Red dye! Wheat/gluten! Dairy! There are many children with ADD, autism, eczema, etc. whose parents have been able to really improve their children’s life by being strict with their diets.
My sweet, sweet 5 yr old was having awful issues, not with tantrums, but with hyperactivity to the point she couldn’t even focus on my face to listen to me tell her to calm down. She’s usually such a compliant, obedient child, but this was out of her control. The Lord was gracious to give me a week where I had already cut out dairy and gluten, and it was still awful, so I had written down things she had eaten, and red dye was more freqent than usual that week (someone had made us a jello poke cake, her sister had bought gummy worms and shared them, etc.) We cut out the dye and she doesn’t have anymore of those episodes. She still gets it on accident sometimes and it’s not pleasant for anyone. She also can’t have wheat/gluten.
Gluten/wheat can make some people (I’m talking about adults) very angry, almost rage, and it makes me very irritable. Dairy can also cause those reactions for some people too.
I think the first thing you should do is leave things alone for a week and keep a food diary for him, and reactions that occur/time, etc. That was so helpful for me in figuring things out. Then I’d start with red dye (you would be surprised at all it’s in), then the refined sugars, then wheat, then dairy. Cut one thing out at a time and give it at least a week, gluten took us about 6 weeks to see improvement but we’ll never go back. I can’t have any form of dairy while nursing or my infants are absolutely miserable.
I think the advice about asking a pediatrician works for some, but most physicians don’t recognize allergies unless they are the true anaphylaxis (throat closing up, wheezing, hives, etc.) Most physicians will look at you like you are crazy when you ask or talk about behavior problems from food. The food allergy testing also isn’t that accurate because it only tests for allergies, not intolerances. I cannot have gluten, but it didn’t show a reaction at all on my testing. Best wishes, feel free to ask more questions, there are lots of moms on here with experience!