Maths Headaches

Gremlin's levels are up again (426) and GOSH want us to start introducing protein now. Not on 12th May as I've been expecting but now. Today. Gulp!

Michelle, the dietician, explains everything over the phone whilst I frantically scribble and try to understand. 1g of protein is equal to 1 exchange. Gremlin will have 6 exchanges per day. This will eventually replace all her regular formula bottles and enable her to have exactly the right amount of phenylalanine that she can manage.

To start we will introduce 2 exchanges during her lunch and drop her 3pm regular formula feed.

For homemade scran 1 exchange = 80g plain mashed potato, 55g avocado, 25g peas or 25g spinach.

For jars and the like = amount of protein and exchanges must be calculated according to protein in grams per 100g and the size of the jar. For example- pouch thingy contains 4.0g of protein per 100g. 100/4=25 so 25g of pouch thingy = 1 exchange, 50g = 2 exchanges etc. Pouch thingy is 125g so 50g must be weighed out precisely by digital scales.

We have already changed plans once today (for fear of passing on lurgy to heavily pregnant friend and her son) to meet Grandmamin at a cafe for lunch (we don't mind passing on lurgy to Grandmamin!). I decide to bite the bullet and go for it at lunch. I put our digital scales in the change bag, along with all the usual protein free lunch paraphenalia, and decide to see what we can find in the cafe to provide the 2 exchanges.

Once there I find an Ella's Kitchen "Chicken Something or Other" pouch which has the protein as broken down above. Gremlin has her PKU Gel first then I measure out 50g of the pouch on my scales. I can feel people looking but try to act like we are doing nothing at all unusual. The trouble comes when Gremlin appears to actively dislike the "Chicken Something or Other" and whatever I spoon in immediately comes back out again down her chin and bib. Michelle did not tell me what to do in this situation! I panic a bit (Do I find something else protein free and do the 3pm regular formula feed? But she's had some, how much has she had? Can I weigh it again? Then how much milk should I give? Aaaaah?), but persevere and eventually get Gremlin to eat all 50g. The contrast when I offer her a protein free strawberry and apple pouch for her pudding is incredible- snaffled in about 2 minutes flat- she definitely has a sweet tooth.

On the way home we pop into Tesco to buy potatoes and avocado but also to look at the other jars/pouches and that's when the headaches begin. Each jar is a different weight, and each jar has a different protein per 100g content - 3.6g, 1.8g, 4.2g, 0.6g etc etc. I'm going to be doing an awful lot of maths and carrying those digital scales everywhere .................