1. Start James slowly. In the beginning we didn't start slowly enough. We didn't jump in all at once, but we increased more quickly than James' bowels were able to handle. Now we know the warning signs and how to counteract problems. Out of 4 daily feeds James gets a half feed of a blend and three and a half feeds breast milk. He is handling this extremely well and we hope to increase to a full feed on Friday.
2. Start with easy, healthy, non-allergin foods. We are trying a "combination" diet which blends food that digest well together. We are also going completely organic. Often times the pesticides in food aggravate already sensitive tummies.
3. James will eat what we eat. This isn't entirely true. If we are having something on the less healthy side of life we probably won't blend it up and give it to James. But, the goal is to make James' meals mimic our family's meals as much as possible. This makes him part of our mealtime in a very natural way.
We are using the following combinations for his feeds:
Chicken, Green Beans, and Olive Oil
Green Beans, Sweet Potato/Carrots, and Olive Oil
Green Beans, Quinoa, and Olive Oil
As we continue, and when we get a blender that can handle more foods, we will add more. We can try a new food, watch for allergies, and, if everything looks good, add it into the rotation.
The nice thing about the blended diet is Mark can get more involved. It can be very stressful to calculate mixtures and count calories, but we feel so much better giving our son real food. James has looked so healthy since we have started this diet and we can't wait to see how it helps him in the future. The other sacrifice of the blended diet is less use of our feeding pump. The blended food has to be pushed into the tube gradually through a syringe. This takes a bit of time and isn't hands-off like the pump, but it is nice not to worry about James pulling on his pump tube and it gives him more freedom to move. We have settled into giving James 10-15 mL every ten minutes until finished. He may have anywhere between 60 and 90 mLs per half feed.
Check out his food:
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| Green Beans and Quinoa |
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| Syringe-full of Goodness! |
Going dairy-free for James' sake has been a big challenge, but it has been worth it to keep him healthy until we could get to this point. I can't imagine what would have happened if I gave up and switched him to all formula. Moms, pumping is not fun, but it is worth it for your child!
A dairy-free diet is rough, but it has made us healthier, more creative and resourceful. Check out our dairy-free, delicious pizza we made for dinner tonight. We used homemade pizza dough and sauce (you can use store-bought, I like to do it myself), organic pepperoni and veggies, bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes and ta-da! A fabulous, non-dairy dinner! It took me a couple of months to learn how to cook without dairy, but I don't have many problems anymore, even when it comes to baking delicious goodies. There are all kinds of options out there and it is fun to learn how to do something differently!
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| An awesome dinner! My first pizza in 9 months. Why didn't I think of this before? |
With love.
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