Teething rebellion

My worst nightmare happened today. Gremlin refused her lunch. She was cross and angry right from the point of going into the highchair and getting the gel into her was a real battle. She totally refused her main (protein providing) course- it didn't look very tasty, to be fair, but she wouldn't even try it so I think there was more to it than not liking it. One word. TEETH. To add to my misery, we were out at a soft play place and there were no other options where I could calculate the protein content. I gave it a good fight but eventually cracked open my emergency packet of Quavers (very, very low protein crisps and a PKU diet staple it seems!) and she ate a few of those, but that was that. Game over.

However, I'm very pleased to report that it was actually ok. In an ideal world she eats her 6.5g protein staggered throughout the day, so I always try to do 2.5g breakfast, 2g lunch, 2g dinner. Today we ended up with 2.5g breakfast, 0g lunch and 4g dinner. She ate her dinner fine! Babies eh?! I do know that some days I won't be able to make up the difference, as Gremlin is increasingly showing she knows her own mind, but as a PKU Mum friend said to me once, "As long as you are doing it mostly right for most of the time, then you are doing ok." Amen to that.

Soup

My dear friend in Slovakia told me to think about soup for Gremlin quite some months ago. It's only now that I feel suitably wintery to go for it! Today I made some Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup, with thanks to the dusty overlooked Covent Garden Cook Book at the back of the shelf. We had another dear friend visiting for lunch so wanted to aim for something protein free but tasty too that we could all enjoy. Unfortunately, it was a bit lacking in red pepper because I only had 2, instead of the 6 I needed but nonetheless Gremlin loved it! Moomin quite liked it and I think Alex did too! We are seriously back on the soup bandwagon......

Mango Hedgehog and friends

An exciting evening in our PKU house. Further to another great tip off by Gremlin's auntie (a key member of Gremlin's growing army of low protein spotters), I investigated the ice cream section of the supermarket. I was looking for Swedish Glace- lactose, cholesterol and gluten free ice cream. I found some lovely looking vanilla tubs and gave Gremlin a treat for pudding. The vanilla Swedish Glace has 2.5g protein per 100g so I held back half an exchange from her main course and let Gremlin have 20g for her pudding. She was a bit shocked by the cold but very, very quickly overcame it and wolfed the rest down with gusto. She followed it with the increasingly popular and protein free 'Mango Hedgehog' (with thanks to my well travelled friends Lestoid and Jagger and their advanced mango eating knowledge).

Broccoli and other funny ones

I think I've touched on it before (with banana) but there are certain fruit and vegetables that Gremlin can only eat in small quantities. I sometimes feel like these are an extra trick to try and catch me out. You cannot apply a blanket rule to all fruit and vegetables, as although most are protein free, there are these tricky little characters which can only be eaten in limited quantities. Only one serving of one item is allowed to count as 'free' per day.

Fruit
banana (one small per day)
dates
figs (dried only)
peaches (dried only)
physalis
banana chips (dried)
mixed dried fruit (small packet per day, not Goji berries)

Vegetables
asparagus
beansprouts
broccoli
brussel sprouts
cauliflower
mange tout peas
plantain
runner beans
sugar snap peas

Oh this PKU business can be tricky sometimes. Green beans are protein free, but runner beans must be limited to one portion a day? I didn't even realise there was any difference between the two, being only a very recent bean convert.

In addition, some fruit and vegetables do contain protein. Peas, sweetcorn, potatoes, broad beans, spinach, yams, kale,avocado and passion fruit (to name a few) are all high enough in protein to be exchanges only.

There's so much to learn and some days I do feel as though my brain can't handle any more. I have lists of vegetables, pasta, cereals and their protein contents all over my fridge.

A new breakfast

We are stuck in a bit of a rut with breakfast. Gremlin can eat measured quantities of lots of regular breakfast cereals, but they are quite a lot of volume for her to manage at the moment. She eats some, then struggles with the rest so it becomes a bit of a battle for me to get it all in. She's been having 28g (2 exchanges) of Farley's Rusks with some of her PKU Milk for as long as I can remember. I sometimes add in an Ella's kitchen breakfast pouch (80ish grams= 2 exchanges)but they are 99p a pop so not very often!

The other day I discovered Plum's Baby Muesli. 15g of this bad boy with some PKU Milk is equivalent to 2 exchanges. It is very textured, so she enjoys chewing and munching on it and looks pretty tasty to me too. It does state 12months+ but as she is 1 next month (Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? How did that happen?) we thought we'd give it a try. She loves it, and we can start to move away from the trusty rusks without breaking the bank, much!

Wibble Wobble Wibble Wobble

Jelly!

I have steered well clear due to gelatin content but was very pleasantly suprised by a solo Grandadmin investigation at the supermarket. He phoned me up, pleased as punch, that he had found something Gremlin could eat. I thanked him but didn't really believe it until I'd seen it with my own eyes. He's right! Not all jellies. But Hartley's ready made pots of jelly are totally protein free! Gremlin tried an orange one today and, after the initial texture shock (very funny), did her funny/giggle/chunter noise which means "Give me some more of that fine food immediately please Mother".

A little word of jelly warning though for other PKUers and PKU Mums- avoid the reduced sugar ones which contain aspartame. This contains phenylalanine and should not be consumed by people with PKU.