10 Ways To Treat ODD In Children: Best Tips

Oppositional Defiant Disorder In Children

It was a couple of years ago when I realized that my son’s abnormal anger and aggression were symptoms of something more. I had fought an internal battle for so long, telling myself I just wasn’t parenting him well, that I missed the signs that there was something more serious going on.

It didn’t matter what form of discipline I tried or how hard I tried to correct his behavior, because, ultimately, it was something he couldn’t control. Once I took to the internet to research his extreme behavior, I found the answer I was looking for: he was suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or ODD.

What Is ODD In Children?

To be truthfully honest, when I had briefly read about oppositional defiant disorder odd in the past, it seemed like an excuse for poor parenting. Good parents don’t have children who talk back, react to instruction with anger, or have trouble obeying and following the rules, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, and children suffering from ODD have trouble controlling their emotions and following rules, despite parents’ best efforts. Sometimes the best support is parent management training or conduct disorder training.

ODD Symptoms In Children

ODD is a behavior disorder that typically begins in early childhood and can last until adulthood. It can manifest itself differently in each person, but some of the most common symptoms are:

• Opposition or defiance to other authority figures
• Anger & aggression towards other people or objects
• Hostile behavior or angry attitude speaking harshly.
• Trouble following rules & directions
• Blame-shifting & difficulty taking responsibility for actions
• Excessive arguing & talking back to adults
• Blaming others for their mistake and disruptive behavior
• Frequent temper tantrums and difficulty calming down

Environmental Factors

A child's symptoms or defiant behavior known as oppositional behavior can usually be managed with the right strategies. Kids with ODD can also sometimes struggle with other mental health conditions or mood disorders, anxiety disorders and have risk factors for behavior disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Having a child with a conduct disorder or disruptive behavior disorder is never easy but there are certainly many ways to help the oppositional defiant disorder treated care is a benefit to your child.

The environment can make a real difference in ODD. Studies show that the amount of time spent with parents, structured activities and opportunities to engage in positive behaviors are all important for a child’s development. Making sure there is an appropriate amount of structure and discipline can help manage these symptoms without resorting to medications or more extreme interventions.

Nutritional Interventions For ODD

A key factor in managing my son’s ODD is nutrition. We found that there are certain foods and supplements that can be used to help manage his symptoms.

We started with dietary modifications such as reducing processed and sugary food, avoiding artificial colors and preservatives, and increasing the intake of healthy fats, and this did make a difference in his behavior. We also started supplementing with minerals such as zinc and magnesium to further support his brain chemistry.

We have seen a huge improvement in my son’s symptoms since making changes to his diet and adding these supplements. Even though nutrition is not the only way to manage ODD, I believe it has been an integral part of the process in getting his behavior under control.

Raising A Child With Defiant Disorder

Even though I was raising my children to be compassionate, to obey and follow rules, and to treat other people with respect, my oldest son consistently failed to consider other people’s feelings, always demanding his own way and making sure his younger brothers complied with his wishes.

When he was seven, he would hit his two-year-old brother if he had a toy he wanted. He had a hard time on his brothers’ birthdays, unable to accept a day devoted solely to another child. And if my husband or I had to correct his behavior, he would become angry and refuse to obey. At times I feared his violent reactions to his brothers and myself.

Thankfully, I have discovered how to treat ODD naturally, and today, we rarely see a symptom of the disorder. Below, I’ll tell you the ten things I’ve learned about how to treat ODD in children.

10 Ways To Treat ODD In Children

Here are ten tips to help manage ODD in Children:

Realize It Is Not Your Fault

If you are constantly down on yourself as a parent, fighting the internal battle I once was, telling yourself you don’t measure up, you cannot be a healthy parent for your child. Begin to change your internal dialog and recognize that you are a good parent.

You are the parent your child needs, hand-picked for him, and equipped to handle his behavioral problems. Some days are tough, boy are they tough, but recognize that you are stronger than you think and you can parent your child better than anyone else, because you know him and love him better than anyone else.

Cut Out Artificial Colors, Sweeteners And Preservatives From Your Childs Diet

It’s becoming more and more common knowledge that artificial colors cause behavioral problems in children. This is certainly true for children with ODD, and I have definitely observed these food additives turning kids from their sweet, normal self, into a an angry, defiant child for whom nothing is going right.

Check Food Labels

Watch for these ingredients on food labels under names like Red 40, FD & C Lakes, or just “artificial colors.” Any color on a food label should be a red flag. As for artificial sweeteners, you can find them on labels under the names acesulfame, aspartame, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, and sugar alcohols like xylitol and sorbitol.

Kick Out The Preservatives

Preservatives to watch out for include sulfates/sulfites, nitrates/nitrites, BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), potassium bromate, and sodium benzoate. These artificial ingredients are categorized as “excitotoxins,” which means they excite neurotransmitters and cause damage to brain cells.

This is not an exhaustive list and you should continue to educate yourself about these harmful ingredients.

Remove Gluten From Your Child's Diet

Gluten is another excitotoxin for some people, particularly children with behavioral problems. It poses trouble for a number of reasons. Did you know some foods actually create a morphine-like reaction for some people? Yep, eating gluten can make your kid feel like he’s high.

Can you imagine trying to control your emotions while essentially “tripping” on gluten? Gluten produces a substance called “gluteomorphin” which becomes like an opiate to the brain, causing brain fog, as well as addiction. This is why so many children with behavioral problems crave starchy breads and carbohydrates: the opiate-like effect they get from eating these foods makes them crave more.

Additionally, for those who have trouble digesting gluten, it sits undigested in the gut and creates leaky gut syndrome, which allows foods to leak through the gut instead of being absorbed and used appropriately by the body.

This creates more trouble for the brain, as undigested proteins travel to the brain and create interference with neurotransmitter communications, plus this leaky gut syndrome causes malabsorption of key nutrients needed for brain health.

Consider Removing Grains

Oftentimes, parents say “we tried removing gluten and it didn’t make any difference for us.” Unfortunately, other grains can be allergenic and problematic for children with ODD, aside from those containing gluten. 

There are a couple of considerations about grains: some are just plain allergenic (like corn), and some just increase the starch load, contributing to poor gut health. For instance, white rice is less likely to cause an allergic reaction, but for children with poor gut health, it may be difficult to digest and can contribute to leaky gut.

Grains and ODD

Grains can be difficult to digest in the first place, we’ve found that eliminating them has been the best choice for our son. Additionally, we have pinpointed corn as a major trigger for ODD episodes!

For a while, I assumed corn would be an occasional safe, gluten-free option… until I realized my son would become angry and defiant within hours of eating corn!

Reduce Sugar Intake

The big, bad, sugar monster. We could all use a little less of it, but why is it so hard to kick the sugar habit? Well, there is actually a scientific reason. Like gluten, our bodies sometimes crave the very thing that harms them. Eating sugar begets the desire to eat more sugar. When we eat sugar, we feed bad bacteria and yeasts in our gut and they begin to thrive, cramming out the good bacteria.

As they grow and take over, they demand to be fed, causing you to want to eat what they need: sugar! When our family first eliminated sugar, we did a 30 day challenge without the white stuff.

Use Natural Sweeteners

We replaced regular sugar with more natural sweeteners like maple syrup and honey, and once we saw that this was a pretty easy switch, we’ve never looked back. Now, we can pinpoint behaviors brought on by too much sugar consumption, even natural sugar like honey.

We’ve even reduced fruit to help minimize the overall sugar load for our son, and his hyperactivity continues to diminish. But we have taken baby steps in the process, and each family has to find a path that works for them in reducing sugar. Kids need healthy snacks with natural sugars.

Add Magnesium To Your Child's Diet

We have found that a special type of magnesium has proven very beneficial for our son’s brain health. I had tried various forms of magnesium for years, with no improvement, but it wasn’t until our holistic practitioner told us about the benefits of magnesium for brain health, that I found something that worked.

Magnesium Helps The Brain

Magnesium is essential for cellular functioning and critical for brain health, and we have found that magnesium threonate improves brain function for our son. I’ve even found that it helps with headaches and fatigue myself!

Detox Is The Way To Go

Between pesticides and lawn chemicals in the air around us, to WIFI and other dirty electricity surrounding us, our bodies have a lot to contend with. We have found that by giving our son frequent detox baths, making sure he’s eliminating (using the bathroom at least once a day), and giving him lots of water to drink, we can help him flush out toxins that otherwise might accumulate in his body.

Additionally, we support his liver with supplements like Liver Life and desiccated liver and try to make fresh-pressed juices as often as we can, mostly with organic vegetables, with a little fruit. We especially enjoy juicing celery, cucumber, green apples and lemon for a refreshing lemonade-like juice.

Increase Good Fats

Did you know the brain is made primarily of fat? This means it needs fat to thrive! Most pediatricians will tell you to switch to low fat milk when your child turns two, but the advice to feed children a low-fat diet really deprives them of needed nutrients, particularly those needed for brain health. We have found that by switching to whole, raw milk and cultured dairy products (not a good option for everyone, but dairy works for us), eating coconut oil, avocado oil and olive oil, as well as lots of butter, we are able to give our son the fats he needs for his brain to function better. 

Add Fish Oil To Your Child's Diet

Another excellent option for fat needed for brain health is fish oil. While there has been lots of controversy (read here about why our family stopped taking fermented cod liver oil) it is still important to find a good source of omega fats. Seeds like chia and flax are actually a poor source of omega fats because they are hard for our bodies to convert to the fats our brains can actually use, which is why it is important to find a source of omegas that are easily assimilated by our bodies. Personally, our family uses extra virgin cod liver oil.

Show Unconditional Love And Support

At his lowest, our son has struggled with self-esteem. When symptoms of ODD began to emerge for him, I noticed something very disturbing: after the worst of the anger and defiance would pass, he would get very low. He would say things like “our family would be better off without me” or “I don’t belong in this family.” It was very discouraging and broke my heart to hear him say those things. I would try to keep things in perspective and remember that he wasn’t himself and that his brain wasn’t functioning properly when he was saying those things.

Instead of getting angry or trying to exert any type of discipline, I would just love on him during these episodes. Like really, really love on him.

Once, when my son was having a particularly bad episode (it was his brother’s birthday AND we had eaten poorly to celebrate, so he got a double whammy!), I went into his room, and when he refused my attempts at hugging him, instead shutting himself in his closet, I began to clean his room for him. 

When my child calmed down and came out and saw that I’d done an act of service and love for him, he was overwhelmed with feeling loved and appreciated my taking the time to do something nice for him.

For whatever reason, this worked for him. Find out what will speak your child’s love language and do it. Remind him that even if he feels worthless, you hold him in high esteem and he’s an important part of your family, one that you love and cherish!

Ride It Out

When all else fails, we just ride the wave of whatever episode we’re dealing with. My son’s ODD used to last for hours, sometimes days. It was so hard not to become angry during those times, in fact, I often did become angry, because my child was standing there telling me he refused to do what I was telling him to do. He would be so angry for no real reason, and my instinct was to discipline him and force him to obey.

For a child with ODD, this is a bad approach, and in my experience, only causes matters to get worse. As I would get angry, he would get angrier. It was during these times of extreme anger (from both of us) that would result in him later feeling badly about himself. Once my husband and I realized he couldn’t control these episodes and discipline of any sort did nothing to curb the behavior, we gave ourselves permission to just ride it out.

To some extent, we even learned to ignore the angry outbursts. As long as our son wasn’t hurting other children, there was really no point in arguing with him or trying to make him see things our way. His brain becomes foggy during these episodes and until the fog clears, there is absolutely no sense in trying to reason with him.

So instead of reasoning, bargaining, or punishing, we wait til it passes, then we can talk later about what happened and why he felt that way. He usually admits that he ate something he shouldn’t have, which allow us to talk with him about “brain foods” and remind him why we eat the way we do.