Do you know that a lot of yogurts only have 4% fat?
Gippsland Dairy is better, they have 6.5% fat. Ski Divine has 7.8% according to their website. Danone is even better – less sugar than Gippsland and Ski and 8% fat. But Farmer’s Union Greek Yogurt has a total amount of 9.7% fat and no sugar at all.
Unfortunately the lack of sugar makes it almost unpalateable for Evelyn, unless I add things to it, which negates the fat percentages. If half the yogurt eaten is actually applesauce (made from pure apples, high in vitamin C, containing carbs and energy, but not enough nutrition to live on), then it’s less beneficial than 4TB of plain Danone yogurt.
This is not a sponsored post. This is just where my head is at lately, while keeping a food diary for Evelyn and trying to add Pediasure to all the things. This morning I made whole egg custard because Evelyn both enjoys the taste and can swallow it. I added Pediasure to the end product and voila, there was three tablespoons of highly nutritious food for morning tea.
I cheered because she managed 5 tablespoons (FIVE, count them, FIVE) of thin porridge with yogurt and pediasure this morning for breakfast.
Why yes, I am going a little insane, obsessing over everything Eve puts in her mouth. But that’s my job. I’m her mother and a toddler cannot live on breastmilk alone as our (new, lovely) dietician pointed out to me the other day. So I’m keeping a food diary, writing everything down and trying to replace day feeds with pediasure bottles.
You wish you were me right now, don’t you.
Mothers of toddlers everywhere are attempting to get their special snowflakes to eat sandwiches at lunchtime. I’m feeding my child ice-cream and custard. It’s a big perspective shift for me, who originally felt that toddlers should survive on everything that isn’t sweet, unless it’s fruit and then, go for your life.
Welcome to Reality, Veronica. Here, have a cookbook, a list of fat percentages, and a can of nutritional supplement. YOU’RE GOING TO NEED THEM.
We’re lucky. Evelyn enjoys food still. She likes to taste everything, even if she cannot swallow a lot of it. This is a good thing, I’m told. She’s just as likely to eat a piece of steamed cauliflower, as a spoonful of ice-cream (even if the cauliflower doesn’t have nearly enough fat), and she adores cheese cubes (better) and rice crackers (eh, practically empty nutrition).
So here we are.
Bottles of partially tasted supplement litter my kitchen sink and I’ve taken to wondering if syringe feeding pediasure would be easier than giving bottles. I make them up in 50ml lots now and throw out 45 ml when after two hours Evelyn has had three sips. Maybe it’s the bottle, maybe it’s the taste, maybe it’s that Evelyn doesn’t seem to get hungry.
Who knows?
It’s complicated.
Until something changes, I’m making custards, ice-cream and bottles in equal measure.
Does pediasure only have a 2 hour window to be “good”? Q’s formula has a 4 hour window. Or can it be refrigerated?
It probably has a longer window than 2 hours, but we were told if she’s sucked on the bottle and then not drank anymore, then 2 hours is usually a good time to throw it out after. Of course, I could refridgerate it, but that would stop me shoving it in her face every 10 minutes.
Why are babies so complicated Amy?
To keep life from being routine and boring? Quincy’s having drug withdrawals, even though they’re stepping them down slowly and have her on methadone. To add to that, her formula right now smells like wet potato peels, she couldn’t have her swallow study because her feeding tube was places wrong, pulled back, then threw up a stomach on full feed on the speech therapist (she hadn’t had anything in her stomach in 2 weeks, let alone a full feed amount in 6).
Oh poor baby. I came off antid’s recently and those withdrawals were bad enough, and I was doing it to myself.
Wet potato peels? Are they trying to brew some kind of formula vodka in her stomach?
She’s looking much better in her photos though, adorable and bright eyed.
(For anyone else interested, you can follow Quincy’s story here.)
Oh, they nicked a lipid duct during transplant. It’s so tiny a duct that it frequently happens during open heart surgery. Sort of a can’t be avoided thing. So, she has to be on a low fat formula for 6-12 weeks. And a lactose free one at that as she’s lactose intolerant. What’s more is that we are told it tastes worse than it smells, so we will be tube feeding it.
Sounds like it’s made out of squished angel wings, or something. Or maybe not. Do you think angel wings would taste bad? Poor Quincy.
I hope this gets a bit easier soon. Maybe the syringe would be better? Or are the docs trying to preserve her ability/desire to suck/eat?
Trying to preserve her ability and desire to eat. Thankfully she likes the taste of the Pediasure (and the taste of most things), so it’s just about transitioning to a bottle, which she isn’t enjoying.
Would she maybe like a cup better? Or a straw?
She can’t seem to create enough suction with her mouth to do well with a cup or straw. They’re not sure why, because she nurses well still and can obviously suck during breastfeeding. Our speechie is looking into it, in the meantime we’re using bottles so that gravity can do the work for her.
We’re just lucky she’s not losing weight. Probably because she’s still nursing 5+ times overnight.
How much fat does an apple contain?
Well, that depends…is it plain or have you dipped it in batter and deep fried it?
Have you made it into a cake, with sugar and cinnamon?
Apple pie with cream? ice cream? custard? all three?
damn, now I want pie….
I should probably read your post now.
Apple pie is one of my favourite things. Mmmmm. Pie.
I’ve heard before that the fat content of foods is important for toddlers and children, up to the age of about twelve if I remember right, they need the fat for growth and brain development. This is why lamb chops and lamb roasts are so popular as kids food, lamb is a fatty meat.
I hope Evelyn continues to taste a variety of foods, it would be a shame to see her choosing only one thing and refusing everything else. Maddening for you too.
I would think that by adding apple puree to yoghurt you’re not actually cutting the fat content, merely adding a fruity fibre content. If a tablespoon of yoghurt has x grams of fat, that fat will still be there even if the tablespoon of yoghurt now has a tablespoon of apple as well.
Yep, that’s true re the fat staying the same, but if Eve will only eat one TB of stuff and I add 1TB of apple to 1TB of yogurt, then she’s only eating half the fat in that meal. Does that make sense? I wasn’t terribly clear.
That said, she’s had a really good eating day today – lots of yogurt and custard and only a little screaming.
I know yoghurt isn’t really the point of this post, but that said – Jalna Sweet & Creamy Greek Yoghurt has 9 grams of fat and is sweet as advertised. My 14 month old loves it. I hope eating becomes easier for Evelyn.
Brilliant, thank you. I love Jalna myself. I’ll try Evie on it.
Our son lost weight in his first year and later turned out to be gluten intolerant. He disliked food and it was such hard work encouraging him to eat without forcing him. He was very fond of avocado, I suspect that’s fairly high fat. I feel for you, there are so many emotions tied up in feeding/nurturing/caring for your child, good luck.
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