Real food for real people... I have chosen to feed my son, who eats by g-tube, real food blended up. I have heard many stories of special needs kids greatly improving when moving from formula to real food diets. Luke hasn't know any different and is doing just great. Its not really that hard. The hardest part is getting the nutritionist you are working with to get on board with you. Here are some resources I have found helpful.
Blended Food Resource Group - http://www.foodfortubies.com/
Facebook page for above group - https://www.facebook.com/foodfortubies
Blenderized Diet group on Yahoo Groups
Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron (Yes this is for babies who eat by mouth and are "normal" but has great nutritional info, recipes, how to blend, store, use fruits and veggies, and how to do it all in a small amount of time.)
Homemade Blenderized Diet Handbook - not all that helpful
http://youstartwithatube.blogspot.com
Me - I love to talk about it so feel free to contact me.
An interesting note is that while at the Moebius Syndrome Conference a nurse that used to be in Australia said it was the norm to give blenderized food to g-tube fed people in the hospital. Awesome for Australians.
So here is some more detailed info about Luke's blenderized diet (BD), maybe too much info but read however much you want.
Right now Luke is growing too much so we are cutting back in calories. I have heard of a lot of things that you can add to a BD to get your calories though from others so if you are worried about calories a BD can accomidate that or just about anything. Luke gets 220ml 5 times per day and does great with it. Sometimes we plunge and sometimes we just let gravity work depending on the thickness of the food that day.
I started based on a diet of "Super Baby Foods" by Ruth Yaron who is great at making food efficiently and has good charts about how to get all your nutrition. Another resources was the Blenderized Diet Handbook but truthfully I found that a baby food book worked better becuase I wanted to feed Luke like I would a normal child. He just gets everything for the day all together.
We started food with Luke at a year with just getting a tablespoon of something in his feeding once per day and then we upped it to all feedings getting food. When he was good with a variety of foods we started adding more food in each feeding and then got to a total blenderized diet. I sort of worked it like I would start feeding a normal baby just his was through the tube instead of by mouth. This helps a lot with the taste issue since I don't have to worry about it. I will have to rethink my food choices and blends when the next baby starts eating. In the summers we pay to get a share of farm veggies and fruits for 18 weeks and since Luke doesn't taste he gets those really good for you veggies that are not so good tasting to us. We also can and freeze when produce is in season so I don't have to buy veggies off season. I cook my veggies and give them a quick blend, put them in a covered ice cube tray and freeze them. I then vacuum seal them in 2 week portions. So far so good for this winter.
Our basic recipe for 5-6 feedings worth:
(we are really organic locally grown nuts so most of this is just that)
550ml of milk (we use skim now to cut calories but did use whole)
50 ml of real 100% juice of some kind
1 Tablespoon of wheat germ
1/4 ish of ground chicken or turkey
1/2 hard boiled egg about every other day
2-3 heaping Tablespoons of whole milk yogurt
1 cup of porridge (we use a 1:2:1 mix of a protein lentil or bean: oatmeal or grain: flax seeds, blend all dry (don't worry about soaking lentils or beans) and heat in water for 10 min, recipie from "Super Baby Foods".)
3-6 oz of fruit pears, bananas, oranges, tomatoes
3-6 oz of veggies lot of kale, spinach, carrots, squash, broccoli
for the fruits and veggies I try to make a rainbow and get some Vit A and Vit C veggies as well as hard greens in every day.
After blending I use a digital kitchen scale to divide out my feedings. We feed 220ml but I usually measure 240g to account for what clings to the side. We don't flush with water although I am contemplating flushing more lately.
I also add a drop of Vit D (400) to one feeding a day, probiotics to 1 feeding a day and a multivitamin to 1 feeding a day.
So too much info maybe, not enough, feel free to contact me.
