Critical care mix-ins

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rshevin

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:51 pm


That plain creamed spinach was exactly what I was looking for. It's listed on the Gerber website but not at my grocery store. Yes, I'm searching baby foods online now. I only have 2 groceries in my neighborhood and they're both tiny. They have pitiful selections of baby foods. I feel really sorry for people with actual babies who NEED this stuff ASAP. I'm going to hit some bigger stores either tonight or tomorrow.

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pax
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:59 pm


Beechnut stringbeans. Kirby thinks it's to die for. I mix it with his crit care and he wolfs it down! I also tried everything with no success. And it must be Beechnut, not Gerber or Earth's Harvest. Spoiled piggie boy!

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rshevin

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:04 pm


Oh my lord, if I have to factor brands into this whole debacle, there will be billions of choices to figure out! I hope he likes something I've already bought. Last night was apples (no go), tonight will be carrots and then gerber organic green beans (all they had). I can grow some wheatgrass and I just thought about lettuce. He already LOVES lettuce. I bought cilantro too so I think I have a few permutations but I really wanted that darned spinach!

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salana
GL is Just Peachy

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:52 pm


If you have a blender or food processor, you can chop up some veggies. Sometimes I would mix up kale, lettuce, parsley, etc. and process them into teensy tiny shreds to mix in to Einy's mash.

Einy had a sweet tooth (or sweet gums?) and was not a big fan of the veggies. My pig Ippie, who had kidney failure, loved green beans and peas. But that was several years ago and I'm not sure how easy it is to find veggie-only foods now. A small amount of starch might give him a little more gas, but so would sugary fruity baby foods, so I wouldn't be worried about spinach and potato. If you're worried about his starch, you could cut down on his oatmeal.

You can also put in a customer request at your grocery store. Depending on what warehouse chain they're affiliated with they probably have a wider selection of baby foods they can get, they just only stock what's really popular and moves quickly, not something that will take up shelf space without generating much retail every week.

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rshevin

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:55 pm


Thanks salana. He gets very little oatmeal, mostly it's a new experiment to see if I can chunk him up. I'm NOT a fan of it personally but he's had a small pinch for several nights and seems ok. I don't know why it's so hard to find veggie only foods these days. I think it's just my local markets.

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salana
GL is Just Peachy

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:57 pm


Also, check your local Freecycle. Sometimes parents give away baby food that their kid doesn't like ("We bought 12 jars on sale and she projectile vomited it on the wall"), is allergic to, or outgrew. All you have to do is check the expiration date and make sure the lid isn't popped.

My Stop & Shop quit carrying Einy's favorite, Beech-Nut Mango Dessert, but at least they waited until after he died.

The Odwalla Superfood is about the consistency of Critical Care, so you would want to blend it with water, juice, or Pedialyte, and then the Critical Care powder.

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momof911kids
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:09 pm


Rshevin, I used oatmeal for 3-4 months when I first got Rayna because she was severely underweight. I just used to mix in 2 tablespoons to a bowlful of pellets. It helped Rayna put on and maintain the weight gain instead of losing it. I definitely wouldn't use it for long term weight gain but for short term weight gain/maintenance it worked well.

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mmercedesmom
Supporter in '09

Post   » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:24 pm


Baby food squash was one that worked well here. I know I had to look harder for the PLAIN level 1 baby foods. They all have mixes that appeal to parents, I just wanted plain.

Pears, carrots, applesauce worked too. I also changed Pedialyte flavors too. Sometimes plain, sometimes apple, fruit flavor or grape. My store had a house brand that had different flavors. Warming it helped too, at least for variety.

I will keep green beans in mind to try next time I need to supplement one of them.

I used oats for a few weeks on some really underweight nursing mamas. They came into rescue hugely pregnant and both delivered large litters. They both were soooo hollow afterward and all those pups were just sucking everything out of them. One of them really LOVED her oats and would eat them plain out of my hand.

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rshevin

Post   » Thu Aug 30, 2007 2:12 am


Thanks everyone for the advice, especially about the oats. The starchy sweetness does concern me but, of course, so does his thin hips. It seems like I should limit the length of time so I'll go with 1 full week and then go back to mush alone.

Tonight's mix-in was carrot and it seemed to go over well enough. This strange pig will only eat of a regular metal spoon. I've tried plates and I even got some of Momo's baby spoons and he likes mine. Typical but anything to get him to eat. Tonight he ate more than he has in days. Good boy!

Salana, I'm only half joking when I say maybe they stopped carrying BeachNut mango dessert because all of a sudden no one was buying it? If this superfood has the consistency of critical care, how on earth do humans drink it? YUCK.

Now the other thing is I've been looking more for level 2 foods. I thought they might have more fiber? I know nothing about baby foods really.

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:40 am


Not sure if he'll like the sweet potato but you can try it.

Steve ate off a spoon, too, or directly from the bowl. Try a pointy spoon vs a wide, round one. Easier to direct the food into his little mouth.

Used Carefresh did really well in our garden, too. We also used it to help the grass after we redid our walkway.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:10 am


All my pigs adore cc mixed in with canned pumpkin. I buy large cans of it and then freeze it in ice cube trays.

I don't use any water when I'm just putting it in a dish - just the pumpkin and the cc.

I do use a touch of steel cut oats for old, very thin pigs to help them maintain weight (about 1 tsp - not a kitchen tsp - in a dish of cc).

Edited to say - oh, I just read your first para - sounds like you've already tried this!

I second the sweet potatoes or baby carrots, although all my pigs prefer the pumpkin.

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rshevin

Post   » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:22 am


Human prefers pumpkin because of all the nice fiber it has for sure! The pig just isn't overly impressed. What a doofus.

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