Sunday, November 7, 2010

On thickener for a while longer...

Gavin's 3rd swallow study was Friday and he did wonderful with the cereal, pears and thickened formula. When the therapist gave him the regular constancy formula, little bugger aspirated. Oh well, he will remain on the simply thick for the next 2 months, it helps with his reflux anyway. Really, if that is all that he is experiencing right now, aspiration, I will take it. We are truly blessed with his surgery, recovery and good health.

I also met with his dietitian.  Being that he is still on the low end of the weight spectrum, he still needs the increased calorie formula but my question was how to increase the calories in his cereal and fruit or would it be enough without extra calories. The dietitian recommended we use cooking oil the fortify his foods. Heart healthy cooking oils of course, IE olive, canola and flax seed oil.  A tsp. of oil is 45 calories, so she said to start with a 1/2 tsp. in each cereal feeding, that will give him a great dose of Omega-3 and calories. I'm going with flax seed oil. The olive oil has to much of it's own taste and well, flax seed is just plain better for you than canola. She also suggested brown sugar for the sweeter foods, but for now I'm going to pass on the added sugars. If Gavin is anything like his father, he will have a highly developed sweet tooth ( look at how sweet mommy is) and doesn't need any help in that category.

Gavin is eating his solids like a champ! Overall, Friday's visits went well and we don't return to U of M until January.  He has his next pediatrician appointment this Friday. Although his weight is the major concern right now, at least he is gaining and other than that, just prepare him for more shots. :(