Don’t be hasty, save yourself some stress!

Why taking some time isn’t a waste of time…

… and a few other things to consider before jumping into a TED.

Going too hasty on a TED can be a recipe for more stress, whether it’s jumping in too quickly, or accidental self sabotage by not giving ourselves enough time after changes to see results or trying too much in one go. We might not always feel like we have the time. But taking the time we do have to do things properly and slowly can save us from a world of stress and unnecessary changes.

We have lots of Mamas request to join TED mamas who have maybe cut out dairy, sometimes soya too, but want to jump straight into a TED to “save time”.

Obviously I completely understand that the motivation here is to speed up results and remove any possible thing that might maybe be an issue for a little one.

BUT a TED is an EXTREME diet for more complex situations.

*Most* babies symptoms will complete be relieved after the removal of dairy, soya, eggs and wheat. Which is because they are the most common sensitivities in infants.

If you haven’t taken these four most common triggers out of your diet, or even the top 8 (top 4+ fish/crustaceans/peanuts/tree-nuts), then you could potentially waste an monumental amount of time, stress and money, on an extremely stressful, nutritionally depleting restricted diet for no reason.

If you jump ahead in theory you could spend months, or longer, on a nutritionally restricted diet, when 90% of allergies/colitis are reactions to the most common food triggers. So spending 1-2 months cutting them out first could save you a world of stress and pain.

Not only could it waste your time and money, and put unnecessary stress on your body, mind, relationships, social opportunities, etc. but it can also be really unhelpful to mums who *need* to do a TED for their child’s health if you go from dairy free to TED then share about passing loads of foods quickly, etc.

I completely understand wanting to see results quickly, which is part of why doctors so often want to push formula because if it works it can be pretty apparent in a short space of time. TED is a lifestyle shift, living with a child with extreme dietary limitations, and often environmental triggers and limiting your diet, environment and even toiletries and make up to fit their needs. It is not a fad diet. Or a quick fix.

If you personally have a lot of food sensitivities, are already top allergen free, or know your little one has several irregular or non-top triggers it can totally make sense to want to jump ahead and sometimes in rarer cases it may be the best thing to do. BUT this is pretty rare, and definitely will not be the case for most mamas trying to jump in after a couple of weeks dairy/soya free.

This post is not intended to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do, its just here to encourage you that jumping in and fully immersing yourself in a TED might be a bit overkill. We have so many mums request to join who have only cut 2-3 foods. Given that our group only permits posts to be approved if they are *Top8+ free*, the majority of these mamas we are not the appropriate audience for their posts. Though they may find the comments and group content and files of interest they are not who our group is targeted at.

We allow mamas who are at all stages of their journey to join in the group, but we do have limitations on the posts we will approve (top*+ free, etc.) which are explained explicitly in our group guidelines. There are lots of other groups out there for mamas who have smaller numbers removed from their diet that may be a better fit for you.

Slow and steady wins the race!