Baby food Advice please

[rainbows]

Hi My little boy Zebedee is 7th months. He has had 3 operations and has 2 more one on 27th may where hes not gonna be able to eat for 2 days before and then again on july 8th, where he is having his palate fixed so probably wont want to eat for a few days. He hasnt been putting on enough weight, he is petite but he really needs to fatten up a bit. Can anyone recommend foods to give him with high fat content. and what about pasta and rice? I want him to eat mainly raw but as hes having ops he really needs to be getting more weight on him. any advice or reccomendations is welcome

Thanks

Carla

[coco]

wow, at 7 months he should still be just getting mostly breast milk or whatever substitute you may be using. as for solid foods, humans don't develop the digestive enzymes needed for starchy foods (grains but also banana, carrot, potato etc) until after the first year. fruit is alright in the first year, some veg if you soften it (steaming, pureeing, chewing it up yourself). so long as he is falling within the percentile for his age there is no reason to try fattening him up though. check to make sure he is within a healthy range before stuffing him with fatty foods for no reason.

good luck!

[Conscious Midwife]

wow, at 7 months he should still be just getting mostly breast milk or whatever substitute you may be using. as for solid foods, humans don't develop the digestive enzymes needed for starchy foods (grains but also banana, carrot, potato etc) until after the first year. fruit is alright in the first year, some veg if you soften it (steaming, pureeing, chewing it up yourself). so long as he is falling within the percentile for his age there is no reason to try fattening him up though. check to make sure he is within a healthy range before stuffing him with fatty foods for no reason.

good luck!


Hmmm maybe the previous surgeries and upcoming surgery on the palate have something to do with the OP's choice.

At 7months your baby maybe able to safely manage pureed bananas, some avo and a nut milk of your choice. Consult a naturopathic/ wholistic/ integrative health physician. Given the HX, and a few other unknown you may not want to share on line, this is the best advice I can give.

[rainbows]

I was expressing milk for him but I have had to stop although I would have loved to continue for longer, Due to his cleft lip and palate he didnt suckle much at the breast, he has his milk through a squeezy bottle. although my milk hasnt dried up completely, Im not sure if I could make it come back?? He is on an organic milk, Holle and hes been having butternut squash, banana and avocado. I gave him some mango, pear and apple recently, and put some courgette in with his butternut squash. The health visitor today says i need to give him potatoes, rice pudding, cows milk to make his food with and even a glass of milk???? also chicken and fish, weetabix................ I was hoping to bring him up with no meat, preferably as raw as possible, i do feel he needs to put on weight a bit especially as he has his op coming up. I have another hospital appointment next week and they will prob want me to see a dietician, i would like to be as informed as i can, also I dont want to immunise and i think I about to get hassle for that too.... this is my third child and i know different things now than i did 7 or 13years ago, i just want to make sure he is getting what he needs.

Thanks

[coco]

you can do some nutrition tracking through fitday.com, it's a free online site for analysing your daily diet. that way you have some back up to show the dietician and the "health" visitor, you CAN provide everything he needs without resorting to meat and the like though you may have to prove it as it's nothing they have ever considered. no worries, you can meet whatever dietary requirements with raw vegan or mostly raw vegan.

if you are into giving combos of things why not consider a green smoothie with spinach or kale and apple or banana? so long as i mixed in something sweet i would give my son any vegetable pureed. add in some hemp, sunflower or pumpkin seeds (make sure they are completely pureed) for protein and calcium or make them into mylks. that will take care of the meat and dairy substitute. normally i wouldn't advise nuts or seeds this early but that's better than meat and wheatabix. what nutrients exactly is the wheatabix supposed to provide? there are bound to be fantastic raw/veg sources of whatever it is.

and you can get your breastmilk to come back but do that only if you feel comfortable with it. breastmilk is wonderful for your baby but it sounds like you are doing quite a bit of running around already so make sure it doesn't become another point of stress. you can find tremendous support and a ton of advice from the la leche league or on the mothering.com forums.

best of luck to you.

[MaineMomof4]

I'm surprised your practitioner told you to give you son all of those foods at 7 months old! If it was me I would stick to basic foods like banana, avocado with mango, apple, and things like that all pureed. I can't remember at how many months I gave my daughter the kale but that was earlier on and I still give her tons of kale. My daughter has always been tiny and people always comment but at a year old and only 16 pounds my doctor thought she was doing GREAT developmentally right on track with no problems at all. She is just small for her age but her head size was 25 percentile which is important so you see that the brain is growing. I fed her tons of fatty raw foods but it never packed on the pounds. I look at her and think she's perfect the way she is and just remember so many kids are overweight now a days because of all the crap and sad food they eat so I wouldn't go by the charts too much anyways. Good luck and don't worry too much. If you do want to try raw oatmeal I know alissa has some you can buy =)

[Tiffany]

Mama! my heart goes out to you and your family during this time. I know how much you love your little angel and must be hard for you to watch him go through all this while he has no idea what's happening. I hope the hospital staff is giving you all the opportunity to love and hug him as you possibly can.

Sorry this is kind of long. You can probably get your supply going more if you keep pumping. Have you invested in a good quality electric pump? You can even get one of those harnesses that attach to your torso so you can talk on the phone, type, etc. while you pump. Might be helpful. Then, you can supplement some breastmilk which will help your baby's immune system through this hard time for him.

I'd go with avocado and also some really good quality fresh cold-pressed olive oil like Bariani, or if someone in your area makes it nearby (like we can get in SoCal) and add that to your purees. I add hi-quality hemp and flax oil to my baby's smoothies (like even a banana / water smoothie kind of thing with little flax oil) Moms that I know have had better luck with weight gain using oils than avocado. Don't know why.

I'd watch out for any nuts and I'll tell you why. Your son's immune system is compromised due to surgeries. Nuts are a common allergen and may irritate his little mouth. I really used to think, oh well I'm raw, no dairy, etc. but I had a wakeup call when my ds starting getting hives around his lips when he's eat fresh coconut -- which is a nut. I thought it was the perfect food, like a replacement for breastmilk. But, he's allergic for now anyway. Later on he'll probably be able to eat it.

good luck to you!

[Theogirl]

Oh my, you're facing a lot. Hugs to you and your family!
I hope you will decide against the cows' milk. It's such an inferior product for humans! As far as breastfeeding, if you work it, it WILL COME! I have been breastfeeding for over 4 years now, since my first was born. I nursed throughout my second pregnancy and until my first was 2 1/2 years old. The second bambino is now just over 2 and mostly done, but even with only nursing her a few times a week (once we went a month without) the milk is there, just not overflowing like before!
Are you willing to pump more often to stimulate the milk? Not telling you what to do, that's for sure! But if you are willing, your baby will benefit from the breastmilk as long as he gets it.

[Raw Angel Mom]

If you still can produce milk, you can consider a breastpump. I have been giving my milk to my daughter that way since the beginning and i still do to this day and she is 2 years and half. I only pump twice a day now and she mainly rely on her smoothies.

Both my husband and i were underweight when we were young and our daughther has a very healthy fat and she isn't skinny. So her food seems to work for her.

Her food is my milk and smoothies (mainly smoothies)

1/4 cup of hemp seeds
1 1/4 Cup of water
1 cup of organic strawberry(fresh or frozen) (can replace by blueberry, or any fruits)
5 ripped banana

blend well until smooth and creamy


Hemp seeds is rich in Omega 3, my daughter didn't want to eat avocado etc... and just with my milk and some smoothies (sometime green smoothies), she seems to manage a healthy weight.

This recipe for smoothies is very easy to make and seem to feel our child very well. Make sure if you use frozen fruit to blend it long enough so the food isn't cold.

My heart goes with you and sending love to your little baby boy.

[rainbows]

Thankyou to you all for you advice, it has helped me alot, I am going to start pumping again for Zebedee. Just one more question can Zebedee have completely raw diet, what about lentils and stuff like that? I have been putting shelled hemp seeds in his food too. I wont be giving him cows milk either,

Zebedee has done really well throughout his ops, He wasnt impressed when they fixed his lip mind you I think he was happy as he was, but hes a happy little boy, I just want to give him the best you can in this crazy world we are in..

Has anyone any advice on what to say to docs about immunizations???

Thanks for taking the time to reply

Love and Light to you all

Carla

XXXX

[Tiffany]

I'm so glad to hear the surgeries went well :)

I believe a pretty standard answer regarding vaccines is something like:

"We are delaying vaccinations" And then you leave it at that. You know they try to push the question and you just say again "Yes, well, we've decided to delay vaccinations.(smile)."

[coco]

check out the legal requirements for vaccines in your area. in some places you can claim a religious exemption but not in others. be careful to know your rights where this is concerned, so long as you are informed you can't be forced into anything but i have found that unless you have a clear understanding of what the law states other people (often in positions of authority like schools, dr.s and the law) assume how it is and it can be problematic. know your rights and if you have to prove them you will know how.

good luck with this! i was bullied about it myself but i stood my ground and there was nothing they could do at all in the end but back off and leave it be.