Baby food for gastroparesis?

[toomanyproblems]

This may be a stupid question but a friend asked me and I didn't know if anyone did this. I was recently hospitalized for severe gastroparesis resulting from my POTS and/or CRPS. I'm still having trouble getting stomach emptying and my protein up in order to avoid a feeding tube. I will say I'm not doing well on any processed foods like Boost or Ensure. I was used to eating pretty clean prior to this so that may be the reason. I'm not sure how processed baby food is. Has anyone here tried it? If so, what worked for you? (Please don't say only the peas :/ )  

[Katybug]

I don't have gastroparesis. Baby food is processed for sure. But, are you well enough to make homemade baby food for yourself. It basically entails cooking the food....veg, fruits, meat. Then, puree the cooked food with some liquid....water, juice, broth. If you are well enough to do that you can control the quality.  You can do it in a blender or any of the newer smoothie makers. You can also freeze some of the fruit flavors for sorbet if you make your own.

I hope you get to feeling better soon. 

[statesof]

My doctor recommended eating dried apricots like 4-8 a day, it's not perfect but I do think it helps.

[DizzyGirls]

When my daughter got her feeding tube out, she lived on noodle soup and toast for a few weeks.  Eventually she added in some pasta, and eventually, hard boiled eggs.  It's been a year since she got it out and she has advanced to greek yogurt.  She still can't stomach meat.  It does look, smell, or appeal to her in any way shape or form at the present time.  But, greek yogurt has been a good staple and is low in sugar and high in protein.  Sometimes she will eat two a day (lunch and dinner).   I think the key for her was finding things that had enough protein and no fat.  Things with high fat sit like a ton of bricks.  At the end of her feeding tube time, her formula was sitting in her stomach and pushing the tube up out of her nose.  She found that the formula was getting harder to digest and decided that maybe normal food would set better.  We slowly added things in (operative word "slowly") and she began to tolerate more things.  The doctor said that since she was eating three meals a day (yes, they were very small), and the fact that the tube was creating sores in her nose, it was time to pull it out.  One thing I would recommend is milk.  There is a lot of valuable nutrition in milk and liquids always go through faster than solids.  My daughter started with the fat free version and now is drinking 1%.  You can do a lot of things with milk if your stomach can handle it, but if you are at that point of hospitalization and trying to avoid a feeding tube, I would suggest just drinking it plain or with a dash of chocolate syrup. 

Do you take anything like Reglan or Domperidone to make your stomach empty faster?  I hope you feel better soon.  This is no fun!

[Guest]

Hahahaha!  When my son was a baby, the "baby food" peas made me gag.  So did the pureed beef and macaroni baby food.  Horrid stuff!  

From what I remember (my son is 6) baby food is pretty simple.  There isn't a whole lot in it as far as processing goes.  Mainly just mushed up food/water.  There are also organic/healthy/natural brands on the market now. 

I've never tried baby food for my gastroparesis though.  The only thing that helps to relieve it for me is a medication called Maxeran (Canada).  Nothing else can make my stomach wake up (or somewhat behave if it's feeling tempermental).  The good news is, I only take it when I need it, and it can be taken up to 5x a day.

I find I have to avoid any trigger foods, which for me means anything fatty, greasy, spicy, caffeine (I only avoid it when gastroparesis has already set in...I like coffee), alcohol (not that I ever drink), eating too much, eating "heavy" foods, etc.  

I personally find that the blander and simpler a food is, the less likely it is to make the gastro worse.  

For protein, have you tried things like beef broth, yogurt, etc?  I wonder if a smoothie would help (with a low processed yogurt or milk and frozen fruit)?  

Gastroparesis has to be one of the worst feelings.  I really hope your stomach starts behaving soon! 

xoxo

[toomanyproblems]

Thanks for all your responses and suggestions. I have a number of food intolerances that make many of your suggestions or the standard GP diet suggestions difficult. I actually have celiac, not just gluten sensitivity that many have, so no wheat or wheat products or even oatmeal. I try to avoid grains as much as possible. I'm also lactose intolerant. I do drink lactaid, which is a lactose free milk. There's a gluten like protein in the casein in milk but I take a digestive enzyme to block it. So I do drink milk. I'm violently allergic to peanuts and allergic to soy. That knocks a bunch of options out right there. Any kind of fiber or too much sugar has not worked. I've found some sources of protein I can grind up with rice or potato and make liquid with clear chicken broth. 

I was in the hospital for 12 days and the commercial liquid diets they had made me way worse. They actually scheduled and prepped me for a feeding tube surgery but I refused. Through digestive enzymes and very select probiotics (yogurt and Kefir have histamine producing probiotics that make me worse), and very clean, select foods (with emphasis on protein) ground up unto a slurry, I'm getting control of the diarrhea and getting some strength back. However, I'm still in an experimental stage. I don't know if I'm absorbing enough protein to keep me off a feeding tube yet. I've got another week to try to start an upward trend.

I bought a refurbished Vitamix from Amazon (still expensive!) so I could remove the fiber from fruits and vegetables and add the juice to my protein/complex carbohydrate slurry that I'm tolerating now for better balance and nutrition. I hope this helps.

I was on Reglan for weeks but started trembling and I also didn't feel it was helping my stomach empty so I stopped talking it a couple of days ago. It did help the nausea but there are way less scary drugs I can take the help with the nausea. My GI doc didn't intend to keep me on the Reglan for long anyway. Home Health Care is coming this afternoon and will report back what, if anything he wants to replace the Reglan with. My stomach never feels empty no matter how long I go without eating. When I had my colonoscopy prep in the hospital I hadn't eaten any solid food in at least three weeks and there was still rotting food in there from weeks before. Sorry for the TMI.

I just thought I'd ask about the baby food. I need something simple for the future in case I get too weak to make something myself. I've had people here 24/7, along with frequent visits from HHC since I got out of the hospital but I live by myself and eventually I'll have to work alternate simple plans out. I find it very east to just stop eating.

Thanks again. Looks like baby food isn't worth it unless I just can't make anything myself and even then limited in what I can eat. 

 

[gertie]

I have a family member that has suffered with gastroparesis for years.  The only thing that helped her was juicing.  She was very careful of the foods she used at first, no cabbage for one.  She also found ginger tea throughout the day helped some.  The meds she tried did not help.  

I have pureed my veggies for a long time because of colon issues.  It's easy if you use a food machine.  Good luck!

 

[DizzyGirls]

Gastroparesis is a finicky condition.  I think everyone has to find their own thing that they find goes down well. My friend's daughter lived almost exclusively on noodle soup and burritos.  I have not got the slightest idea how she can tolerate burritos, but it was something that she could.  What about hummus?  I don't think that's soy, is it?  Chickpeas, right?  That was one suggestion my daughter's GI doc suggested to her.  Never in a million years would (or could) she eat hummus.  How many 17 year olds do you know that eat hummus?  Maybe more than used to.  But, anyhow, you might like it and it has a lot of protein.  Sounds very much like a case of just eating in general that is a problem.  I know you said the Reglan didn't work (gives me the shakes, too), but maybe Domperidone.  You have to have a doc willing to write the rx for it, though.  It is better than Reglan because it does not cross the blood brain barrier (no shakes!).  I do hope you find something you can tolerate soon.  Best wishes to you!