It's been almost 2 weeks now since I started blending Faith's food. Very quickly I have tried a lot of new things (I'm not following the rules of one new food per week -- I've never been very good at following strict rules) and I've got it down fairly well now -- all except for adding grains. So far I've only tried oatmeal, but it is just too thick and clogs the tube - adding a fresh banana thickened it too much also. I really need to bite the bullet and buy the heavy duty blender soon.
The surprising result though has been that we think Faith's retching has stopped! I posted a couple weeks ago about finding out that Faith's Hiatal Hernia is back. When we discussed it with the doctor, we told him it mostly happens at the end of her feedings, so he logically suggested that we cut the quantity of each feeding and add one extra feeding time to maintain her calorie intake. Instead of doing that right away I decided to finally start blending her food first. Well, making homemade blended food is challenging to keep the calories per ounce as high as is in her canned food - so we actually ended up increasing her quantity from roughly 7/7.5 oz per feeding to 8/9 oz per feeding and she is handling it just fine. I never suspected the food she was eating could have been causing her to retch (she doesn't vomit because she has a Nissen that prevents food from going up from her stomach), but we are starting to think that might be exactly the cause. I am really thrilled to see this change for Faith!
Next Friday is Faith's 2nd birthday and it is so exciting to see just how far she has come! We are having her birthday party on Saturday at the park! This past year has been really wonderful with no hospitalizations (knock on wood!) and no serious illnesses. Next year could be much harder with some possible jaw surgeries, but we still really don't have any definite plans about that. She goes in for a CT scan on her jaw and ears on Sept. 29th and then we will send those to a couple doctors to get some final input before we choose which surgery we will pursue and plan a date for it. It's really scary to think about putting her through a big surgery whichever route we go, but we have to keep the end goal in mind, to open up her airway and get both her trach and feeding tube out (which may take more than one surgery to get to that goal).
I'll post new pictures next week after her party.
Best to all,
Robin
3 comments:
Good for you! It's wonderful that you're able to make her food now! If you do run out of time, one you might want to check out is Happy Baby - they're usually in the freezer section at Whole Foods or SuperTarget. They are frozen into little servings, they come in a plastic ice-cube-like tray. There are many varieties, Valentino especially loves the spinach/green beans sweetened with mango juice. Yum!
It's also really wonderful to be on the other end of the G-tube & have Faith tolerating her feedings now without wretching! It broke my heart to see her struggle with the formula. It's also nice to be on the other end of her diaper changes b/c they too have improved! Overall, I think the blended food has been a great addition & change!
I'm glad the new food is working so well for Faith! It's fun to see your blog and all the cute videos.
We'll be thinking about you guys in the hospital on the 29th as Cicily will be in the hospital that day too, having her jaw distractors removed.
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