Sunday, October 3, 2010

No more feeding tube!


It has been 2 weeks since we pulled out Haley's nasogastric (feeding) tube and we have not had to put it back in. Yeah! She has been drinking her bottles well and eating baby food well. Though Haley doesn't really care for the meats, vegetables or plain rice cereal, she loves the fruit. I can't believe she already has a sweet tooth! Being a dietitian, I'll have to put some of my skills to work and try to prevent some not so healthy eating behaviors early. I really don't want her to become a picky eater. I won't give up on giving her the baby foods she doesn't care for. I'm going to keep trying and hopefully she will eventually accept them. Despite her preference for sweet fruits, I'm so proud of her for not needing the feeding tube anymore and is doing so well with drinking her bottles. Each achievement leads to more progression. Way to go Haley!

17 comments:

  1. That's awesome! Way to go, Haley - and mom and dad for all your hard work!

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  2. Woohoo Hailey!!! That is so awesome. God is so good. Just my two cents: (I am a pedi nurse with two late preemies, one eventually diagnosed with failure to thrive) She was 14lbs at a year, and was 5lb8oz at birth. Anyways she liked the fruits, or things like that as well, and wouldn't drink well. What we did with her is that Gerber makes an apple/chicken baby food, we offered her that often. WE also offered her the sweet potato and apple together often. I then started mixing some of the veggies (tiny amts initially then gradually increased) into her favorite fruits. That worked well. She is now two and a half, she still is not a huge meat eater, but she LOVES broccoli, green beans, peas, and a bunch more veggies. Keep up the good work momma!

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  3. What a great milestone! My babies always enjoyed rice cereal mixed with the fruit. Rice cereal keeps them full longer but they enjoyed the taste of the fruit. Good luck!

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  4. Yay Hailey!! Like Mommato2miracles, I had a little girl who was failure to thrive. She was 4 lbs 10 oz at birth and 13.5 lbs at a year. She's three now and eat almost anything (even though she used to be picky). She is still tiny but not as small.
    It's just so wonderful to see them hit these milestones and know they are progressing well. I am so glad that sweet Hailey is doing so beautifully!

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  5. The baby food meats are really gross. I actually tasted them once when I was high school age and was babysitting. I never tried to feed my kids the meats alone. However, they ate the mixtures well. (turkey rice, chicken noodle, etc.) I know your girls probably aren't ready for stage 3 foods yet, but there are lots of mixtures in stage 2's.

    It's so exciting when they get to lose the feeding tubes. I was so glad when Carleigh's was gone!

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  6. Great job Hailey!! What a major accomplishment! Congrats to Mom & Dad for overcoming another obstacle!

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  7. she looks so much more alert! very sweet picture!

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  8. That is as much an accomplishment for you and Thomas as it is for your sweet Haley! No one will ever know the hours and HOURS and HOURS you spent helping her learn to eat by mouth--Congratulations!

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  9. Congratulations!! What a wonderful milestone to celebrate today! It is so fun to watch your girls grow and accomplish so very much!

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  10. Hi! Wonderful news about the feeding tube being gone! I remember having the same concerns about starting a lifetime of not-so-good eating habits by allowing fruits and letting my daughter avoid veggies. To turn this around, I would take a spoon of veggies and add some fruit to the front, so the taste was initially sweet (and my daughter would eat it rather than refuse it), but more veggies than fruit. As my daughter became older, she learned that she would get alternating spoons of fruit and veggies. Now as a toddler, she is very unproblematic with eating. Also apples & carrots mix well together. Mommato2miracles had some great tips as well!

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  11. That is really awesome!!!! Go Hailey!!!

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  12. My children (11) always liked their fruit mixed in with the plain rice cereal. Since I
    was breast feeding I just mixed the cereal with warm water and then mixed in some of the fruit, but saved about 1/2 the jar to eat by itself. They all loved it that way.

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  13. That's great!

    Have you tried mixing fruit into the veggies or rice? Our kids love everything they've tried, but a friend of mine had to mix apples into nearly everything until her son was 2!

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  14. Go Haley, go! Congratulations on your progress! Amanda and Thomas, you are great parents and active part of the girls' progress. Your hard work is paying off! Love, Claudia.

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  15. I found your blog through Kelly's Korner a long time ago and have been following ever since. My son hated all meat baby foods. He would, however, eat chicken if I made it for him myself. I would just bake some chicken and then blend it up with a little water mixed in to make it softer. He loved it! I don't know if you have tried this yet or not, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

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  16. Wonderful news!!! Can you give us an update on how they are doing developmentally(sitting,crawling, scooting) now that they are 14 months old? It is so interesting and exciting to hear about your babies doing something new. Thanks for sharing.

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  17. That's awesome! Wait to go Haley! My preemie loves to eat everything, and I call him my "bottomless pit." Good nutrition is so important and my three year old has developed some unhealthy eating habits, she will say she doesn't want to eat but then she will try to eat something unhealthy like icecream or cookies. We don't have a lot of junk food in the house but when we do, she wants junk food. Any tips? She does love fruit and chicken when cooked up.

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