Unlike most of America, my youngest needs to gain weight. Being a micro-preemie and having kidney failure are both high-risk conditions for developing eating problems. Basically, we've been working on this since she was born. A few months ago, things weren't going well so I decided to get more serious and I made a schedule.
Here's the schedule:
The scheduled daily goal is 1750 calories and 76 ounces of fluid.
Every morning I give her Carnation Instant breakfast made with whole milk or Pediasure: 280 calories. She also gets one box of Boost Kids 1.5: 360 calories.
For dinner she has the high calorie chocolate milk from Costco: 210 calories. Those three added together are 850 calories--about half her calories. We try to get the rest of her calories in the food she eats at meals and snacks.
Obviously she's not eating a lot of food. I think her many medical issues have messed up her hunger cues. Plus eating basically nothing for the first 3.5 years of her life until she got her transplant meant she didn't get used to eating different foods. Eating is actually a skill you have to learn. So we're working on expanding her palate. At breakfast and dinner she has to try a little bite of everything I'm serving.
Before this schedule, Camille wasn't eating any lunch at school. She would drink a juice box and that was it. But looking at the schedule, I realized that skipping lunch was not an option. Discussing this with her teacher, we decided that Camille had to stay in the lunchroom until she finished even if her class had to leave without her because learning how to eat lunch is an important life skill. I send a very small lunch with her of about 150 calories. So far, it seems to be working.
What I realized in making this schedule is that every little thing we do matters. If I give her water instead of whole milk in the afternoon, that's 150 less calories. If we don't have dessert, that's another 150 lost calories. No snack? 150 lost calories. The schedule helps me stay motivated.
I wish I could say that my schedule is working but so far she doesn't seem to be gaining weight. I'm hoping it's because she has been sick this winter.
My long-term goal is for her to get rid of her feeding tube and have her enjoy eating a wide range of foods. Hopefully we'll get there.
Here's the schedule:
The scheduled daily goal is 1750 calories and 76 ounces of fluid.
Every morning I give her Carnation Instant breakfast made with whole milk or Pediasure: 280 calories. She also gets one box of Boost Kids 1.5: 360 calories.
For dinner she has the high calorie chocolate milk from Costco: 210 calories. Those three added together are 850 calories--about half her calories. We try to get the rest of her calories in the food she eats at meals and snacks.
Obviously she's not eating a lot of food. I think her many medical issues have messed up her hunger cues. Plus eating basically nothing for the first 3.5 years of her life until she got her transplant meant she didn't get used to eating different foods. Eating is actually a skill you have to learn. So we're working on expanding her palate. At breakfast and dinner she has to try a little bite of everything I'm serving.
Before this schedule, Camille wasn't eating any lunch at school. She would drink a juice box and that was it. But looking at the schedule, I realized that skipping lunch was not an option. Discussing this with her teacher, we decided that Camille had to stay in the lunchroom until she finished even if her class had to leave without her because learning how to eat lunch is an important life skill. I send a very small lunch with her of about 150 calories. So far, it seems to be working.
What I realized in making this schedule is that every little thing we do matters. If I give her water instead of whole milk in the afternoon, that's 150 less calories. If we don't have dessert, that's another 150 lost calories. No snack? 150 lost calories. The schedule helps me stay motivated.
I wish I could say that my schedule is working but so far she doesn't seem to be gaining weight. I'm hoping it's because she has been sick this winter.
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| With her cousin's toy pet dog Cream Puff that she loves. |
My long-term goal is for her to get rid of her feeding tube and have her enjoy eating a wide range of foods. Hopefully we'll get there.
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