The body cannot heal without the correct building blocks.

The hospital first proposed feeding Robert a canned milk, sugar and soy based formula. Being ‘foodies’ we requested something better. We were told that the offered formula was fine and that there was nothing else. We put out a plea for help to our circle of friends and our midwife showed up at the hospital with 400 ounces of frozen breast milk. The hospital refused to allow us to feed the breast milk but they quickly found Nourish and Kate Farms as alternates to the junk formula originally offered.

We selected Nourish after reading Robin’s story and reviewing the ingredients. We were initially told by the hospital that Nourish could not be fed through a J-tube. However, a quick e-mail to Functional Formularies resulted in written confirmation that Nourish can indeed be fed through both a G- and a J-tube. Robin’s Story Nourish Formula

We did have a number of issues feeding Nourish if it became warm. It tended to separate and plug Robert’s feed pump. This made day trips and running errands difficult. For these times we used Kate Farms. Kate Farms

Both of these formulas are available directly from their respective makers through the internet for substantially less than the enteral feed suppliers (Coram, etc.) sell them. Both formulas are covered by typical insurance.

Our only complaint with these formulas is that they are (by necessity) pasteurized and packaged. We tried to get Robert back onto fresh food as soon as it was practical to do so, including blended food through the G-tube and soft and blended foods by mouth. There are a number of websites and facebook groups dedicated to fresh, whole, blended foods for ‘tubies’.