Little Man has been drinking the Alimentum RTF formula,
little amounts mixed in to his hemp milk bottles!! It had been too
many days since we've been able to use his tube (and not sure when we'll be
able to because he is still guarding it in pain/sensitive and the granulation
tissue they just removed is already back!)
Last Thursday afternoon, his daddy thought we may as well at
least try to mix it into his bottle so we put a 1/2oz. in his 5oz. bottle and
he drank it without noticing one bit!!! We thought, could it really be??
Well, with the recent ingredient change in the Living
Harvest Tempt Hemp milk to add sunflower lecithin and him having reactions to
this, I have started to make the hemp milk from scratch- a company called
Manitoba Harvest (guess we need to move to Canada since half his food supply is
from Canada!) makes a product called "Hemp Hearts"- they shell the
hemp seeds and package them for sale- hemp is used to make milk,or flour, or
serve on salads and etc. They have a "nutty" flavor - mild
nutty....we've had to mix this homemade milk into what we have left of the
Tempt non-sunflower milk to get him used to the more nutty flavor (which he has
been doing great with) Well, it looks like having that nutty flavor
masks the Alimentum formula flavor/smell MUCH better then when we were trying
to mix it into the Living Harvest prepared hemp milk during the trial. I
can't even smell it once we've added it to the bottle!
We added 1/2oz. a few times on Thursday evening and then
through the night too, we upped it to 1oz. in a few bottles on Friday and by
Saturday I had added an 1-1.5oz. to every bottle! Sunday, he even took a
few with 2oz. in it!! He got 13oz. of Alimentum yesterday and we can
already see the difference in his energy levels (his Vit.C levels have been low
again, thus causing his iron levels to dip dangerously low again and so between
that and his tube giving him trouble- he hasn't been too active.
Yesterday, we couldn't slow him down!
Something is better than nothing, even though it's not
enough for all his nutrient needs yet (of what is missing from the hemp milk
formula for his age) and we aren't sure how much he will let us add before he
starts noticing (we're going up slowly because we don't want him to mistrust
his bottles).
We are so excited about it and yet it is bittersweet......I
knew we could get him to drink it mixed in eventually... it's a little sad
having gone through what we have and what he has endured for these tubes (NG
and now G) when he's now drinking it....although not nearly enough for all his
nutrient needs without a better menu; and that is what we knew we would battle
(drinking adequate amounts) but with his tube giving him SO much trouble this
week and now it looks like there may be something brewing - infection or
abscess or something because the granulation tissue came back already, the site
is still too painful for us to touch at all (or he is simply so averse to it
from all the manipulation and negative experiences so far), and on Saturday I
noticed some green drainage oozing from it so all of this will need to get
checked out and the NP on Thursday said he will need to be sedated for some
tests to see what is going on with this tube not healing well. So, our
excitement is capped a bit but we are very excited about him drinking the
Alimentum (and feeling better on it), and potatoes continuing to go well!!
I would like to propose that he is drinking the new hemp milk so well because it doesn't have any traces of corn in it. Allergic individuals have an uncanny way of detecting when their allergen is present in foods. I don't know how it works, but my daughter can detect corn in tiny traces from fifty paces.....I imagine if you were privy to the manufacturing and packaging process for your former hemp milk, you'd find there are traces of corn in it. It's almost impossible to find a packaged product that is "accidentally" corn-free. Corn that is used as a processing or packaging aid need not be listed on ingredient labels.
ReplyDeleteYou know there is no corn in the new hemp milk because you make it yourself. The key to this allergy is to start with the purest and least processed ingredients that you can find and use them to make food from scratch. Some of his foods listed on the sidebar have a high chance of being corntaminated during packaging. I have a post that describes some of the ways that corn sneaks into our food supply unlabeled: http://www.livingitupcornfree.com/2010/06/living-corn-free.html
We've had to give up peaches unless they are in season because they discolor without citric acid and most citric acid is derived from corn or corntaminated during manufacturing. Safflower oil, sunflower oil, canola and soybean oils are usually extracted using hexane with citric acid used as a degummer. There is a high incidence of cross contamination of grain products.....try to only buy those that are not sharing equipment or buildings with corn products (we avoid Bob's Red Mill for that reason). Some maple syrups will use corn as a defoamer so be sure and check to find out what is used by your manufacturer. Finally, Hershey's cocoa is a very controversial product that only a few corn allergics on the avoiding corn forum can tolerate.
Yes, we avoid BRM for sure now. I get a brand from a small farmer....although any grains take on a certain risk because of simple farming and USA being high corn producers.
ReplyDeletePeaches, yes- ONLY in season...I buy them in bulk and am freezing them pureed.
Safflower oil...I suspect there to be an issue, I used to put it in his home made formula but took it out and saw a significant difference in his mood by the end of the day, so we have kept it out except what I use in baking.
yes, we are sticking to the maple syrup brand he seems to be doing ok on- not all are created equal.
I suspect there may be an issue with the Hershey's cocoa but not enough to fully pull it yet...just don't let him have it often.