After my last post, I bet you're wondering what goes in the feeding tube. It’s just food!
Sadly, there's a whole bunch of drama some people have to deal with to put food in their feeding tube. We've been incredibly lucky to have a supportive group of doctors and it's not been an issue for us yet.
The doctors in the NICU tried to supplement her with formula a few times and it always led to lots of throwing up. And once I started reading ingredients for the traditional tubie formulas, I decided against that! I don't mind junk food on occasion, but feeding my baby corn syrup based food 24/7 was not going to happen.
Using real food in a tube is referred to as a blenderized diet and we have it down to a science! There's even a dietician to double check my math on nutrition
First up - the freezer team! We aim for one meat, 2 veggies, 1-2 fruits and 2 whole grains. Heat it up and it looks like the world's weirdest grain bowl.
Team 2 & 3 - fridge and pantry! There's orange juice, non-dairy milk (she's not allergic, it's just good variety and a little extra protein), yogurt and healthy fats in the form of flaxseed oil. Finally prunes, Cheerios, coconut milk powder, hemp hearts and a little salt (dietician’s orders!).
It all goes into the brawn of the process - the Vitamix! We'd be lost without this crazy awesome blender, it can pulverize this assortment into a blended mix smooth enough to go through her tube without clogging.
All mixed up a few minutes later and ready to be portioned into her Squeasy Gear bottles. The little ones are a complete meal, the big one holds 3 meals. You can see more to go in the blender, I usually make enough to last 2-3 days at a time.
And our Miracle Syringe up close! The numbers are finally starting to fade on this one, but I’ve been using it almost a year, so I’ll let it slide. I love these syringes!
But what about the days I’m too tired to do this and she’s out of blend? I turn to these two products made from real food. These are the “little guy” formulas that fight for DME space from the giant medical companies. Two brands started by parents of tubie kids - looking for a way to feed their kids real food. The one on the left is ready to feed as-is, the one on the right you just mix with water. I used these two instead of hauling my blender over thanksgiving and they were both perfect!
Oh and water - she also needs a little extra water through the tube. She’s now very insistent that she get to push the water in. I thought it would be too hard for her tiny hands, but I should know better than to doubt this girl!
Love you to Pluto and back infinity times, sweet girl of mine. You are worth all this trouble and so much more! I’ll keep blending until you don’t need it or I teach you to use the blender.