Time has been flying past and Faith is doing really well, she got over her last UTI after a long course of Nitrofurtoin. Her eating has increased dramatically and she is looking fatter, haven't weighed her yet but, the plan is to do that this week. Faith has more energy and is drinking more water too so that will keep her hydrated. We have increased the pure cranberry juice on the advice from the Nutritionist and she seems to like the taste now so that is really helpful. At last we are weaning Faith off her last daily medication, Keppra, it is going slowly than we originally anticipated but it going which is the main thing. By the end of March she will have no more daily medication. We have seem her more alert, saying more word sounds and interacting even more. We have also started taking Faith to swimming lessons again and had her first one of the year last week, she went all shy, it has been three months so she has probably forgotten how fun it can be. She was a cuddly koala who just wanted to watch, not play this time.
We have started back at physiotherapy and hope to be able to go weekly if we can raise the required funds. We can see so many benefits just after a few weeks. The first week we were given different leg stretches for Faith and encouraged to leave her leg wraps on for longer than we had been. So we put Faith's leg wraps on when she has her midday sleep and then for other periods during the day so around 3-4 hours in total. At our last visit, the physiotherapist could feel the tendons stretching that needed to be and said, "you have been doing the exercises". We took Faith's Squiggles standing frame along as she didn't seem that comfortable in it lately and that is because she has GROWN in length. So, we lengthened the Squiggles standing frame and she now looks so comfortable in it and we have been able to have her in it daily and Faith loves it.
Our big goal is to help Faith build up enough strength so that she can sit up and to get her to that stage we have to get her comfortable rolling side to side and practised in tummy time. The ipad is a great resource in motivating Faith to roll side to side, though I did find she likes to attempt to log into the iTunes store and archives my emails. LOL. We have managed quite easily I am happy to say to incorporate rolling and tummy time into our daily routine and with Faith being so well there has been lots of good opportunities. It is exciting seeing her strength develop and it is wonderful to have such a supportive and encouraging physiotherapist part of the team to help Faith grow and develop more. With her growing I think it is time to take the Stingray R82 pram with us next week to have it refitted as she hasn't found that very comfortable lately. Since the Squiggles standing frame needed resizing I assume the pram would too. Exciting times!
Showing posts with label nutritionist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutritionist. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Sunday, 8 July 2012
5 weeks on a blended diet!
Wow, what a 5 weeks! We have seen Faith go from struggling to gain weight to Faith gaining 300grams in two weeks. How exciting! She is looking chubbier and is stronger. We seem to have vomiting down as well, once a day! It has taken a lot of adjusting the blended diet and we are still adjusting and trying to find the right balance. We are nearly 50% blend to 50% formula, that is exciting.
We are introducing more foods for example, last week we introduced flax seed oil, it has so many wonderful health benefits and she is tolerating it, so that is wonderful. Now we have moved onto introducing molasses, we usually introduce a new food over about 7 days as Faith has such a sensitive tummy we didn't want to rush it. We are trying to get more fibre into Faith's diet as up until the blended diet there hasn't been any in her diet due to using formula. It is all about balance. Each night we have been giving Faith a probiotic as we want to get the good bugs back into her tummy. She is waking happier most mornings and sleeping so much better. I am loving having more sleep but I find the more sleep I get the more I want. So funny. Faith generally has a couple of hours sleep during the day too waking only when formula is running so I look forward to having even less formula in her diet.
To give you an idea how our menu is progressing this is what we are currently working on,
I must admit that my brain is quite full of information and things I need to do and some days I think how am I going to get all things extra things done with Faith so that she can move forward even more. But somehow I do get there, but there are tears on my behalf with my brain being overwhelmed and thinking how can I manage it all but I do, even though I sometimes feel like I am not getting there. A sense of failure does appear but I know it isn't failure as such but more about me wanting to get more done with Faith and reading more so I can do more. Patience and some more patience...
We are introducing more foods for example, last week we introduced flax seed oil, it has so many wonderful health benefits and she is tolerating it, so that is wonderful. Now we have moved onto introducing molasses, we usually introduce a new food over about 7 days as Faith has such a sensitive tummy we didn't want to rush it. We are trying to get more fibre into Faith's diet as up until the blended diet there hasn't been any in her diet due to using formula. It is all about balance. Each night we have been giving Faith a probiotic as we want to get the good bugs back into her tummy. She is waking happier most mornings and sleeping so much better. I am loving having more sleep but I find the more sleep I get the more I want. So funny. Faith generally has a couple of hours sleep during the day too waking only when formula is running so I look forward to having even less formula in her diet.
To give you an idea how our menu is progressing this is what we are currently working on,
- brown rice
- wholemeal bread
- avocado
- sweet potato
- carrot
- banana
- pear
- apple
- apricots
- full cream milk
- slow cooked roast beef
- flax seed oil
- molasses
I must admit that my brain is quite full of information and things I need to do and some days I think how am I going to get all things extra things done with Faith so that she can move forward even more. But somehow I do get there, but there are tears on my behalf with my brain being overwhelmed and thinking how can I manage it all but I do, even though I sometimes feel like I am not getting there. A sense of failure does appear but I know it isn't failure as such but more about me wanting to get more done with Faith and reading more so I can do more. Patience and some more patience...
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Dietitian or Nutritionist?
When we saw the gastroenterologist last week she said that she was more than happy for us to try the blended diet with Faith but we she wanted us to have support on the nutritional side. At first we thought we thought we would just consult with a dietitian allocated to us by community health but a few things changed after I talked to her. All we needed was someone to go over our calculations for calories, check that we were getting the balance of foods right and make any suggestions and work with us to get Faith to the optimum health. That is and will always be our goal. But on first encounter, on the telephone, of our allocated dietitian she appeared to want to take control of our situation already starting to boss us around and telling us to change things. She didn't even know us or have a history. She was assuming Faith had problems with protein and allergies as that is why we would take up a blended diet. She wanted to see how everything was prepared, to take photos, she wanted to know everything, she had the book Homemade Formula Handbook too so I said I used it as a base but it didn't seem good enough for her. She appeared to be indicating that I wasn't preparing foods correctly, this all happened in the matter of five minutes. I was not impressed. I wasn't sure what our options were so I made an appointment and after I got off the phone I felt I had made the wrong decision so I cancelled the appointment.
I was talking to my mum and she mentioned that a friend of hers knows a nutritionist who is wonderful and she is also a lecturer at a university and is very acredited in her field. She has a private practice about a hour away from us. I spoke to her on the phone and was very impressed. We got on really well and though she hasn't had direct experience with a blended diet she was more than confident she could help us and support us in our journey and that is what she said support us in our journey, how good is that! She said she would discount her price for us. As it was Friday she said have a think about it over the weekend and get back to her the following week. I felt so much better about this lady and after some research and reading about her qualifications on her website, I thought it would be a good match for us. I was excited. I would cancel our other appointment with the dietitian who just didn't understand our needs and make a appointment with the nutritionist who understood our needs. I wanted to understand what a dietitian and a nutritionist was so I did some research on the interest and this is what I found.
What is a dietitian and a nutritionist?
Accredited Practicing Dietitians (who sometimes call themselves nutritionists) are accredited by the Dietitians’ Association of Australia. To qualify as an APD takes a minimum of four years’ university study in nutrition and dietetics. It’s the dietetics qualification that separates a dietitian from someone with a degree in nutrition science alone. Dietetics is the study of how food and nutrition are used to manage or treat health problems. For a qualification in this area, dietitians need to have supervised experience working with clients.
Nutritionists or nutrition medicine practitioners need a qualification that complies with the the Australian Natural Therapies Association – generally a degree such as a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nutrition Medicine) or a three to four year Advanced Diploma of Nutrition or Nutritional Medicine. Naturopaths accredited with the Australian Natural Therapies Association can also offer nutrition services if they’ve majored in nutrition – typically through a degree such as the Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy).
Our appointment was on Wednesday and the rain was bucketing down and it wasn't a nice day to go out but out we went and I am so glad we did. The nutritionist spent just over two hours with us going through Faith's medical history. She was so thorough, moreso than most health professionals that we have seen before. We arranged to meet the next evening to go through her thoughts. The next evening we could see that the nutritionist had taken a lot of time to go through what we had told her. Her first thought was to make our lives easier by suggesting a computer program called FoodWorks , she had it on the computer to show us. The program would allow us to enter our blend ingredients and would show us information on the nutrients in it and what we need more of and where we didn't need so much. We could also enter the formula information to get a more complete picture of Faith's diet. It would guide us and save me spending hours working out the nutrients and calories and it is all to Australian standards. We could also print information and then be able to show the doctors. She would guide us and help us understand more. It was exciting. As with everything with Faith, we take it slow, she suggested moving to Flax seed Oil as it has better omega 3s so that is what we were starting with. Other suggestions included, molasses, more red meat, more grains, those type of things. Really good helpful advice. It is really important to have someone like our nutritionist to share the load and share the journey.
I was talking to my mum and she mentioned that a friend of hers knows a nutritionist who is wonderful and she is also a lecturer at a university and is very acredited in her field. She has a private practice about a hour away from us. I spoke to her on the phone and was very impressed. We got on really well and though she hasn't had direct experience with a blended diet she was more than confident she could help us and support us in our journey and that is what she said support us in our journey, how good is that! She said she would discount her price for us. As it was Friday she said have a think about it over the weekend and get back to her the following week. I felt so much better about this lady and after some research and reading about her qualifications on her website, I thought it would be a good match for us. I was excited. I would cancel our other appointment with the dietitian who just didn't understand our needs and make a appointment with the nutritionist who understood our needs. I wanted to understand what a dietitian and a nutritionist was so I did some research on the interest and this is what I found.
What is a dietitian and a nutritionist?
Accredited Practicing Dietitians (who sometimes call themselves nutritionists) are accredited by the Dietitians’ Association of Australia. To qualify as an APD takes a minimum of four years’ university study in nutrition and dietetics. It’s the dietetics qualification that separates a dietitian from someone with a degree in nutrition science alone. Dietetics is the study of how food and nutrition are used to manage or treat health problems. For a qualification in this area, dietitians need to have supervised experience working with clients.
Nutritionists or nutrition medicine practitioners need a qualification that complies with the the Australian Natural Therapies Association – generally a degree such as a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Nutrition Medicine) or a three to four year Advanced Diploma of Nutrition or Nutritional Medicine. Naturopaths accredited with the Australian Natural Therapies Association can also offer nutrition services if they’ve majored in nutrition – typically through a degree such as the Bachelor of Health Science (Naturopathy).
Our appointment was on Wednesday and the rain was bucketing down and it wasn't a nice day to go out but out we went and I am so glad we did. The nutritionist spent just over two hours with us going through Faith's medical history. She was so thorough, moreso than most health professionals that we have seen before. We arranged to meet the next evening to go through her thoughts. The next evening we could see that the nutritionist had taken a lot of time to go through what we had told her. Her first thought was to make our lives easier by suggesting a computer program called FoodWorks , she had it on the computer to show us. The program would allow us to enter our blend ingredients and would show us information on the nutrients in it and what we need more of and where we didn't need so much. We could also enter the formula information to get a more complete picture of Faith's diet. It would guide us and save me spending hours working out the nutrients and calories and it is all to Australian standards. We could also print information and then be able to show the doctors. She would guide us and help us understand more. It was exciting. As with everything with Faith, we take it slow, she suggested moving to Flax seed Oil as it has better omega 3s so that is what we were starting with. Other suggestions included, molasses, more red meat, more grains, those type of things. Really good helpful advice. It is really important to have someone like our nutritionist to share the load and share the journey.
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