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There was never an official diagnosis from a doctor regarding our 3-year-old daughter’s issue with food coloring. Sometimes Mama just knows. To be honest we were feeling very defeated dealing with emotional outbursts that would have her nearly hyperventilating frequently. Sometimes it was almost daily that we were dealing with very big emotions for such a small body. Her behavior was on another level compared to her older sister and little brother. My husband and I discussed that all kids are different. We may just have a more defiant child on our hands compared to her siblings. However, we gradually noticed it get worse and worse and no matter what we did to try and help her or teach her the right way to act just was not working. I always knew artificial food dyes were bad for you or could effect the way you act. Specifically I knew red 40 could cause issues. Growing up I lived for Big Red soda and once on a camping trip with other families there was a boy my age who kept saying he could not have red or he would be crazy. Although I did not realize the full extent of “crazy” until I experienced it first hand with my child.

Symptoms that she dealt with included:

• Inability to sit still for any reason what so ever. Her arms and feet have to be moving at all times.
• Impulsive actions. i.e. If I am working on my laptop she just couldn’t help but slap the screen.
• She was very clingy to me, I could not leave her sight even at family gatherings surrounded by people she knew and in places she has visited her whole life pretty frequently. If I had to leave she would cry and hyperventilate nearly from crying so hard.
• Her sleep patterns were off the wall. It was difficult to get her to sleep, she would wake up in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep or wake up with night terrors. Mornings she was usually the first one awake regardless of how late a night it was.
• If you got on to her for doing something she wasn’t supposed to she would quickly respond with “no” smile or ignore you and just continue doing the behavior. She was very very defiant.
• Her feelings were easily upset. She cried very easily. i.e. looking at her and smiling or offering one of her favorite things to her. She would scream and start crying.
• She had to do everything herself even if you had just done it. i.e. Once at a waterpark I walked too far ahead into water while carrying her instead of letting her walk into the water herself. She got so upset and did her whiny cry like voice, “no I want to do it” then proceeded to walk back to our starting point and do the whole process over. Things like this would happen daily almost.
• Repetitive of actions or statements. Such as a song that she would sing on repeat for hours. Sometimes it was row row your boat, the abc’s and sometimes it was “oh no, oh no, oh no no no” . You know, the viral tik tok sound. Which I know what you may be thinking, hearing a child sing their abc’s isn’t that bad. This was more like an obnoxious version where if we tried to talk amongst ourselves or even to her she would get louder and louder.
• There are so many other symptoms we dealt with but these are the biggest ones

I fully understand some of these behaviors might sound normal for a toddler. However, the severity of how these affected her I would consider extreme. It is very hard to get a 2 to 3 year old to explain how they feel. The emotional outbursts were as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders and she couldn’t take it anymore. It truly broke my heart. I didn’t know what to do!

How did we figure it out? It was suppertime and we were sitting at the table. This was the second time in two weeks we had dealt with the issue at this level. She wasn’t listening, eating, or sitting still. She kept purposely falling out of her chair. My husband was trying to get her attention, and her eyes were huge but cut to the side, and she was nodding her head yes, her mouth wide open, but it was as if her whole body was just vibrating; she was so hyper. At bedtime, she screamed and cried until she passed out. We tried to soothe her. I lay beside her and tried to talk to her, sing to her, and rub her back, just trying to calm her down. Nothing was working. As we were recalling everything she had that day, I remembered we went to Sonic after work/daycare, and I got her a cherry limeade. Then we pieced together that it was the same drink she had last week during a huge meltdown. At home, she normally drank apple juice, milk, or water. Of course, we weren’t purposely dye-free yet, but ironically, she was only getting dyes a few times a week. However, those days would be super chaotic, and the others were just chaotic.

We started the detox as desperate parents just praying and hoping we can do something to help this baby.

Not only did we cut out dyes but I did a two week detox for heavy metals and parasites. After some research and reading a lot of testimonies I chose Joy spring Para Patrol ( found here at Amazon: https://a.co/d/6gKAgH5). Para Patrol was for parasites. I chose Detox Zee (found here at Amazon: https://a.co/d/6L41b3P). Detox Zee was for heavy metals. One eye dropper of each was added to her morning juice or water.

After about a week this girl was sleeping through the night and emotional outbursts were brought down to a minimum. It was such a huge relief to us as parents. Not only did it bring more peace to our lives but our 3 year old felt better. Not being able to calm her down or help her during those times were terrible. So although a doctor did not tell us this was the issue we knew we had to help our child.

This is not detailed enough by any means but does show some of the side effects of artificial food dyes.

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