Feeding Frenzy (Sorry long rambling post!)

Eating and food have always been hot topics around here. I love to eat. I can out eat everyone except that hot dog guy. I've had to seriously control my "habit" now that I'm no longer pumping, or working out for 2 hours a day. I love texture in food, I love HOT food, I love foods with robust flavors, I love EATING. I like to savor food, to really taste food, I LOVE EATING. To have babies with eating issues is just a cruel joke of the universe.

Because the boys were born prematurely, their digestive (and all other) systems were immature. Because of this, when the boys were finally started on breast milk, it was 1cc at a time, every three hours. If you can imagine 1cc, it's like 5 drops. But this was a lot for those little guys, after all they only weighed 955 grams at birth, their tummies were like the size of a pea. Before the next feed, the nurses would check for residuals, and if there were any, it was bad. It meant they were not digesting the milk-- sometimes we'd hold the next feed and sometimes, depending on how much there was, what position they were in (babies digest better on their stomachs), etc. we'd go ahead with the next feed and see what happened 3 hours later.

Eventually the boys got up to full feeds, but they both suffered/suffer from reflux. It was pretty severe, not as bad as some preemies, but enough to make them stop breathing, turn blue and scare the devil out of us. They both went on meds (eventually) and everything was under control. Well, at least they could eat and breathe and burp at the same time.

Ryan grew out of it pretty quickly after coming home and got off the Prevacid. Evan on the other hand has been a constant source of worry and hair pulling. He's been on increasing doses of Prevacid since his release, and some days it seems like he is cured, and others he throws up entire bottles, or meals. We've even had some really good weeks, weeeks where we've been convinced he's cured and it's time to stop or wean the Prevacid. And then we go off the meds and he spends the next few days throwing up until I give in and start the meds up again.

All of this throwing up has led to some aversion to eating...okay, that's putting it mildly. Evan won't swallow anything with texture. I mean really he won't swallow anything. He seems to want food, he tries everything I give to Ryan, he'll touch it to his tongue, take a small bite and hold it in his mouth until he can't stand it anymore, and he just spits it and the small ocean of saliva out of his mouth. Then he repeats. It hasn't always been this bad. We've been going to Occupational Therapy for maybe 6 months now and we had gotten to the point where Evie would chew and swallow a few Cheerios. Then about three months ago something changed. We tried putting little bits of crunchy food onto his baby food he choked, gagged, threw up and I think this was the point of no return. Since then, no swallowing of anything with any texture. and on top of it we went of vacation, got sick and our OT went on vacation too. I think it was about a month between appointments, so we had no ability to talk about it, work a new plan, or whatever.

It's incredibly frustrating. We struggle with getting weight on Evan, and he won't eat anything except baby food, mixed with yogurt, with a tablespoon of homemade yam and butter puree. (we've just added the puree to thicken his food and eventually the plan is to make it thicker and thicker until we have chunks) Baby food isn't all that nutritious, and it isn't fattening. I've tried adding butter (for fattening) we've tried graham crackers (for thickening) and we've tried straight pureed yams, all lead to vomiting.

There are a couple of things that are concerning-- it seems his reflux isn't getting better, and it's possible that his vomiting may becoming behavioral..and that opens up a whole new can of worms, worthy of its own post.

I have no idea where this post was supposed to go, except that I thought I would wax poetic about my newest food finds. Candy cane Joe Joe's. Okay, I read about these in another blog, and in the Trader Joe's flyer. I ran to TJ's the other day, for Yogurt, and there was a big display of these Joe Joe things. Oh what the heck, I'll try them. If you have never tried them, stop reading this and go get some. Think Oreo cookies with crushed candy canes in the cream filling. Yum! I'd be having them with hot cocoa right now, except it was 80 degrees here today. Yum, Yum, Yum.

While I was at Trader Joe's I was also looking for food that Ryan could eat. Ryan's eating issues are that he will only eat foods that are crunchy. (The exceptions being, scrambled eggs, yogurt, fried rice, and for a while, orzo pasta) If you've ever tried to get a balance diet into a toddler, you know how tough it can be, add in the nothing but crunchy aspect and have fun. We eat freeze dried fruit, sweet potato fries and dino bites (chicken nuggets). I can sometimes throw in a quesadilla, or grilled cheese sandwich, and a waffle or toast for breakfast. Veggies, how do you make crunchy veggies? I've tried battering them and frying them (gasp) he ate the peas and green beans for a while and then decided to just eat the batter off of them. I've tried barely cooking them, so the carrots are still crunchy, I've even tried raw (very closely supervised), no luck. well, keep your fingers crossed, I think I may have found something. Actually two somethings. TJ's sells these fried (gasp) green beans! Sounds gross? They are delicious!!!!!!! and Ryan likes them! Actually, Evan enjoys biting pieces off and spitting them out too! I also found these wonderful baked (yea!!) sweet snap peas! These things are addicting, they are in fact TOO good. They remind me of Cheetos. (I've had these recently because we were trying them with Evan--Don't ask, another OT thing) They are SO yummy, that tomorrow I need to swing by Trader Joe's and get more. (shrug--I told you I like eating!)

So turn off the computer, and go get some Joe Joe's, fried green beans, and baked peas. Think of me as you get on the scale next time!