[sncmom]

Hi there-
I'm new on this forum. My DD is 10.5 months old and has a brain injury (HIE- hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy) that resulted from her umbilical cord being tied in a knot and wrapped around her neck twice. She has lots of challenges with eating and is on the small side, weight around 3rd %ile, a little over 15 lbs. We've been able to avoid the g-tube thus far b/c her head circ and height are decent (25th and 50th respectively). She eats best when she's most rested, when she wakes up, in fact that's the only time she'll usually be able to drink a bottle-- supplemented BM, has never been able to nurse =( She does ok with the cup and with purees. I'm not really sure where to go from here with feeding her.
I was wondering if anyone knew of any books with high calorie recipes that can be pureed. She is pretty particular about the thickness she tolerates. I'm thinking that it is probably time to discontinue the bottle since that is what she has the most trouble with, but I'm concerned that her pickiness will keep her from getting sufficient nutrients. She has developmental delays and cannot feed herself at all at this point (no pincer grasp, very little hand to mouth)
Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions for resources? I would appreciate any help.
Thanks-
Rachel

 

[mnm4242]

Can you crumble up an egg yolk (not the white part) and mix it in with her rice cereal or oatmeal?

Or perhaps, cheese can be added to anything pureed. Such as those number 3 babyfood gerber dinners that have brocoli and cheese pureed.

I don't really know anything on the subject, but those are just a couple of my ideas. Cottage cheese is also a good choice. My 11 month old LOVES cottage cheese cold right out of the fridge.

 

[sbgrace]

Well, you can get the most calories in reluctant eaters through drinks it seems. So if you can figure out a way to make drinking go better (bottle or something else) I'd work on that area. It's easier because the brain doesn't register calories through drinking as readily as eating. And if you get the right drinking system going it's faster/you can get more calories in in less time. We used intentionally broken certain type of sippy cups for a long time. I made smoothies with coconut milk, pureed avocado, etc. You can puree anything into a drink with a good blender or small food processor if you get the ratio of liquid to solid right.
You can add pureed stuff to her babyfood too--mess with proportions. You can add oil too (we used MCT oil actually). Fat is going to give you the most calories per bite but do make sure it's in balance. Too much fat can throw a child with unkown metabolic issues into a real dangerous mess. If she handles dairy ok dairy has a good fat/carb balance.

 

[pixiekisses]

We've used a lot of nutritional drinks full of calories.

 

[2bluefish]

I have an HIE baby too. He's 16 months now - 17 lbs. That's awesome about her head circ. btw!! Juju has secondary micro. He eats orally too. Juju has reached a stage where he's tired of milk. I've started fixing purees and feeding them to him with a cup. He takes in more with the cup than with the spoon - not sure why, I think it has something to do with not having the intrusion into his mouth. He can drink a bottle, but lately he's less and less interested. He's a big boy; he wants to use a cup. Anyway, I make a really high calorie oatmeal in the morning. 1/4 c oatmeal (dry infant cereal) - mix into that 1 TBS flax oil, 1 TBS coconut milk, 1 oz fruit puree, and then I add whole milk until it is the consistancy I want. I also use stage 3 purees with meat in them and add a tub of Benecalorie to them (it's pricey - Medicaid will pay for it, if you're not on a waiver program look into it). Sometimes I add a little milk to adjust the texture (the Benecalorie can sometimes make it goopy). I want to look more into dehydrated foods - the thing is, if the water is removed like with the oatmeal, then you can "rehydrate" with something that adds additional calories - milk, oils, juice. But we do have to watch that they get enough free water.

 

[FuzzyOne]

this is what we are giving our 3.5 yr. old son right now - he has GI issues (malabsorption problems). part of the recipe contains a medical grade food, so you will want to check and make sure it's ok for your little one. each smoothie is approximately 800 calories and has good, healthy fat.

4 oz. or organic coconut milk
1 Tbsp quality olive oil or coconut oil
1 scoop Metagenics UltraCare for Kids
1/2 avocado
2-3 Tbsp frozen fruit (we use mango)
mineral water (we use SanFaustino) to appropriate consistency

you can also increase the oil or coconut milk to add additional calories, vegetable and fruit powders or leafy greens (like romaine) to increase nutrients.

our very picky eater is actually drinking these!

i think even if you didn't use the powder food supplement that it would be a good calorie full drink.

 

[sncmom]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I just tried coconut cream (skimmed off the top of the can and mixed with fruit) with her for the first time today, and it seemed to go well. I will try some of the other recipes you have suggested soon. I'm planning to stop pumping when she turns 1, and my dev ped wants us to switch to Boost (45 cal/oz). I'm a little uncomfortable having such a big part of her diet be totally processed food. Has anyone tried half-and-half in a bottle? I don't think she could do such a thin liquid out of a cup, I usually do a yogurt milk mixture for that.
Any thoughts on recipe books for purees?
Thanks again.
P.S. 2bluefish- I think I recognize you from the HIESC group. good to "see" you again!

 

[2bluefish]

Our nutrionist is pushing Pediasure. I'm really not sure why other than she's familiar with it. We've been putting a couple ounces in his bottles of milk. His typical 8 oz bottle is - 2 oz Pediasure, 4 oz goat milk, 1 oz coconut milk (we get it in the Asian section), 1 oz fruit puree. It does have a strong flavor which might be good for Juju as his mouth is undersensitive.

Fuzzy One's smoothie sounds good too - I'm going to have to try that! Could probably use any number of powders - protein powder, formula, dry milk...