Blenderized Baby - I did It!!!!

As some of you know, I have been wanting to try Allie on a blenderized diet for sometime, however it's a big step out of my comfort zone and I haven't been 100% ready.  Actually I'm still not 100% ready but I'm getting there.  For some reason today I had the "urge" to tube feed Allie real food.  So, I did the only thing I knew - I emailed my friend Stephanie in California who's daughter is on a blenderized tube feed.  Stephanie is very knowledgeable about nutrition and has offered more than once to help me with Allie's blenderized diet when I am ready.  So, for some reason, today was the day I wanted to try it.

I asked Stephanie to provide me with a "very easy" ingredient list consisting of 1-2 items to blenderize.  I need to start in baby steps especially when I'm out of my comfort zone.  I knew I wanted to use a banana - not sure why but I did.  So this is what Stephanie suggested for me.

1 cup milk (hemp, cow, goat, rice or soy)
1 banana
1 avocado
This comes out to be approximately 43 calories an oz and this made 12 ounces.

I saw the word avocado and I thought - hmmmm....I've never even bought one of those before much less cut one open.  So, Stephanie kindly emailed me directions on how to cut one up.  I know it's crazy but honestly an avocado isn't a "normal" food for our household.  Ice cream is a different story - you all know how I love my ice cream!!

At this time, I am not taking Allie off her Neocate Jr. formula or her E028 Splash formula that she drinks orally but I am adding one tube feed a day of blenderized food for Allie.  We have been struggling to get enough calories into Allie each day and I have been waiting to hear back from our Dietician on what we should use, so I finally got tired of waiting. I had spoke to our Dietician a week or so ago and she suggested several products, actually I blogged about it.  However, the Dietician never confirmed what we should use and she never provided us with a sample, so maybe she's not worried about the calories that Allie is lacking.  I am worried and therefore I have decided instead of using medical calorie supplements, I would use real high calorie foods. 

So, this new blenderized food for Allie is just for 1 extra feeding a day however you never know where this will lead us.  In a month I might be blogging about how Allie is fed 100% real blenderized food - you never know (but don't get your hopes up) - lol.

For those of you interested, I took quick pictures of my blenderized food journey this afternoon.  It was easy and quick to make Allie's food so I hope the pictures provide you with a little more information on how to prepare a blenderized meal that can be tube fed to your child.  Keep in mind this formula is basic and it's just the beginning.  This is just the first step - if we decide to do a complete blenderized diet for Allie, our ingredients would need to be changed.

This is all I used, whole milk, a banana and 1 avocado - and one very cheap blender!

It was my first experience with an avocado - this is what is looks like when you cut it open.

I scooped out the insides and this is what I had left of the avocado - I do have to say it was kind icky

I put it all in the blender and blenderized it!!!

I'm super scared about clogging her feeding tube so I strained the food to make sure there were no chunks - and there wasn't.

This is what the finished product looked like.  Anybody want to get green slimed???

Allie by her first blenderized food for her tube feedings

I let her play in it and she actually tasted it.  She said it tasted good - crazy girl!

Allie helping with her first blenderized tube feed

Allie kept asking why it wouldn't go down.  It was a bit thicker than her Neocate milk so I had to plunge it in - which went fine.  I'm so proud of Allie - she accepted the new food with no problems.

Thanks Stephanie for helping me through this first step in the blenderized world!! 

On a side note, we meet Dr. Brown (GI doctor) tomorrow morning to go over what is next.  Not sure if he will have any other suggestions or recommendations for Allie or not.  I have a list of questions for him so I hope he's prepared for me!!  I'll update tomorrow after her appointment and let you all know how it went and what if anything will be done in the near future to try and get Allie a diagnosis.