Stuff I like for toddlers

As a parent of a CFer, you soon realize the entire baby food aisle is USELESS. I've never seen so many non-fat options in my life.

How to get extra calories into a toddler? Here are some items I like for older babies and toddlers with CF. What are your favorites?

Happy Bellies Oatmeal
It's a measley one gram of fat but we really like this oatmeal for its consistency. Instead of mixing it with water or milk, we combine it with a whole jar of baby food fruit and add some butter and salt to the mix. Yum - one of Lil Guy's favorites.

Earth's Best Baby Food
Earth's Best has some good options for baby food meats, which are important for the vitamins needed for little CFers. Their Seasonal Harvest Variety Pack doesn't have a lot of fat in it but again we just added butter and salt. Lil Guy loved these combos much better than straight baby food meat (ick). You'll fare a bit better in fat content withe the Gourmet Meals Variety Pack - the beef one has a whopping 7g of fat in it!

Annie's Cheddar Bunnies
With 7g of fat per serving, the bunnies appear to be a slightly better option than Pepperidge Farm goldfish.

High Fat French Fries
You don't need to run to McDonalds every time you you want high fat fries. Found these in the frozen food section - just read the labels to find the right ones. Condiments may take a while - Lil Guy didn't like ketchup until he was about a year and a half. He also didn't like dip for chips until about that time. And he still doesn't like ranch sauce. Of course he loves the sugary sweet and sour sauce!

Plum Organics Banana Pumpkin
We always make one stop in the baby food aisle and that is for Plum Organics Banana Pumpkin squeeze bags. There are other flavors but the Banana Pumpkin packs 100 calories into We love it for quick fixes at clinic - no need for enzymes because there isn't any fat in it.

Sunmaid Yogurt Raisins
I'm on the fence about these. The tiny box says 20% daily value of saturated fat - score! But when I look at the ingredients I still see a lot of sugar. Both kids love them so I can't keep them in stock.

Got Fries?

Well THANK YOU NBC News for this insightful article about good and bad fries!

CF-Related Diabetes

Interesting article on CF-related diabetes. It doesn't mention anything about diet and its impact on CF-related diabetes but I'll keep looking. It will be interesting if research eventually shows that CF doctors need to start addressing this earlier with diet changes and possibly medication.
http://www.sciencecodex.com/cystic_fibrosis_disrupts_pancreas_two_ways_in_cfrelated_diabetes-98536

Congrats! You're expecting a baby with CF...now what?

With improved pre-natal testing, some parents are finding out their baby has CF even before the newborn screening results. This is great news to keep CF babies healthy but can make parents very stressed out. It's hard to digest (excuse the pun) the news that your baby has CF while also going through the general ups and downs of pregnancy (READ: hormones).

So first off, congrats! You're still having a baby! A beautiful, intelligent, HAPPY baby!

Consider adding the following five items to your registry list to make your life a bit easier when baby arrives. Experienced CF parents: what would you add to this list?


1. The Diaper Genie. Yes it's pricey. Yes the refills are ridiculously pricey. No the company is not paying me for this endorsement. But CF babies have stinky poos. Even Lil Guy's pediatrician commented on it in the office one time ("Wow, that's really...pungent"). We didn't hire him for his tactfulness.

The Diaper Genie seems to be the only thing that contains the stench. I don't know if it's the state-of-the-art canister design or those $6.50 a pop refills but it's a necessity. We have one in a corner of our kitchen and can't smell a thing.

2. An electric steam sterilizer. After about a week of boiling nebs you will just about have had it with that process. We finally caved and bought one for our home...and grandma's home...and the other grandma's home.

The Avent model we have is discontinued or I'd recommend it. The new one Phillips came out with is okay - it's bigger, has a shorter cycle, three separate levels, and a couple dumb features like automatically turning on when you plug it in. Make sure to buy an electric steam sterilizer- the microwave version doesn't work with anything metal.

Percussor cup

3. Percussor cup. It takes some of the frustration out of chest therapy if you feel your hands are too big or too small. Ask your respiratory therapist for one and don't forget to upgrade to a larger size when baby gets older.

4. Paper towels. Sorry if you are one of those eco-friendly moms or dads. I was like you once too. Now I buy the jumbo pack of Bounty Select-A-Size and plant a tree every year to make myself feel better. You'll end up using a lot of paper towels to air dry the nebs (that fancy sterilizer doesn't do it for you). Plus for the extra hand washing and cleaning to keep the environment clean.

5. A good diaper rash cream. We dealt with a couple wicked cases of diaper rash when Lil Guy came home. I'm not sure if it's the body getting used to the enzymes or what. It was unlike any diaper rash I had dealt with before with cracked skin. Those were honestly our darkest days dealing with that diaper rash.

I recommend using the purple Desitin, it has the highest amount of zinc oxide in it. Desitin not working? Try a combination of Ilex paste and Vaseline. UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in San Francisco gives excellent instructions on how to use Ilex paste - follow them carefully because it's a strange substance to use!

You don't need a prescription for Ilex paste but it can be hard to find. Luckily you can buy Ilex paste online direct from the manufacturer. Here's more about how to remedy tough diaper rashes.

Pretty Decent Spart Dip

We are stuck inside today due to another air quality alert so my project du jour is to clean out the fridge and freezer of anything that is starting to head south of the expiration date. Or has already made it there.

I had just enough ingredients to make this spinach and artichoke dip that I love and wanted to share with you. The good news is it's filled with lots of yummy cheeses and spinach, it's lower in carbs and is a great source of vitamins, protein, sodium and fat. The bad news is that I made it while Lil Guy is napping so it might be all gone before he gets a chance to try it.

Pretty Decent Spart Dip

One 8-oz package of cream cheese softened (leave on the counter for a bit)
1/8 cup mayo
1/8 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or a parmesan/romano blend
1/4 shredded mozzarella or shredded cheddar cheese
2 cloves garlic minced (or the minced garlic equivalent in a jar)
Dash of salt
One 14-oz can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
A little bit of Asiago cheese if desired

Mix all cheeses, mayo, garlic, salt with a spatula. Then gently stir in the chopped artichokes and spinach. Bake in a greased glass baking dish at 350F for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and browned. Serve warmed with pita chips or tortilla chips.

Notes:

• CFers should make sure all ingredients are full fat and not the "light" version.
• While I love fresh spinach, the stuff that comes in a frozen bag in the freezer section is already chopped and makes this a lot faster for preparation.
• Don't like/don't have artichokes? Just add more spinach - about 1/4 or 1/2 cup more additional depending on your personal preference.

Have leftovers? Try stuffing a chicken breast with a little bit of this stuff and baking in the oven.