Thursday, May 13, 2010

Fantastic Feeding Day!

Wow! Harlie had a GREAT day of eating!

Just a few weeks ago our goal was to get her to eat 3 to 3.5 ounces of food per day. Within days, she exceeded that goal. Then, on Tuesday at our feeding clinic appointment, I was able to report that she averages about 10 ounces per day.

Then today she ate/drank a total of 20.74 ounces of food/formula!!!!

All I can say is WOW! And WOO HOO!!!

I went to the grocery store today and bought a whole bunch of things for me to puree for her. I must admit that I'm not thrilled to have to learn so much about pureeing. Not the act of putting food in a blender and pushing a button (although surprisingly enough, its not that easy). I'm talking about how I pureed some mandarin oranges and it came out juice instead of a puree. So, I asked them at her feeding therapy appointment this morning and they told me to add mashed potato flakes. Another tip was to make cream of wheat and then mix it with a fruit.

I suppose each day I'll learn something new, and then each time will start to get easier and easier. Take today for example. I learned that a large can of yams requires a lot more water than you would think. And I also learned that the whole can of yams, plus all the water required, does NOT fit into my blender. Messy, messy, messy!

After I pureed the food I poured it into ice cube trays. Once frozen I transfer the cubes into bags labeled so I know what i'm giving her. So when it's feeding time, I can just grab a few cubes and defrost. Because there is NO way I can puree before each meal. It is WAY too time consuming. And WAY too, too, too messy!

I see a new heavy duty blender in my future.

Cheers!
~Christy

4 comments:

Susan said...

WOW! Is right! That's incredible! I'm wondering if this is due to her jaw surgery? The timing is interesting. Regardless of the reason it's a great change.

A high-speed blender can puree anything. And you get a finer puree if the mixture is on the thicker side (but not too thick, you have to have enough liquid) and then you add more liquid. The Blentec cleans pretty easily, you spray it off and then pulse hot water and soap, rinse and you're done.

But if she's doing this well, I wonder if she might move to table foods soon. You might not need the high speed blender. Lucky you. Very exciting stuff!

Kim said...

Awesome news! Great idea to freeze!

Maybe this is an excuse to get one of those awesome Margaritaville blenders. Those things rock! :)

ANewKindOfPerfect said...

I have a daughter who is tube-fed, and reading your blog is great encouragement for me. She has never eaten orally, and she refuses all food. She can swallow perfectly fine, and even chew if you put something in there, but she hates it. She lets it sit in her mouth and either spits it out or just chokes on it. I will be reading your blog to hear how good Harlie is doing with her eating! It will help me remain positive for my Peanut's future of eating. :)

Jennifer and Elizabeth said...

Christy,

Sorry, I'm a little late reading this. Elizabeth went through a 10 week very intensive feeding program. I'm not sure what you are doing with Harlie, but I have some incredible recipes I would type up and e-mail to you for making pureed food. They are all calorie boosted, becuase we need Elizabeth to put on wieght with very small amounts of food as she is very volume sensitive. These are recipes that were given to me through the feeding program, so nutrionist made them up. You could take them to your feeding clinic and see what they say. They are all for smooth purees as that is all Elizabeth tolerates. Also I have made adjustments to some of them as I found different things work better. I puree up food every 5 days for Elizabeth and I do a total of 7 things per 5 days as well as strawberry pudding milk. I have been doing this for her since July of last year, so I know what u are going throgh. I would be more than happy to share any ideas and thoughts with you if u have any questions. My e-mail is tigeress1026@hotmail.com

Jennifer

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