Pediasure? - better option

[5gifts]

Hi, I've caught back up with a friend I hadn't seen in a couple years. Her dd is 6 and has cp - its pretty severe. Anyway, she is not happy that the docs are pushing feeding tube because of how little she is/low weight. She is bottle fed pediasure, mom feels she's just fine - they are not big people in that family. This is no judgement of her - pediasure may be a decent choice for her - I don't know. But my thought was its suppliment for tots eating other things too. I'm sure there are more complete formulas...but maybe don't taste good to be able to get her to drink it.

I wanted to run options by her thay would be of better quality...even homemade with goat or cow milk. Not necesarrily just to put pounds on her, but to be more nutritious. Her only concern is it being high calorie enough.

I really hesitate to offer more than a listening ear, but we have goats & cows we milk - I could give her milk. How do you add to it so it packs a good high calorie punch?

And I think info will be well received by her. I just don't see her looking into it herself. Thanks for any info you can point me to.

[kristenburgess]

I used the Weston A. Price homemade formula recipes for my toddler when we were struggling with a feeding disorder: Recipes here

He has progressed onto being able to eat textured solids now and is really thriving, but for a while we were only able to nurse, give liquids, and smooth pureed solids. I feel like the formula recipe helped him get calories in addition to nursing.

As he increased his solid intake and started gaining weight I switched over to just raw whole milk but added coconut oil to it (he generally drank it warmed so the oil stayed melted). His smooth purees also *always* had butter and fresh heavy cream added, but that's solids and not the formula!

His was raw cow's milk.

This was for a toddler, but I believe on that page there are some comments from parents who have used the recipes for older children with special feeding needs HTH

[Emmeline II]

When Pediasure was first marketed as a supplement you could buy at the supermarket, I remember there were complaints since it was originally made for children with feeding tubes.

[SiobhanAoife]

Don't know about how to enrich real foods for her, but wanted to mention that PediaSmart is an organic competitor to Pediasure, and you might want to check that out.

[anj_rn]

There are 2 types of pediasure one is a supplement that you can buy at the grocery store, another is Enteral pediasure that is meant to be a complete diet via g tube and tastes awful (I also think it is the source of all evil). My daughter has a tube and we feed her a blenderized diet of real food. She could adapt some recipes for that. I know our fruit smoothies are very tasty we use a combo of bananas, mango, peaches, berries, & greek yogurt (for the protein). We also have one with tofu, butternut squash, & barley.

Avocado, nuts, oils (flax seed is our fave), all are low quantity high calorie foods. Our base is breast milk, but many of our blenderized diet friends use whole milk, or another liquid base. We also mix her vitamins into the feeds.

If she does get a tube, she can still feed orally. I know lots of kids who tube feed what does not get eaten (or the stuff that does not taste as good), just to get the extra calories.

[5gifts]

Thanks so much for the feed back. This gives me some good info to talk with her about. I didn't even want to start brainstorming with her while I was completely clueless. Any other usefull info certainly welcome - I've just been crazy busy, so haven't checked in often.
Thanks again!

[coyotemist]

To make a good blended formula you need a Vitamix. They are expensive.

There are lots of better formulas than Pediasure. WIC will cover them with a doctors prescription (in Oregon it's a special form), WIC even covered Pediasure for my son years ago. My youngest son now uses Neocate Jr., but all of them are pretty expensive if you don't qualify for WIC. Sometimes medical insurance will cover them, Neocate has an assistance program if you can't get any other help.

Here is some info about a blended diet, which one of the PP's talked about.


http://www.mealtimenotions.com/Homem...laHandbook.htm

http://www.oley.org/lifeline/TubetalkSO07.html

[anj_rn]

Originally Posted by coyotemist 

To make a good blended formula you need a Vitamix. They are expensive.


 

This is not true.  I have been doing a blenderized diet for my DD quite successfully with my Oster Beehive blender ($65 at Target).  The Vitamix is awesome, and great for raw foods and grains, but it is very pricey (about $350 WITH the medical discount).

I would also suggest the Homemade Blenderized Formula Handbook by Marsha Dunn Klein.  It has great recipes and talks about oral strategies and tube feedings.  There is also a yahoo group for blenderized diets where tons of recipes are shared (both for oral eaters and tube feeders), as well as tips for blending, storing, etc.

I am a HUGE proponent of Blenderized diets (I do not like formulas), but it takes a huge of time commitment for the parents (cooking, blending, feeding, cleaning, planning, etc).  Some parents prefer to open a can, some parents prefer a mix of homemade and formula, and then there are the people like me who do not want any of that anywhere near my DD.

I would also say that while getting a g-tube placed is major surgery, it does not preclude oral feeding.  I would advise that your friend speak with a dietician about how to create a healthier plan for her daughter and see if that can be done orally.  If not, then the g-tube would help her get what she needs, and she could still have partial oral/partial g-tube feeds. 

[5gifts]

Thank you anj_rn and coyotemist. Now I'll share the links & book info with her if she really is interested in exploring a blenderized diet. If not I'll check with her on where she's at with wic & maybe a better formula choice. And yes, where she's at now, it would be good for her to connect with other moms that have made the choice to do or not do a tube and how they've gone on to combine tube & oral feeding. I think its been quite a while since she has really talked with a dietician - I will definately encourage it.

I imagine its hard to change everything, when you've fallen into a routine. The biggest leap in doing the blenderized is just getting started - I hope she will like to try it some, with a mix of homemade/formula at least. Focusing on nutrition would be good for her other kids, too - the oldest has long struggled with behavioral problems. But I promise I wont come across as too crazy-crunchy and scare her! LOL!  I'll be able to talk with her a good bit next Tues., but if this nice weather holds up I'll invite them over here to the farm Fri or Sat.  Her 13 yo dd really wants to come over to hang with my kids.