For 4-year-old Noah and his exhausted mom, Kelly, the nightly struggle began early in the evening and continued for the two hours it generally took to get him settled down.
When he finally got to sleep, Noah was plagued by nightmares. He would wake up so frightened that Kelly would have to go to his room and sit on the floor until he went back to sleep. He also had to have the bright overhead light on all night.
During the day, he was very irritable and seldom smiled. His mom knew that he was not getting enough sleep, but since he fought both bedtime and naps so intensely, she didn’t know how to remedy this.
Noah’s diet was healthy, so when the family went on the Feingold Program there weren’t many additives to remove. But Kelly learned that food additives like dyes aren’t the only things that are often made from petroleum; perfumes and scented products are as well, and the effects from breathing them in can be as severe as those from eating them.
Kelly wrote to the Feingold Association, “We changed to an all-natural detergent and fabric softener, and it has helped Noah’s bedtime routine immensely! No more fits. No more crying. I didn’t tell him that I changed detergent, although he did see that I had put on freshly-washed sheets. When he first lay down in the sheets washed in the natural products, he snuggled in and literally said, “Mom, these feel so good!” He never said anything like that before.
“Now we have bedtime down to 30 minutes, which includes tooth brushing, a story and snuggle time.”
If you find that it’s unpleasant to walk down the detergent aisle in your supermarket you might be reacting to the synthetic fragrances so widely used. Avoid this by shopping for brands that say “Free and Clear”.
Thank you for your continued support. As always, if you have any questions, please contact us at membership@feingold.org