Anyone who has followed my blog, Facebook and been involved in the last 4 years of our child raising will know the struggles we've encountered with pediatric feeding disorders.
This journey has by no means made me an expert, but I was challenged to share the knowledge I've gained so that hopefully the Mom, Dad, or caregiver reading this can avoid what we've gone through.
I am a strong advocate for breastfeeding and waiting to introduce solids until at least 6 months...
With this being said I also believe your child, your choice, FED IS BEST!
In our circumstance without my two youngest being exclusively breastfed and my stance on introducing solids when we did, I strongly believe their lives would have been in greater danger much faster due to choking.
I am also strongly advising if you are currently pregnant, planning to be, or have children around you please take a CPR and First aid test and become certified, This could save a life.
A little background, we had one "typical Child" who progressed normally-advanced in most areas including eating. Nene she is our oldest and so when her next sibling came along it made the issues that much more apparent and startling.
When Sanna came along we had a very similar beginning, tongue tie (clipped no further issue), breastfed, gaining weight, aversion to bottles (Nene the same) but with more gagging. We get ready to introduce solids at 6 months and no matter the texture she gagged and struggled to accept solids, we had to give her thicker puree for close to 6 months, and the things like cheerios, apples, pretzels that most 12 month old can eat safely/take their own bites with supervision she couldn't even begin to until closer to 2. We also struggled with her taking a sippy, straw or cup of any kind. This caused her weight to almost plateau. We calorie packed the foods and textures she could eat.
We did all this and much more when their brother Nico came along, and his aversions became life threatening and he ended up getting a feeding tube at 15 months old.
Both the youngest kids have had oral surgery for a severe posterior tongue tie which helped but didn't 100% correct the problems.
When we calorie packed foods here is some staples:
Avocado (@ least 1/2 of one daily)
Oatmeal
Bananas
Greek yogurt (Fage is made with whole milk/cream)
4% cottage cheese
eggs
sweet potato
protein powder
coconut oil
Chocolate ice cream (Bryers chocolate is made with cream and is calorie and fat content=pediasure per 8oz serving)
pudding cups
puffs
baby food meats/fruit/veggies
creamy peanut butter (ask doctor before giving to child)
cream cheese
re fried beans
sour cream
Stage 3 baby meals
***everything needs to be full fat! No low fat/no fat anything***
DISCLAIMER: I am not a nutritionist and I strongly suggest if your baby is struggling to gain weight, eat, or drink PLEASE consult with a doctor!**
So now that I gave you our pantry basics for feeding and calorie packing I will list a sample menu.
Breakfast:
**breastfed first as long as child wanted**
2 eggs over medium (the yolk helps the bites go down easier)
slice of toast with cream cheese/crust cut off
Or
1 cup Oatmeal w/ 1TBSP coconut oil or mashed avocado/baby fruit/veggie puree w/ 2 TBSP protein powder
Or
1 cup Greek Yogurt with puree fruit/veggie
slice toast with cream cheese/crust cut off
Snack:
**breastfed first as long as child wanted**
Full Fat Ice cream or
mashed avocado/banana combo
puffs
Lunch:
**breastfed first as long as child wanted**
Cottage cheese
stage 3 baby food meal
Snack:
**breastfed first as long as child wanted**
Full Fat ice cream or
mashed avocado/banana combo
puffs
Dinner:
**breastfed first as long as child wanted**
Modify what we were eating to a consistency child could handle
or
cottage cheese and Stage 3 baby meal
or
re fried beans with mashed sweet potato
or
1 cup oatmeal with 2 tbsp peanut butter and 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
and baby puffs to finish
**breast feed on demand the rest of the evening/overnight and throughout the day and offer spoonfuls of water at amount child can handle or with sponge/toothette/cup**
We had to really monitor how our children ate and drank, and the Heimlich maneuver happened at least once a meal on at least one kid daily for 2 1/2 years.
I worked two jobs during the last 2 years and still breastfed on demand and worked only hours the baby was sleeping so that I was available to nurse him (Nico).
During this whole process we were in constant communication with our children's health care provider/speech and eating therapy/ Physical therapy and when those weren't helping we networked to get them the help they needed as much as we could.
It's hard when you have to be so hyper vigilant and it was and is exhausting and a strain on relationships. Please find people to talk to and share your story. You never know who is in the same boat and may need the support you have or the tips and tricks that can make all the difference.
I hope this menu/food list can help anyone who just doesn't know were to start.
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