Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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.

7 comments:

  1. So excited for you. I plunge in all of Ava's feeds. Most blenderized diets don't work on gravity...FYI.

    Keep it up! You're doing a great job!!!

    Steph

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  2. Now that we are approaching the big first birthday, we are pondering a blenderized diet for Madison. Seems better than her getting 6 feeds of Pediasure a day only. I guess step one will be figuring out how to do a gravity feed or what a plunger is...lol :o)

    Great job Momma!! Keep up the great work!

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  3. Fantastic!! I think this is a terrific idea, and it looks like it went absolutely as well as it could have, yay for Mommy, YAY for Allie!

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  4. Great idea! Maybe I will get brave one of these days! While Evelyn's formula is supposedly "nutrionally complete" I can't help thinking one cannot live on that alone. You still need fruits, veggies, proteins and fiber. But I've been too scared to try! Thanks for the post. It helps a lot

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  5. Way to go, Jodi!!!! Based on the other comments you are already inspiring many of us. I've been burning through websites and books on blenderized but too am a little tentative to try it. Mostly because of the new baby soon to arrive and potentially moving houses before that. Those are excuses however, and now more than ever I'm eager to give it a go. Excellent job as always!

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  6. Thanks everyone! So far Allie has been doing great with her blenderized feeds. I am thinking of moving to 2 blenderized feeds a day. She is still getting 2 bolus feeds with her Neocate and then receives her Neocate all night long. She hasn't vomited at all with the change in her feeds - what a relief!!

    If anyone is interested in learning more about blenderized feeds, please feel free to contact Stephanie Kelley - she is the one helping me and she has a lot of knowledge about blenderized feeds because her daughter Ava has been receiving them for a while. Check out her blog. Her blog is "The Kelley Girls" and the link is on the right hand side of my page.

    This blenderized feeding is fun - you should try it!

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  7. Jodi...love that you used Avocado! Being a California native, it is one of my favorite things to eat EVER! I came across this site and thought it might help with the blender diet. http://pedalingbackwards.com/2009/04/29/g-tube-feedings-recipes-for-blended-food/

    Constantly looking online for anything that pops into my head about Allie. You guys all look great and you are doing a great job!

    Here is another one: http://tubefedkids.ning.com/forum/topics/high-calorie-foods-for-kids

    Sorry if you are already familiar with these, I just thought I better add them than to assume you have them already.

    Heather Oslund

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