Moving Forward

At this point I have been able to find and introduce the following bone broths into Elianna's diet: beef, lamb, pork, fish (salmon and trout) and buffalo. For a couple of weeks she had been eating bottles that consisted of broth and 2 scoops of Nutramigen AA. I attempted to puree up some of the meat to add back in with my Cuisinart blender but could not get it liquefied enough for her to take it without crying and raking at her tongue.

Respiratory symptoms and eczema got steadily worse, but I wanted to wait until after her procedure to remove the formula from her diet entirely. I wanted to be sure that her biopsies showed inflammation from the formula if that was the case, so we were in a short hold pattern.

After her procedure it was time to try getting her off the formula entirely. But to do that I had to add in additional nutrients with the boiled meats, or she would not be getting enough calories or nutrition. I wondered what to do. OK actually I panicked a bit. Amazingly, someone I have never met lent me her Vitamix and I was able to liquify some pork and buffalo to add to her broth. Within a couple days she was drinking 2 ounces of puree with 6 ounces of broth and 2 scoops of formula.

And the weaning began. We finally got her down to one scoop after a few days. I think it was purely a taste issue. And three days ago we took her off entirely.

As of right now, she is eating 8 to 16 ounces at a time, depending on the time of day. She eats every 1 to 2 hours, and that seems to becoming the case at night as well. She gets about 2-3 ounces of meat puree in each 8 ounce bottle of broth.

From the research I have done, she is missing very few nutrients on this diet, if any. And if we can continue to rotate through the types of meat she is eating, she will get even more! The low calorie content and the fact that it requires very little digestion is what keeps her eating so often. And it is extremely healing. Even Livestrong.com has an article on how great bone broth is.

I do worry about what she may be missing, but as the nutritionist I spoke with this week said, we don't really have the luxury of worrying about that right now. We are moving forward. That is what counts. And it is more than we have ever had before.