You should see what other parents go through

I was checking out the Center for Science in the Public Interest site on food dyes to send a link to a teacher and noticed they have updated a section with parent testimonies. I'm not sure whether to be grateful that other parents go through the same thing, or more alarmed at how widespread this problem really is. You can report your child's response to dyes or check out my earlier post on that topic

As for an update on my homefront, Alex has been all over the place since Tuesday's red#40 snack. He fidgets, gets frustrated, yells, hits the wall, stomps his feet, the list goes on. It's really awful to watch him like this. It's not the real Alex. I only see glimpses of his real self. He still has good moments, like when he played his cello for the neighbor. It should wear off tonight and my sweet one will be back this weekend.

Luckily, Ben has handled dye exposure OK so far. He has been pleasant and cooperative but a little more bouncy and distracted. It's almost like they switched places and Alex got the irritibility that Ben ususally shows and Ben got the wired up hyper stuff that Alex normally does. Go figure. That's what I get for trying to make predictions.

report adverse reactions to food dye

I was excited to hear from Jane Hersey, the national director of the Feingold Association this week. She has written 2 books on the topic of improving children's behaviors by removing preservatives and food dyes. Here is a link http://www.feingold.org/pg-book.html.

Jane also reminded me that parents can report adverse reactions to food dyes at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I filed a report for each of my 3 children before I started this blog. Please do the same so we can get the FDA to take action. The FDA continues to be in denial that this is a problem so the best way to change that is for parents to speak up.