Corey
08-04-2010, 03:01 PM
Hi everyone,
I am new to this site. My teacher and friend Frank just recently got a tracheostomy, and subsequently had to get a PEG feeding tube while he is getting swallow therapy so that he can return to his normal eating. We are looking for some guidance in transitioning Frank over from the formula food to homemade food for the tube ... we have put out some feelers to websites that deal with this particular issue, and have started picking up a little bit of info here and there ... Frank definitely feels better eating the food that he is used to, except for the diarrhea that came with the transition!
We started giving Frank 200ml of a blend of chicken and miso vegetable soup in place of one of his normal tube feedings. His normal feedings are 160ml of Nepro formula 6 times per day. The 200ml does not turn out to be the amount of chicken that Frank would eat with a normal meal, and probably not the normal quantity of vegetables either. However, we were able to calculate that if we, for example, substituted that chicken veggie blend for the Nepro at each of Frank's 6 tube feedings, Frank would definitely have the protein he needs (over), but would be short on the calories. A dietician told us on the other hand that the Nepro quantity that Frank is getting is actually over the amount of calories he needs, but short on protein. We are trying to figure out both a mix of foods that will balance this all out and will go down the tube well (i.e. oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, kefir, avocado, etc.), and also trying to figure out if we need to continue feeding Frank every 4 hours, or can increase the quantity of food and feed at more "normal" intervals ... and also how to figure the water into all of this given the fact that a blenderized homemade food tube diet uses more liquid to make the food more liquefied for the tube ...
Also, a major factor in all of this is that since we started moving back into real food (which is only a couple of days now), Frank's poop has turned to liquid. When he first started the tube feeding in the hospital, he also experienced 2+ weeks of diarrhea before his poop returned to normal ... Does anyone here have any experience with the onset of diarrhea in tandem with transitioning off of formula. He was also on antibiotics until just a few days ago, and we have started giving him probiotics to help replace the good microorganisms in his GI ...
Any ideas?!
I am new to this site. My teacher and friend Frank just recently got a tracheostomy, and subsequently had to get a PEG feeding tube while he is getting swallow therapy so that he can return to his normal eating. We are looking for some guidance in transitioning Frank over from the formula food to homemade food for the tube ... we have put out some feelers to websites that deal with this particular issue, and have started picking up a little bit of info here and there ... Frank definitely feels better eating the food that he is used to, except for the diarrhea that came with the transition!
We started giving Frank 200ml of a blend of chicken and miso vegetable soup in place of one of his normal tube feedings. His normal feedings are 160ml of Nepro formula 6 times per day. The 200ml does not turn out to be the amount of chicken that Frank would eat with a normal meal, and probably not the normal quantity of vegetables either. However, we were able to calculate that if we, for example, substituted that chicken veggie blend for the Nepro at each of Frank's 6 tube feedings, Frank would definitely have the protein he needs (over), but would be short on the calories. A dietician told us on the other hand that the Nepro quantity that Frank is getting is actually over the amount of calories he needs, but short on protein. We are trying to figure out both a mix of foods that will balance this all out and will go down the tube well (i.e. oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, kefir, avocado, etc.), and also trying to figure out if we need to continue feeding Frank every 4 hours, or can increase the quantity of food and feed at more "normal" intervals ... and also how to figure the water into all of this given the fact that a blenderized homemade food tube diet uses more liquid to make the food more liquefied for the tube ...
Also, a major factor in all of this is that since we started moving back into real food (which is only a couple of days now), Frank's poop has turned to liquid. When he first started the tube feeding in the hospital, he also experienced 2+ weeks of diarrhea before his poop returned to normal ... Does anyone here have any experience with the onset of diarrhea in tandem with transitioning off of formula. He was also on antibiotics until just a few days ago, and we have started giving him probiotics to help replace the good microorganisms in his GI ...
Any ideas?!