Tube Feeding Formula

Laura - posted on 08/05/2012

Does your child have any food allergies? Do you even know? Our daughter has a g-tube as well and had many issues with the commercial formulas. I realize that children need carbs to be healthy but everything in moderation right....the formulas in my opinion have way too much corn syrup for my liking. I recently transitioned her to a blenderized diet. I have a recipe of regular foods that cover all her nutritional needs for a day and I put it in a high speed blender once a day and divide up the mixture by however many feeds she gets during the day and bolus feed her that every day. She is doing so much better. The body was designed to eat and digest real food. If you have never tried food and don't know about allergies then you start out just like you would an infant....with single foods at first like bananas, sweet potatoes and fruit so that you can detect any allergies. Unless there is a medical reason your child can't have food then it's worth investigating with the help of a good nutritionist. If your child can safely digest formula, they should be able to have real food. You just have to be careful of allergies if they've never tried food before. I will never look back now that Katelyn is getting real healthy food. If you can't afford a high speed blender than you can contact Blend-Tec through their website and tell them your whole story about your child and they will donate you one for free. I know many families they have done this for as well as our own. Not all GI's are supportive of this but again if there is no medical reason for your child not to have food than you should really research everything you can about this. There are books, websites and a facebook page for kids on blenderized diets. Good luck!

Iridescent - posted on 08/05/2012

The sugar is actually not added to make it more palatable at all for Neocate. Neocate does have some choices with added flavor for that purpose though - Neocate Splash (3 flavors) and Neocate Jr Vanilla and Chocolate powder. The corn syrup is in it to provide carbohydrate calories, which the body requires for energy. Removing that would cause catabolism in the body, which is not safe long term - if the main source of energy becomes protein (ex: Atkin's diet), it would catabolize itself, including the skeletal muscle and heart. If the main source of energy became fat (ex: Ketogenic diet) it would go into ketosis, which is VERY dangerous without a specific need to be on that diet and very close monitoring. She cannot go out and eat broccoli, corn, carrots, a slice of bread - so she needs the corn syrup.

Mary - posted on 08/01/2012

Sharlene, Thank you for the welcome and for the reply. Yes, she does have her own dietician and will be seeing her next week. She is good but we are always trying to look outside the box and find other answers. There have to be formulas that aren't loaded with sugar. Mary

Sharlene - posted on 07/31/2012

Are you part of a feeding clinic or a private dietitian , They can probably suggested which way to go. My daughter on a nose feeding tube and she's on Prediasure only. good luck