Emma needs to put on the... ounces

[Moon]

It is clear at this point that a lot of Emma's energy is contributing to her tumour growth. She eats, she drinks, she trucks around, she loses weight. Hooray!

Emma is on pallative care at this point, and I want to put some weight on her. She gets ensure and baby cereal as part of her medication program, but I need more ideas. I want to save the ensure and pablum as they are the only things that successfully hide the meds from her.

Oh, and I really am not a cook... so anything that will be easy on me to prepare would be great, but obviously I'll do what I need to.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

(oh, and she's still on doxy.. so no dairy please)

 

[jorats]

All we do for adding meat to the bones is a touch of olive oil in the baby cereal. You can also give avocado, goat's cheese, coconut milk. Anything high fat. (good fat)

 

[SQ]

cooked oatmeal plus soy milk
lots of peas

 

[mamarat2]

Jo already said it, but avocado was my first thought. Its soft and a yummy food or so it appears to be for them too!

Other ideas:

cooked sweet potatoes - get a sweet potato from the produce section, clean the outside off under running water, cut up the potato into french fry type pieces and yes I leave the skin on. Put the cut up pieces on a baking sheet and put some olive oil on the potatoes. Bake at 375 for about 30-45 min. Yummy for people too! Refrigerate leftovers.

oatmeal or instant oatmeal - quick easy, soft food and you can add some olive oil to that or even some ensure

bananas

granola cereal? slightly higher in fat food but in her case might be helpful. Soak it in some ensure to soften it up for her.

 

[mamarat2]

Also, I know you said she is on doxy, but have you thought about giving her nutrical or nutristat a few hours before/after her doxy dose? High calorie stuff and they usually go bonkers over the stuff.

 

[Fidget]

I understand the need to have things to make the meds be accepted (boy, do I ever!), but the high calorie ensure is one of the best things for helping keep the weight on easily. Can you play around and find something else for the meds if the cereal is not enough and make the ensure a steady part of her diet now? It sounds like it's more important for her now as as sustenance than treat.

 

[Moon]

Thanks for the idea guys.

Jo, I supplement Tungsten with safflower oil... I wonder if that would also work. I had forgotten all about olive oil!

Jen, she does get ferretvite, I forgot to mention that one. It's extra handy in making her not pick at her ear after I put in her ear drop. I love the sweet potato fries idea too.

Fidget, she gets the ensure/baby cereal combo twice a day with her meds... and I try to be generous. She is currently getting the high calorie ensure, also. At this point I don't want to give it to her without the meds, lest she figure out the taste difference again (and she will!!!) LOL

 

[jorats]

I would guess the safflower oil is good too since it's even lower in saturated fats.

 

[Godmother]

I like the avocado idea, and there is always banana mash (leave out the yogurt unless it's at least two hours before or after her Doxy.

 

[user 78]

For my Penn, I was using ground up 2018 blocks [she had stopped eating them], soy, with a bit of Nutrical all mixed together. It's the same sort of consistency of baby cereal, but it's literally packed with everything. I froze the soy in an ice tray and just popped one out for every meal. One soy cube, roughly 2-3tsp of ground blocks, and a blob of Nutrical.

Penn adored it and ate it up. She was quite upset when I noticed she had taken up nibbling on her blocks again. It was very easy for me to toss together for breakfast/dinner, and the soy freezes fine into the cubes and you can just put them in a freezer bag to store. As time wore on she never got tired of it, but I would add crushed cereals, blended fruits, and sometimes sweet potato just to give her some variety. If she hadn't of started eating her blocks again, I was looking into baby foods to mix in. Just add a bit, and add enough water to make it runny. Or you can give her the baby foods straight, which would be added calories, regardless.

 

[Godmother]

Javakittie, that's a good recipe. Maybe we need to make a sticky on this topic.