I need help feeding DS - any ideas?

[WatchingThemGrow]

DC were messing around and DS2 (6) got bounced off something onto concrete. Stitches in his chin and a broken jaw means a non-chewing diet for 6 weeks. We've made it through 3 weeks, but he almost passed out one day, he's hungry at school despite my attempts to give him more calories, and now he's constipated.

His preexisting condition is encopresis, so we normal stay away from (or limit) dairy, bananas, and soy for him. This week, trying to get more calories in him after the near-fainting, I dropped off Pediasure, which he loved. He's had 2 accidents since then and is now bound up. We would normally be giving him a clean-out dose of Miralax this weekend, but we aren't so sure his body can handle that right now.

He's not a completely picky eater, but he is 6, and sometimes he just turns away stuff. He's thrown up 2x after having smoothies with protein powder, so I feel like that's out. (pea protein and vega one natural powder).

Breakfasts that have worked: scrambled eggs- chopped, mashed up blueberry muffin w/almond milk mixed in
breakfasts that haven't: bacon/eggs/buttered toast in blender
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(school) lunches that have worked: (canned- desperate) spaghettio's and ravioli, in the blender, blenderized lasagne and spaghetti, low-sodium bean and bacon soup, pudding made with unsweeted almond milk, blenderized canned green beans

lunches that haven't worked: he said no more ravioli
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dinners that have worked: soups in the crockpot, if we crumble a corn muffin or oyster crackers and let them sit, of course - individually pureed chix nuggets, mac n cheese, mixed veggies, le seuer peas, Madras Lentils and rice, blended, refried bean from a can, crockpot meatloaf - blended until smooth with extra ketchup

dinners that haven't worked: broccoli did, but then it didn't, mashed potatoes did, but then not.
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Snacks at home are whatever he will eat, but at school, he's been having an applesauce pouch. I bought 20 other babyfood varieties, and he won't touch them. Sent him with a carnation instant breakfast made with coconut or almond milk, but he won't drink it (and it's made with milk too- so i'm looking to replace that idea with anything caloric and similar/non dairy/non-soy)

What other ideas would you try? This is exhausting, expensive, and a bit scary (when he nearly fainted after not eating his lunch.)

[KrisM]

That sounds incredibly difficult.

All I can come up with now is oatmeal or another hot cereal.

I hope others have better suggestions!

[jgenie]

Will he eat fruits blended in the blender? That might help with the constipation. My kids love watermelon blended up. Peaches and berries would be good too.

[hillview]

add peanut butter to the blender shakes?

Bacon in blender might also be yummy.

[WatchingThemGrow]

He doesn't like watermelon, but will eat blended mango. I can pump more fruits in. Hated almond butter in smoothies. He did eat 2 spoons of peanut butter yesterday, so that was good. Chocolate cake went in fine ;)

[123LuckyMom]

It's a shame, because all my suggestions involve dairy! I'm not a big sweets person, but in your case, I'd hit the Greek yogurt and ricotta cheese HARD! Ricotta cheese with a little sugar or stevia and any kind of extract is delicious and has good protein. My kids love ricotta mixed with cocoa powder and banana extract, or with almond extract, or vanilla extract. We serve this as dessert sometimes, but it certainly could be flavored in a savory way (as in lasagna) or with real fruit rather than extracts. Greek yogurt has lots of protein. It's great eaten on its own or mixed with fruit. Have you tried mixing fiber powder into smoothies or dairy to help with the constipation issue? What about soups, especially pureed soups (potato, broccoli and cheese, cauliflower, leek, cream of tomato) or cream soups like chowders? They can have good calorie content. Will he eat cereals like cream of wheat or oatmeal? How about polenta? I'm trying just to think of calories right now. Have you spoken to a nutritionist for some ideas? I'm sorry you guys are going through this! That's really tough!!!

[WatchingThemGrow]

Yeah, all the creams and yogurts are out as they constipate him.. He tosses the $$$almond milk yogurts and I want to scream. He won't eat oatmeal or polenta . I've asked 3 registered dietitians and it stumps them too.


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[mikala]

How does he do with coconut products? Coconut milk is high in natural fats and would be easy to add to smoothies. Maybe try a combo of coconut milk, peanut butter and a bit of chocolate? Not a ton of nutrients but plenty of calories. Or coconut milk and tropical fruits?

Is flaxseed helpful for his digestion? You could also add that to smoothies.

[calebsmama03]

Would he eat avocado? Pureed avocado like guacamole but without the veggies or chip to dip in? Or add avocado to blender smoothies. I add half an avocado to my kid's fruit smoothies and it is undetectable taste wise. It adds a bit of a creamy texture to it, and lots of healthy fat and calories.

Can he have small bits of soft stuff? Add quinoa to soups?

[Aishe]

If chocolate cake went down fine, what about making one of those cakes that uses beans instead of flour? This one has a lot of eggs, which ups the protein.

http://thefoodfaffer.com/2011/05/black-bean-chocolate-cake/

If he's okay with nuts, maybe muffins made with almond meal/flour? I feel like beans and nuts are your silver bullets since they offer both protein and fiber. I like PP's suggestion of putting avocado into smoothies. I do that a lot and my kids have never complained or even noticed really. There are recipes for chocolate avocado pudding that are non-dairy. Something like this:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/234324/chocolate-avocado-pudding/

I think you can slip pumpkin puree into a lot of things and that would help with fiber.

If you're doing smoothies I would add some chia seeds. Let them plump up with some water first and they should blend right in. You can also put oatmeal in smoothies.

ETA: If he likes eggs, what about egg salad?

[mikala]

Would he eat pumpkin pie? I realize it's usually a dessert but it has squash, eggs, maybe coconut or almond milk so it has some fat, protein and vitamins. You could go crustless if needed to make it more like a custard/pudding. Here's one dairy free recipe from a quick google search. http://dairy-free.food.com/recipe/pumpkin-pie-and-dairy-free-too-191098