Blending day...

Carter is tube-fed.  He was diagnosed as "failure to thrive" at 10 months-old and got a PEG tube at 11 months old.  For the first year-plus that he had his tube, he was fed high calorie (and high sugar) formula.  In the beginning it was pumped in slowly and continuously overnight.  I would hook the pump up to his tube around 10pm and he would finish around 6am.  This was it for the day, he received all of his calories in these 10 hours.  Eventually he started moving around more in his sleep and twice we went into his room to find the cord from the pump wrapped around his neck, loosely, thank God.  But, we knew it was time to change.  We met with a nutritionist to help us figure out how to get the calories that he needed during waking hours.  She told us that if we ever planned to have him eat "normally", which of course we do, then he should be on a more "normal" feeding schedule to teach his body about being hungry and full, which totally made sense.  As a side note - there is no medical reason why Carter CAN'T eat.  He has the ability to swallow (he breast-fed fine)...At this time, his sensory issues prevent him from eating.  As soon as food gets on his tongue, he tries to wipe it off.  We are working with a great feeding therapist, who, since the beginning of the summer, has made great progress with him.

Anyway, long story short, we moved to a more typical feeding schedule - breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner and we've stuck to that.  I don't remember where I first heard about a blenderized diet but when I did, it sure made sense to me.  I hated the amount of sugar in the Pediasure/Boost Kid Essentials that he was getting EVERY day.  Plus, I thought that Carter could only benefit from "real" food.  My mom bought us a Vitamix and I haven't looked back.  I joke that the Vitamix is by BFF.  The thing is amazing...And Carter is the healthiest toddler around.  Since he doesn't taste anything that goes into his tube, the sky's the limit as far as what concoctions we give him.  The blends are thicker with "real" food so we ditched our pump and we syringe feed Carter.  He gets 2oz of food at a time, followed by a 3 minute break, just to let his stomach rest.  His total meal is 8 syringes, or 16oz, followed by 2oz of water. 

Lately I've been blending every other Wednesday. I shop on Tuesday and prep the food Wednesday morning.  Blending and storing 8 batches (for freezing), which lasts for 16 days (lunch and dinner), takes me just about 90 minutes.  I do this during the boy's nap.  I make 4 days worth of breakfast at a time and this doesn't get frozen, I just keep it in the fridge.  These batches also double as Carter's afternoon snack.  A lot of my blending has been trial and error.  We've had clogs from which we've had food spray all over the table, chairs, floor, even ceiling.  We've had food all over ourselves and Carter.  We've used bobby pins and safety pins to try to remove clogs.  But at the end of the day, it's still all worth it.

Just as an example, today's breakfast and snack was a hemp milk base with oatmeal, walnuts, applesauce, honey, kiwi fruit and pineapple.  I would actually eat this!  Lunch and dinner are a different story.  Although I like all of the ingredients, I wouldn't eat them all together.  :)  Lunch was sockeye salmon, millet, sweet potato, avocado, almond butter, banana and broccoli.  Dinner was pork, quinoa, pumpkin, avocado, almond butter, blueberries and spinach. 

A blenderized diet is pretty time consuming but if I'm really organized I can shave a minute or two off of my time when I blend. :) I pretty much have an assembly line going and I have a certain order that I'll blend the ingredients to make sure that everything gets chopped up small enough to go thru the tube.  I am really, really proud of my hard work and dedication to Carter's nutrition. I know that he has to be benefitting from such a well-balanced and completely organic diet.  I look forward to the day when I only have to take my Vitamix out when we're in the mood for margaritas...But for now, I'll continue to blend to keep Carter on the right track nutritionally.  Chances are, when he does start eating, he won't want many of the healthy ingredients that he's consuming now...

We recently switched Carter to a "mini-one" button, I believe that it's the smallest one out there.  It's been working great for us.  There is a balloon that fills with water and this is what keeps it in Carter's stomach.  I change it myself every 3-4 months.  This is something that I will never get used to doing, but it has to be done.  I always need someone around for moral support, either Doug or Marta.  It's a quick switch and Carter really doesn't flinch.  When I'm doing the switch, I try not to think about what it actually is, b/c it's kind of freaky.  Here is a photo of the button (and some soap bubbles from tonight's bath), to give anyone who's not familiar with it, a visual.