Brown rice milk

As part of Joy's Gfcf diet, we abandoned her cow milk and introduced her to brown rice milk. When I first started, I had to mix the brown rice 'milk' slowly with her usual milk. She took to the new milk quite easily. I spent only around 1 week to wean her totally off cow's milk. According to research, cow milk or animal's milk contain casein, a sort of protein that is probably affecting children with autism. (I am believing this, but this is not a doctor's prescription. Besides, I made sure she gets enough nutrients from her 3 main meals and supplements - I get questions about her not getting enough nutrients)

I searched online for the recipes to make different types of brown rice milk and tried a few. I ended up with the basic - organic brown rice powder, and a bit of organic almond powder. Initially I used organic maple syrup, for a bit of sweetness, but it got out of stock. Other cheaper brands of maple syrup are not convincing. ( I need to make sure its original and without added stuff) Most recipes I found suggests adding vanilla essence and some other stuff (I forgot the names) so that the brown rice milk will last for a few days. I opted to do without. I made my brown rice milk as often as required and made sure its finished by the day. 

Once in awhile, I made brown rice milk with my soy milk maker. It has functions to cook and produce milk out of any combination of rice I can think of. It is a bit of a fuss and takes more than an hour just to make around 1.2 litre of milk. Then I will add some red rice, black fragrant rice or millet with brown rice, plus almonds. There's a variety of combination to be made with these and so far, Joy isn't complaining. : ) She drinks around 1.5 to 3 litres perday. Not a cheaper option compared to commercial milk, but we are not doing this because of the cost. 

Lesson learnt

Was having a chat with a friend today. I was describing to her about Gfcf diet Joy is going through and how a little break from the diet made her sick. A wise advice from this elderly friend is, whenever I want to introduce new food or reintroduce gluten to a child, I must do it gradually. A little at a time.
How forgetful and thoughtless I am! I knew this piece of golden advice and I forgot all about it!

My observations.

Daddy and I learnt a lesson this week. We have decided to experiment and spoil our little princess a little with a bit of gluten. She has been such a good girl and it just breaks our heart as she repeatedly request for the forbidden food. On Sunday morning we gave her a quarter of a small bun, and at night, she had a small bowl of noodles. Joy was so happy and really seem to enjoy the food. We were wary of any changes in her behavior, but observed non that is immediate.
How wrong we were! She started looking tired yesterday, and had fever last night. It might be unfair to blame gluten for this, but, this is the second time. The first time was when we purposely ignore the very small amount of gluten she consume over a period of one or two weeks. But it all add up and she got sick.
I read in the newspaper last week on families who chose to be on gluten free diet for better health. I think this is true in Joy's case. Her body could be allergic to gluten and she gets sick easily. Before she was on the diet, I have always observed that she will get fever the day after or the week she consume crackers. She will have sore throat and constipation too.
As for casein, I think it affects the brain and her behavior. I have never dared to purposely provide her with casein because we will usually see instant changes in her behavior. The last time she accidentally had a bite of French fries 'contaminated' with mayonnaise, she laughed non stop for the rest of the day. There is no way to make her stop laughing. Even when she did, she would have smile all over, which is very unnatural.
I can feel that implementing the diet will be harder as she grow older. I can only pray that God will strengthen our determination and help us to teach my princess to understand the importance of this diet and it's effect on her.