Seeing Red

My son was three years old when we started having some significant behavior problems with him. He was waking up at 4:30 in the morning and not going back to sleep; sometimes he would sleep later, but only if he had woken up during the night and been awake for an hour and a half. He was tired, and he was cranky. Really, really cranky. Suddenly he was having massive meltdowns every. single. day. The meltdowns were frightening. You could see him becoming completely overwhelmed with stress. He would begin to sob, scream, and throw himself on the floor. He was inconsolable. I immediately began to try to figure out what was going on. 

I was a stay at home mom and had been since his birth. There was no stress in our household -- we were all in good health and his father and I were happily married. He was months away from starting school. My son has an older sister who lives with her mother. His life was primarily being home with me during the day, dad would be home at night and his sister was there on weekends. So what was going on?

I had friends who told me it was just a stage. It would pass. It was toddler frustration that he couldn't do more. Perhaps he was hungry. Maybe I should try putting him to bed later. Or earlier. Or just give it time. Maybe this was "just him." It sure didn't seem like the little boy I knew. Sure, he would usually be up early. But 4:30?? Sure he was given to easy frustration, but not becoming miserable like this. 

It was May, and it was nice out. We would play outside, get some exercise and sit and have a ice pop to cool off. You know ice pops, right? Those plastic tubes filled with colorful juices that you can freeze a few at a time? It was our first summer having them in the house and they were so convenient. 

I still don't know what made me read the list of ingredients in them. I don't know what made me take that information and Google the list. I DO know that our lives changed forever at that point. Something was up.... perhaps it was Red Dye.

When I googled "red dye" and "behavior" I got quite a list of pages back. Some sites insisted it was the cause of ADHD. There was plenty of information about Red Dye (or Allura Red, as it is called in Europe) and the effects on children's behavior. None of it was pretty.

Most surprisingly was the information that it was originally derived from coal. Nowadays, it is derived from petroleum. Really?? Do we need these potential carcinogens in our childrens' foods? in their medications? Allura Red and several other food dyes have been banned in Europe. At McDonald's in Britain, their strawberry sundae is red because of the strawberries. in the US, it's red because of the Red Dye #40. 

I threw out the box of ice pops. I started reading ingredients on other foods to look for it. Doritos (no major loss there), sugar free popsicles, WHITE cake mix and WHITE frosting. Really?? Why do white food items require red dye? Liquid tylenol, advil, his antibitiocs... the list went on and on.

We started noticing a difference in my son's behavior within 2 days. A few times some red dye has gotten past our watchful eye and we can tell in his behavior right away. In total, it takes about 5 days for the complete reaction to be done. By about day 6 we get out regular, happy boy back. He hates how he feels inside when he eats a food with Red Dye. By age 5 he was telling people that he couldn't have it and now at 7 he reads his own food labels to avoid it. 

I probably would have been skeptical if I hadn't seen it myself in action. The transformation of a happy little 3 year old boy to a miserable, raving lunatic toddler on a rampage. It makes you wonder...

Why are we allowing companies to color our foods with petroleum?