Autism is diagnosed and supported by your paediatrician and the allied-health team around your child, and nothing here changes that. Our naturopaths and nutritionists in Geelong and Drysdale work alongside them on three things that are often hard for autistic children and rarely get time: eating, gut symptoms and sleep.
Not with autism, which is not something to be treated away, and not with the diagnosis or the therapies your paediatrician, speech pathologist, occupational therapist and psychologist provide. What a naturopath can help with is the practical, physical side that research shows is harder for many autistic children: food selectivity, nutrient intake, gut symptoms and sleep.
The evidence is clear on the problems and honest about the solutions. Autistic children have significantly more feeding difficulties and narrower diets than other children, with lower intakes of several nutrients [1]. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation, diarrhoea and abdominal pain are around four times as common [2]. Sleep problems affect somewhere between half and four in five autistic children [3]. And a systematic review of dietary and nutritional interventions in autism found little evidence that any of them changes autism itself [4], which is why we do not claim that they do.
What we do claim is narrower and more useful: a child who eats a wider range of foods, whose gut is more comfortable and who sleeps better has an easier day, and so does everyone around them. That is the work.
We don’t diagnose or treat autism; that stays with your paediatrician. Our part is the nutritional, gut and sleep work that sits alongside their care.
Eating and food selectivity — many autistic children eat a small number of foods, often for sensory reasons, and pressure makes it worse. We map what your child actually eats over a week and work on widening it slowly, without a battle, in step with any feeding therapy already in place [1].
Nutrient intake and status — a narrow diet narrows the nutrients with it. Where something may be low, it is measured with a blood test through your GP or paediatrician rather than assumed, and any correction is agreed with them. Our article on nutritional testing for children explains what is checked.
Gut symptoms — constipation is the most common, and it affects behaviour, sleep and appetite. Diarrhoea, pain and reflux are also more common in autistic children [2]. These are worked on in their own right: fibre, fluid, food, routine, and a referral back to your paediatrician where they should not persist.
Sleep — falling asleep, staying asleep and early waking are all more common in autism [3]. Routine, light, food timing and the gut all feed into sleep, and we work on those; any sleep medication is your paediatrician’s decision.
Behaviour, mood and attention — the food, gut and sleep inputs that sit around behaviour are ours; the behaviour support itself is your psychologist’s, occupational therapist’s and paediatrician’s. Our behaviour, mood and sleep page explains where the line sits.
What stays with your paediatrician and team — the diagnosis, developmental assessment, every therapy and medication, seizures or regression, and any concern about growth or weight.
Your paediatrician diagnoses, monitors development and prescribes where needed; your speech pathologist, occupational therapist and psychologist provide the therapies. We work on food, nutrient status, gut and sleep, and we keep everyone informed. Anything we suggest for a child is dosed for age and weight, chosen in consultation, and checked against anything they already take. No food comes out of a child’s diet on a hunch or a test result, because restricted diets do autistic children particular harm.
Depending on what we find, a plan can include:
A food map and a slow, sensory-aware plan to widen what your child eats, in step with any feeding therapy.
Reading your GP’s or paediatrician’s bloods with you, and a plan for anything that is low, agreed with them.
A constipation or gut plan built on fibre, fluid, food and routine.
A sleep routine your family can actually keep, worked on together with light, timing and food.
Age-and-weight-dosed nutritional support only where a measured need exists, for as long as it is needed.
Keeping your paediatrician and team in the loop, and sending anything that needs their attention to them straight away.
We usually review at six to eight weeks, because eating and sleep change slowly and autistic children do best with small, steady steps.
We are open 6 days per week, by appointment only. Book an appointment online via our online booking link.
Any loss of skills your child previously had, seizures or staring episodes, severe food restriction with weight loss or poor growth, eating non-food items, persistent vomiting, blood in the stool, or a sudden change in behaviour or sleep needs your paediatrician or GP promptly, not a diet change. So does any question about a medication your child takes, and any concern about diagnosis or development.
We don’t diagnose or treat autism; diagnosis, therapy and every medication decision sit with your paediatrician and the allied-health team. Seeing a naturopath is not a reason to remove foods, start a special diet or add a supplement on your own, and we will say so. Raising Children Network and Amaze, the autism peak body for Victoria, set out the medical and support side plainly.
No. A systematic review of dietary and nutritional interventions in autism found little evidence that any of them changes autism itself, and we do not claim otherwise. What diet can change is how well an autistic child eats, how comfortable their gut is and how they sleep, and that is what we work on.
Not on a hunch. The evidence for those diets in autism is weak, and removing foods from an already narrow diet does harm. If a food reaction is suspected, it is worked out properly, with your GP or paediatrician, a diary and a structured approach, and any allergy question goes to your doctor first.
Alongside your paediatrician, yes. Constipation is the most common gut problem in autistic children and it affects sleep, appetite and behaviour. We work on fibre, fluid, food and routine, and refer back where it does not settle or where there is pain, bleeding or weight change.
Often, with routine, light, food timing and the gut, which all feed into sleep. Any sleep medication is your paediatrician’s decision, and we work alongside it rather than around it.
We don’t offer detox testing, and no test diagnoses or changes autism. Where a child’s nutritional picture needs a closer look, we may use organic acid testing and nutritional genetic testing together, alongside blood tests through your GP or paediatrician, to assess nutritional status. Hair tissue mineral analysis is used selectively in the clinic, and not specifically for autism, to help assess possible exposure to toxic metals. Whatever is used, the plan follows what the findings actually show.
1. Sharp WG, Berry RC, McCracken C, et al. Feeding problems and nutrient intake in children with autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis and comprehensive review of the literature. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013;43(9):2159-2173. doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1771-5
2. McElhanon BO, McCracken C, Karpen S, Sharp WG. Gastrointestinal symptoms in autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis. Pediatrics. 2014;133(5):872-883. doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3995
3. Cortesi F, Giannotti F, Ivanenko A, Johnson K. Sleep in children with autistic spectrum disorder. Sleep Med. 2010;11(7):659-664. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2010.01.010
4. Sathe N, Andrews JC, McPheeters ML, Warren ZE. Nutritional and dietary interventions for autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review. Pediatrics. 2017;139(6):e20170346. doi:10.1542/peds.2017-0346
If eating, gut symptoms or sleep are the hard part of your autistic child’s day and no one on the team has time for them, it is worth seeing someone who works with your paediatrician rather than around them. Our naturopaths and nutritionists consult from Geelong CBD and Drysdale, in person or by telehealth, six days a week, and we will make the appointment work for your child. Bring their results and we will start by listening.
We are open 6 days per week, by appointment only. Book an appointment online via our online booking link.
