After years and years of trying different formulas for Sarah and all of the GI trouble she has had, something had to give. Alot of her home therapists kept suggesting we put her on a BLENDED DIET. During the early years, that was so much more than I could comprehend.
One day, I had an epiphany. I realized SOMETHING had to give. If there was any chance that she would eat by mouth, I knew I needed to give her real foods to encourage her system to want real foods.
So, I went back to the therapists who were all along encouraging me to try this. I did research, I talked to her dietitian, her feeding therapists, her GI, her speech therapists, moms of kiddos who were on the diet and got all the information I needed to at least start this and see what the future would bring.
As luck would have it, Sarah's Grandma and Grandpa were talking about this to one of their friends. I knew that I could not give her the best with out the best equipment. So Steve and Julia Hernandez graciously donated a blender to us. Its a Vita-Mix 5200. It has been a BLESSING to have this blender, because it is soo powerful and it blends all her foods smoothly. THAN YOU SOO MUCH STEVE AND JULIA!! That is when this journey was able to begin.
The diet needed to be started slowly. We started it in July of 2009. Using the formula she was currently on, Nestles Compleat, we added 1 food a week. If I remember we started off with baby oatmeal and a vegetable. I believe it was peas. The next week, it was chicken and peas, the next week it was chicken, peas, blueberries and it went from there.
I even designed a spread sheet according to the break up of the food groups. Proteins, Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy, Fats, Juices, Sodium and extra fluids, water and formula. From there I added the dates that I would make the blends and how much of each food group I added. The spread sheet is the key to her diet, because I am able to track what I add and when. Plus I have it out when making the blend to reassure myself I added everything, like a check list. I also take it with me when I shop for her foods.
She is currently taking all the food groups and taking it soo wonderfully. I do have her on several different kinds of fruits and veggies and different kinds of proteins and different kinds of fats, which is given to her 4 to 5 times a day via g-tube.
When Sarah went into the hospital in late 2009, the doctor asked me to start it all over just to rule out any food allergies that could be causing seizures. So as much as I hated to, I had no choice. Wow!!! What a toll it took on Sarah. The beautiful coloring, the feel of her skin and hair, were dry and ashy. She lost weight and I could tell she did not feel as strong as she had been. I saw, so many of us, saw first hand how the diet did such wonderful things to her, then to take it away and see how she look almost ill.
I slowly rebuilt up her diet and not one food was causing any allergies or reactions to her body. By March, her healthy color was coming back, her hair was soft, and growing so fast. Her bowels were better, and she was becoming more and more happy.
We just recently tried adding hamburger to her diet as a protein. After a few feeding with hamburger, she developed a rash on her cheek. So out went the hamburger. This has been the ONLY food that has caused it. I plan on trying it again, just to 100% sure.
I make sure that I blend it seperately, and add a 1/2 ounce to each bottle I make. Not added to the blend itself.
With this diet, I have learned alot about foods. If we took in half of what Sarah does.... we'd all be feeling as great as she does.
As I said before, keeping track is such the key and this has been and will continue to be a work in progress. This is just one of the thousand of things I have to manage for Sarah. But it is soo worth it. I am still trying to develop a system to keep it better organized and maintained and I think I am getting there.
I have finally found a system that works for me and a way to freeze and store her foods. I will cook all the chicken, eggs, sweet potatoes and add everything else except the liquids and freeze it. Then when a diet is needed, pull it out the night before and make it after the girls go to school.
Clean up is a breeze because there is limited mess. The only time there is a mess is when I am putting together 2 weeks worth of feedings to freeze.
As everything, this is a work in progress and finding what works best is such trial and error. I think I hafve found our way to do it that best fits us.
