hi girls...
i took mady on friday to the ent specialist and conf'd what i had already thought...she is def a candidate for the surgery. the specialist wants to treat her for the next 4 weeks before we consider the surgery. he reduced her dairy intake to 2 cups a day...which means i have changed her whole menu since it consisted of cheese, yogurt, 3 cups of milk, etc. in addition he wants to give her a hearing test on june 26. he says that there is no perm hearing loss but right now she has fluid in her left ear (and she's not even sick!!!), at this point saline is my best friend.
i will be getting a 2nd opinion (just b/c i feel i should for something like this, before i jump into the ear tube surgery).
so please share your ideas/menus for your kids (i am completely stumped)....this is what i have:
7:30am - morning 7oz milk bottle
9am - breakfast: (i do any of these and pick two choices) an egg (cooked any way) banana, ham, pancakes, oatmeal with fruit
1130am - snack #1: mac & cheese mixed with either veges, tomatoes or ham. sometimes i will give her a wheel wagon cracker and half a banana
1:30pm - lunch
5pm snack #2 (this was placed b/c her milk bottle was removed): i've done tomatoe slices, applesauce, mandarin oranges, graduate lil' chicken/turkey sticks
7pm - dinner
8pm - 7oz bottle of milk
9pm bedtime
the snacks sound so boring and repetitive and i'm stuck btwn tomatoes and damn bananas. since yogurt and cheese have to be limited and she already has 2 milk bottles a day i dont want to give her more dairy then she should have. ideas???
Re: need help in change of meal plan
What about switching her to soy milk instead of cow's milk. Alexis drank soy formula and didn't switch to cow's milk until she was about 13 months old.
Other options that I don't see you list - toast with jelly, cheerios, goldfish, sandwich with deli meat (no cheese, or jsut a little) waffle.
Also, give her more variety of fruits and veggies just for something different.
Poor Mady.
I was also gonna say that she is gonna start hating you for those snack choices. LOL Definitely mix it up. Here's some other ideas of what you can do:
Strawberries, blueberries, Nutrigrain bars, Fruit Loops, Cheerios, Goldfish, Peanut butter on some type of crackers.
Snacks are fun because you can get REALLY creative and experiment with things they might eat without having to waste an entire meal.
she's never been on soy and im scared of a reaction - shes been on cow's milk since she was 11 mths old so i know the cow's milk is ok. i didnt think of jelly and toast...i like that!!!! i've also done broccoli and green beans for her at time. how many servings of fruit and veges do you give alexis?? i feel im giving her too much fruit thru-out the day and thats loaded with sugar no?
Try introducing other fruits like grapes, watermelon, canteloupe, mango. Sophia loves all of those. Also, Maddy is old enough to start trying Strawberries. All of those are great snacks. Pair the fruit with cheerios or pretezls or fruit bars. Also, turkey dogs, meatballs, low sodium goldfish. Have you considered soy? I know there are a lot of non-dairy choices out there if you want to start substituting soy brand products.
Definitely get a second opinion, tho. Studies are not conclusive that dairy products lead to ear infections/additional mucus. The problem Sophie and Maddy have is not that their body makes too much mucus - its that their ears are not properly draining the mucus. Tubes help with that until their body grows properly and then naturally does what it is meant to do.
GL!
lol i would hate me too if i had to eat that everyday!!!! nutrigrain bars??? omg i had no idea, i'm out to buy them today!!!....peanut butter??? isnt that on the "do not eat list" until they are like 2 or something?
i've done all those fruits already, i had no idea of pretzels either!!! im such a slump! my dh calls me the food nazi b/c everytime he goes to her with something new, i'm like no she's never had that what if it gives her a reaction...dude i've got to open up!!!
i created a post for you on the tube thing
I forgot about nutrigrain bars - definitely get those - I always keep one tucked away in my diaper bag "just in case"!
I haven't given Alexis peanut butter yet, my pedi said no nuts until 2 and I assumed that meant peanut butter also. However, I'm taking her for her 15 month appt today and I was going to ask about that b/c it seems so easy!!!!
Have you given her fish? You can try that also - a little tuna. Only once a week though.
I give Alexis fruit 3 times a day and veggies 2 times a day.
My pedi said NO food restrictions now, just stay away from choking hazards, like nuts and whole grapes. But peanut butter is fine, and Zoe loves peanut butter sandwhiches!
For snacks I still to a lot of "dry food" so she can eat it out of her snack trap while she plays. Cheerios, Kicks, and Life cereal are all healthy and great for kids.
For snacks - mozzarella sticks, mandarin oranges, goldfish crackers, fruit roll ups, raisins, cheerios, strawberries, grapes, bananas (of course), peanut butter with crackers, ---I'd stay away from soy though...
My Nicholas will not touch a vegetable for all the money in the world, so I offer him a decent sized bowl of cut up fresh fruit twice a day, with breakfast and then as an afternoon snack. Fresh fruit is very good for kids. It is not loaded with sugar. There is a difference between added white sugar and natural sugars. At her age, she can eat any kind of fresh fruit that she is able to chew and swallow. Too much fruit can cause loose BM's though so you do have to watch out for that.
Non-dairy snack choices in our house are Cheerios, Goldfish, Nilla wafers, animal crackers, fruit and cereal bars, Ritz crackers, Nips crackers, and pretzels (although I waited until Nicky had back teeth before giving him pretzels). At her age Nicholas was still eating Gerber puffs and those Gerber cheese doodle things.
Some non-dairy meal choices Nicky was eating at her age were cut up chicken nuggets (baked, not fried), cut up pizza, well cut up nitrate-free hot dogs, pasta with pretty much any kind of sauce (if she doesn't like sauce you can drizzle it with some chicken stock so it doesn't get dry), tater tots, sweet potato french fries and regular french fries (baked, not fried), Gortons fish tenders, and rolled up cold cuts like turkey or ham.
For breakfast non dairy choices are egg, pancake, waffle, muffin, english muffin, toast, dry cereal like cheerios or now they have jumb rice krispies.