The GAPS Diet for Kids (Is It Safe to Do Intro?)

Is it safe for kids to do the GAPS intro diet?  Is GAPS intro too low carb for kids?  Is it safer to just do the full GAPS diet instead?

These are all questions that I should have asked 6 months ago when I decided to put my family on the GAPS intro diet.  But at that time, I didn’t question if it would be safe to remove everything but vegetables, meat, and broth from my kids’ diet. 

I never considered what could happen if my kids didn’t get enough carbs, or how dangerous it may be to drastically reduce their sugar intake.  I didn’t consider the dangers of doing this with a child with autism, who wouldn’t be able to communicate how she was feeling. 

We only lasted 7 days on GAPS intro before I realized that it wasn’t safe for my kids. 

While I had prepared myself for all the side effects of starting out on the Intro diet, I wasn’t expecting to be on the verge of rushing one of my kids to the hospital because of it.  While we weren’t working with a GAPS practitioner or a doctor, I was fortunate to have a sister who is a nurse who could guide me through the medical issues we faced when doing Intro. 

I’m not a medical professional, so I can’t tell you if the Intro diet or even the full GAPS diet is safe for kids.  But I can tell you what our experience with it was, and why I felt it wasn’t safe for my kids. 

Our Experience with the GAPS Intro Diet

The week before we started the Intro diet, I started to transition some of our meals to GAPS intro foods.  First, I swapped out our dinners, then two days later our lunches and our breakfast after another two days.  Two days before we started Intro, I got rid of all the non-GAPS food that was left, leaving us with only eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit and of course broth. 

For those two days, everyone was fine.  Yah, the kids had a lot of sugar cravings, but no one was sick. Both kids were still eating the food, no problem.  Lil Sis loved the broth and, with the help of some ABA strategies (earning time playing video games for eating the food), Big Sis was tolerating it.

Day 1

The first day was a bit hard on Big Sis mentally, with her asking for “junk food” all day and asking to quit the diet by bedtime.  Otherwise, everything was fine.  No one was sick, everyone was eating the food. 

Day 2

Day two, the sickness began.

Both kids slept in late.  Lil Sis told me she wasn’t feeling good when she woke up, so I made her the GAPS electrolyte drink (honey, baking soda and water) but she refused to drink it.  She slept most of the day.

Big Sis didn’t complain about feeling sick, but I knew she must be because the kid never sleeps in.  She refused to eat lunch or dinner.  By bedtime she was so desperate to eat something that wasn’t a vegetable, meat or broth, she found some frozen lemon juice cubes in the freezer and ate 3 of them. 

Day 3

Then the vomiting began. 

Since everyone was struggling with limited food options, we introduced hard boiled eggs early.  Lil Sis tried to eat one, but threw it back up and continued to vomit every time she tried to eat anything.  She still refused the electrolyte drink but I was able to at least convince her to have a spoonful of honey every hour. 

Big Sis only vomited once, but still wouldn’t eat.  With the video game time reward, I was able to convince her to have a lemon popsicle and an egg for breakfast and a few bites of meat and veggies at lunch and supper. 

Day 4

Lil Sis had stopped vomiting, but still felt sick and napped most of the day.  By this point, she hated the broth she had loved the week before and insisted she would throw up if she took a sip of it. 

Big Sis still refused to eat.  I managed to get 2 eggs, a few carrots and half a cup of broth into her for the day. 

Day 5

By the fifth day I was hoping the kids would start feeling better, but no such luck.

Lil sis was still feeling sick and was starting to look pretty lethargic.  When she said she felt dizzy, I realized the spoonfuls of honey weren’t enough to keep her blood sugar from dropping, so I started giving her grape juice every half an hour instead

Big Sis slept most of the day.  I was able to get her to eat a few bites for breakfast and lunch, but by supper, none of my ABA strategies (including the Dinner Winner plate that usually works to get her to try new foods) could convince her to eat.  She threw herself on the floor in protest and cried and screamed until I let her leave the table. 

Then she started vomiting.  She was at least still willing to drink water at this point, but every time she took a sip, she would just throw it back up. 

Day 6

It was now the sixth day of my kids barely eating anything.  Still, at this point, I wasn’t worried.  I still wasn’t questioning if this diet was safe for kids.  I had read many GAPS diet reviews before we started, so I knew that this sickness was a normal GAPS diet side effect.  It was just from die-off, right?

Lil Sis was starting to look better by now.  She had a bit more energy and said she wasn’t feeling sick anymore.  She still refused to eat much though, and I gave up on the broth when she started to gag on it.  She spent meal times with her head on the table before finally eating a few bites so she could leave. 

Big Sis spent the day drinking water and throwing it back up.  Between vomiting, she just slept.  When she woke up at 4:00 pm, she looked horrible, with dark circles under her eyes.  She managed to stay awake long enough to have an Epson salt bath, but still wouldn’t eat, and was back in bed by 7:00.

Day 7

This was our last day on the GAPS intro diet.  

This was when I finally realized that the Intro diet was not safe for my kids. 

With Big Sis not eating I was worried that her blood sugar might drop too low like Lil Sis’s had.  Since she doesn’t have the language skills to tell me if she was feeling dizzy, I decided to start giving her some grape juice too as a precaution. 

Around 9:00 am she threw up, again.  But this time something seemed off.  She looked so tired and weak afterward.  I worried that it could be her blood sugar and decided to give her a full cup of the grape juice just in case.  Before she could drink any she threw up again.

Then things got scary. 

Her eyes went blank.  Her face was pale.  Her head started drifting backward like she didn’t have the strength to hold it up.  When I talked to her she was completely unresponsive. 

Then I saw her eyes start rolling back and I knew she was about to pass out. 

I yelled her name and shoved the straw in her mouth and told her to drink the grape juice.  Thankfully, my yelling got her attention and she chugged the whole cup back. 

I was still worried.  OK, I was completely panicked.  With my phone in my hand, ready to call 9-1-1 if I needed to, I filled the cup back up and got her to drink some more. 

She continued taking sips of the juice, though not as quickly as she had drunk the first cup, until she started to look a bit more alert.  The color started coming back to her face and her eyes went back to normal.  She was responsive again and talking.  Then she asked to go to sleep.

Quitting the GAPS intro diet

After calling my sister to confirm that I had given her enough juice to correct low blood sugar and that it was safe for her to sleep after near fainting, I got her to take a few more sips and then let her nap. 

While I sat beside her watching her sleep, I decided we needed to quit the GAPS intro diet. 

While I knew that it wasn’t safe to keep doing the Intro diet with my kids, that didn’t mean I was giving up on the GAPS diet completely.  Instead, we just switched to full GAPS diet, which meant the kids could eat fruit again and keep their blood sugar at a safe level. 

I was able to get Big Sis to eat fruit leather when she woke up.  Once the Husband got home from work, I went to the grocery store to stock up on some fruit.  Even with a good variety of fruit to choose from, she still had no interest in eating.  She ate a small piece of mashed up banana and then went to sleep, waking up once through the night to get sick. 

Day 8

From this point on Lil Sis was fine.  Not only was she eating again, but her appetite was so good it was hard to keep her full.  For a while, she would only eat fruit or raw vegetables, but eventually, she was willing to eat meat and cooked veggies again. So far, even 6 months later, she is still refusing to have any broth. 

Things weren’t going so good for Big Sis though. 

Since she kept vomiting every time she drank some water, she was no longer willing to drink it.  When she went to the washroom and I saw how dark her urine was I started to worry. 

She was on the verge of severe dehydration.

I knew if I didn’t get her to drink more, I would need to take her to the hospital. 

Luckily, she was still willingly drinking some juice, so her blood sugar was fine and she had a bit more energy.  Since she wasn’t napping all day anymore, I was able to get her to constantly take sips of her water.  I had her take a sip every two minutes. 

The next time she went to the washroom her urine was lighter, though still darker than it should be.  I continued monitoring her and getting her to drink for the rest of the day.

Once she had made it 4 hours without vomiting, I tried to get her to eat.  She still had no interest in food, but I managed to get a few bites of homemade jello, a fruit leather, and 5 raspberries into her before bedtime.  She threw up again after eating the raspberries, but luckily it was the last time she vomited. 

Day 9

Big Sis’s urine color was back to normal and she was willingly drinking juice again, so there was no more worrying about low blood sugar or dehydration now. 

The only thing left for me to worry about was her not eating. 

It had now been a week since she had had more than a few bites of food at a meal.  Even when I made food that she used to love, like chicken, she would say she didn’t like it. 

Day 10

By our tenth day on the GAPS diet (and the third full day of being on full GAPS), things finally started getting better. 

Big Sis wasn’t just willing to drink juice, she was now asking for it.  I made her a chocolate smoothie for breakfast, and while she didn’t want it at first, I was able to get her to drink some of it to earn some video game minutes.  Since the video game minutes were working again, I started getting her to eat a few bites of something every 30-60 minutes to earn more. 

Day 11

Finally, I was able to stop worrying about Big Sister.

I was able to increase how much she would eat at a time, and by the afternoon she willingly ate tuna (which she had insisted two days earlier she didn’t like) and was asking for cucumbers.  At dinner, she didn’t just eat all of her chili (one of her favorite foods), but she asked for more.  From that point on she was fine. 

And that was our experience on the GAPS intro diet. 

Low blood sugar, dehydration, a lot of vomiting and a panicked, worried mom. 

The two days before making the full switch to the Intro diet, when my kids were still eating fruit, they were fine.  It was removing the fruit, and drastically reducing their carb intake, that made my kids so sick. 

I have read many positive reviews of the GAPS intro diet, so I know that there are many people who have done GAPS intro safely, even with kids with autism.  I also know that there are other kids that have had experiences like ours, or worse. Some of them have even ended up in the hospital from it.   

It’s important for parents to know that the GAPS diet side effects can be more serious than just getting sick from die-off.  There is a risk for more serious medical issues. 

I am thankful that I had a nurse I could consult when my kids got sick.  I would encourage anyone planning on doing the intro diet with their kids to work with a GAPS practitioner or medical professional to properly monitor their child’s symptoms.  Especially if you have a child with autism, who may not be able to communicate their symptoms effectively. 

Now that Big Sis is on the Full Gaps diet, we haven’t had any medical concerns.  She eats well and looks healthy.  With the ABA strategies, I have even been able to get her eating more vegetables.   I have found ways to make GAPS versions of most of her favorite foods, which makes this drastic diet change a lot easier for her to handle. 

Not only has full GAPS been easier for my kids, but it has been safer for them too. 

Have you done the GAPS diet with kids?  What was your experience?  Did you do the Intro diet or skip right to full GAPS?