats.

I shouldn't have talked about it, because for 3 weeks he's been pooping his pants again. I can't take it anymore. You aren't supposed to get angry, but that is advice from people who aren't scrubbing poop off a 6 year old (stuck to him because he ignored it until his brother pointed out that he smelled) and dunking underwear in the toilet. I am not angry at him, I feel bad for him, but I am so sick of doing this.

He had no problems at all from age 2.5 to 4YO. Something happened, something changed, and poop accidents became part of our daily routine (often more than once a day). Nothing dramatic happened at home, there was no divorce, no new sibling, no change in home or school. No one died, no one moved away.

Last year, in October and November, we had 6 weeks of no accidents, without needing hourly reminders to sit on the toilet. I thought we were past it. Then the acidents started again. In January it seemed to me that it might be irritable bowel, and we decided to eliminate gluten as he had reacted to it as a baby, and he was so itchy all of the time that it must be an allergy to something.

I thought we had progress. He'd start to have an accident, then control it and finish on the toilet. He was still itchy. We took out citrus, and the itchiness and rashes went away. Still small accidents, although much better. We eliminated soy. Victory! He had almost 2 months of no accidents at all. He was happier, less stubborn, more cooperative.

Here we are again. Still gluten, casein, citrus, and soy free, but unhappy, combative, and having accidents. Was I wrong? Are the moods related to his unhappiness at having accidents? What am I doing wrong?

I don't want to do this anymore. Honestly, if he is going to poop his pants everyday then I would just as soon feed him gluten and not have to bake and cook everything from scratch. I'm tired of food allergies and restrictive diets.

There isn't anyone who can help. If there was a doctor close by that had any experience with alternative medicine I wouldn't be able to pay out-of-pocket anyway. I will not start my child down the allopathic path to lifelong medication.

I don't know what to do. I am not going to get any support for following a GF/CF diet if he is just as combative and uncooperative as when he did have gluten in his diet, and if he is pooping his pants everyday.