The Gift of Breastfeeding

So I am officially a breastfeeding mama. It has been quite the adventure let me tell you. I have worked with Moms and breastfeeding with my job a Registered Dietitian and on a feeding team, but this is my first time actually doing this myself. I wanted to make sure that I talk about on this blog the reality of breastfeeding. Sometimes I think Moms aren't exactly sure what they are in for and sometimes it can be very overwhelming. 

Here are some statistics for you about breastfeeding that came from an article that was released just a few days ago: 

• In 2012, estimated 80% of mothers started breastfeeding their infants. By 6 months of age, an estimated 51.4% continued to breastfeed and by 12 months of age that number fell to 29.2% of mothers still breastfeeding. 
• Goals for Healthy People 2020 are for these rates at birth to be at 81.9%, by 6 months keeping 66.6% of mother breastfeeding and by 12 months of age having 34.1% of mothers continuing to breastfeed.
• Breastfeeding support programs are effective in helping to encourage and support mothers of all ages to continue to breastfeed.
• Breastfeeding has several maternal benefits including - lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers, less visceral adiposity, reduced rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the mothers.

I wanted to make sure that I shared with you some of my experiences with breastfeeding. I have only been doing this a few weeks, but I think it is an important thing to talk about and prompt discussion.

The initial latch - Can we talk about how when your baby latches for the first time it hurts? It is very uncomfortable. I was really concerned at the beginning that William wasn't latching correctly and that was causing some pain, but after speaking with a lactation consultant in the hospital, he was doing a great job and had a great suck. It took about 2-3 days for the initial "pain" with the sucking to go away. Lanonlin was my best friend. That helped so much to help relieve some of that pain and keep my nipples from cracking and bleeding. I would apply it after each time breast feeding. 

Milk coming in - Oh my goodness this was a surprise. My milk came in on day #3 after having William and WOW! I was so overwhelmed. It was painful to have super huge boobs and have them filled with milk. I didn't know this was going to happen so quickly. I had a ton of milk immediately and I didn't know what to do with it all. Originally, I was not going to pump for the first month, but when my milk came in I had to pump. I had to relieve that pressure. So I started pumping twice a day and I have been sticking with that regime since that first day home. 

Engorgement - I didn't know how to handle this side effect of breastfeeding either. I wasn't prepared for the engorgement feeling and again because my milk came in so quick I was so overwhelmed. It was such a crazy experience to be solely responsible for feeding your child. I have been thankful that I have a good milk supply. I know that lots of women struggle to increase their supply. Breastfeeding is tough and takes lots of time. 

It is a gift - In the midst of feeling overwhelmed and learning how to breastfeed I had a wonderful chat with my husband, Chas. He was so encouraging and helped to remind me that I didn't have to breastfeed. If there was any point that I felt like I didn't want to breastfeed, I didn't have to. There are other ways that we could feed William. He reminded me that he would support me in whatever I decided to do. He also said that if I continue to breastfeed that is a special gift that I am able to give William. It is something that I can choose to give him. Taking that perspective has been so helpful for me. Viewing breastfeeding and pumping as a gift for my son really hit home for me. I thought this perspective was worth sharing. If you are a breastfeeding Mom and feeling discouraged, remember what you are doing 6-12 times per day is a gift. All of the hard work is something special that you can give your child. 

I will keep you posted on how breastfeeding is going. We are now 3 weeks into this adventure and it is going well. William loves to eat and is growing quickly. Our next big challenge will be next month when William goes to daycare and I head back to work. Until then, we will continue to breastfeed, practice with a bottle 1-2 times a day and pumping ~3 times a day. Keep up the hard work if you are currently breastfeeding and if you know someone who is breastfeeding give them a pat on the back. 

Working In A Formula Room

It has been awhile since I have spoken about my day job here on the blog. As you may recall, I work in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and I am a pediatric dietitian. I work with newborn babies and I calculate their nutrition needs to help them grow appropriately since most of our patients are born early. Another part of the job, is helping to oversee our Formula Rooms. This is the part of the NICU where all of the feedings are put together/made for our patients in 24 hour batches. We help to schedule, oversee and hire the Formula Room Technicians that work in those mixing rooms. Sometimes the dietitians fill in those shifts as well if we don't have enough techs to fill the spots on a particular weekend. 

This last week I have had the opportunity to work in our Formula Rooms a couple of times. I am always impressed with our system and how we so accurately get all of our babies fed ~ 8 times a day. It is truly a well oiled machine and is so neat to be a part of that. 

I thought it might be neat to address some of the Frequently Asked Questions that I get about our Formula Room/NICU and how nutrition plays a role in that environment. Most people are surprised to learn that there are dietitians in the NICU and that we have a mixing room for feedings. 

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does a dietitian do in a NICU?
   • This is a great question. The role of a dietitian in a NICU varies, but the main role is to help provide nutrition care to this specialty population. The RD serves as the nutrition expert on the medical team and provides guidance/advice to the neonatologist about  the best feeding recipe for each patient. Each week the RD sees every patient in the NICU and writes up a nutrition note about their plan of care that week. The RD would suggestion what feeding option might be best for that patient, the avenue of administering the feeding, when start vitamins, how feedings might change based on lab values and monitor growth velocity and tweak the nutrition plan as needed. 
2. Do you just mix formula in the Formula Room?
   • No. In our Formula Room we prepare ALL of the feedings for ALL of our patients and they are stored in a refrigerator in that room. The RN will come in and out of the Formula Room to get the feedings and take that aliquot to the bedside and feed the baby. Each patient has their own bin in the refrigerator and their feeding is in that bin for the RN to grab anywhere from 6-8 times per day.
3. How do you feed your patients?
   • In the NICU, since our patients are normally premature, our most common form of administering nutrition is via a feeding tube or via TPN. We prefer to use the GI tract and will try to give feedings via the feeding tube and we work to wean TPN support as soon as possible due to line infection risk and liver damage. Infants do not have their swallow/feeding reflex developed until ~34 weeks gestation and so that would be the point that with cues, we might start some bottle feedings. 
4. Do you feed your patients breast milk? 
   • Yes. Our goal is to use maternal breastmilk whenever possible. That is the gold standard for all of our babies, because it has so many protective properties. Some times there are medical diagnoses that prevent the use of breastmilk, but those cases are limited. Premature babies also need higher calories, more fat and more protein. They are born early and their nutrition needs are higher compared with a term infant. This means that unfortified breastmilk won't meet their nutrition needs so in the NICU we use different formula/fortifier to add to the breastmilk to increase the calories, protein, fat and other vitamins the infant is receiving. We have recipes that we use to mix these feedings and that is the primary role of our formula room technicians. They are the ones that will mix up these recipes for each baby in 24 hours batches and those feedings will be used throughout the day by the nursing staff.
5. How much do you prepare each day in the Formula Room?
   • Our technicians make 24 hour batches for all the babies that we are mixing for that day. Our NICU holds 90 babies and our nursery unit holds an additional 10 babies. There is the potential that we could mix for all 100 babies, but that is normally not the case. It is inevitable that there is a baby or two who are NPO (nothing by mouth). Our average census is ~70-80 patients at a time. 
6. Why do you have technicians mixing feedings compared with nursing staff? 
   • Nursing staff in some hospitals do mix feedings and they have at our hospital in the past. With this creation of a Formula Room space it is more conducive to having one person mixing up feedings compared with each RN mixing their feedings. It decreases the number of people in the room and would decrease risk of errors/infection risk. We work hard to make sure that our technicians are trained well and mix the feedings appropriately. This helps give the RNs more time at the bedside to do what they do best, provide that direct care for our babies. 

Hopefully this has given you a little better idea about what we do in the NICU and how we provide top-notch nutrition care to our patients. We have some of the sickest babies in the state at our hospital and I am so proud of our medical staff for the level of care that we provide each and every day! 

Scary Halloween Facts

Today is Halloween! October 31st! That means if you haven't already, you will have little ghosts, goblins and princesses showing up to your door and asking for treats and goodies. I hope you were able to read the post from last week about the Teal Pumpkin Project and possibly put together some allergy-free treats for your trick-or-treaters. 

I also wanted to share with you some scary Halloween nutrition facts, because it is fun and ends up being eye opening. These statistics are brought to you by Daily Burn. 

• Americans spend ~$7.4 billion dollars on Halloween candy, costumes and decorations each year. 
• Americans purchase 90 million pounds of chocolate during the week of Halloween. 
• There are 41 million potential trick-or-treaters between the ages of 5-14 years old in America.
• Each year, 35 million pounds of candy corn is produced for the Halloween/Fall season. 
• If you ate an apple cider donut, you would have to do 54 push-ups to burn it off (~330kcal). 
• Do you love the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte? If you drink a tall (~380kcal) you need walk for 134 minutes to burn off those calories. 
• Did you know there are 10.5g of sugar in a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and this happens to be American's favorite Halloween candy.
• You would have to do 17 minutes of burpees to burn of 1 bite-sized Snickers bar (~160kcal).
• Wondering how much your pillowcase can hold in terms of candy - 1,690 pieces of candy to be exact. 
• On Halloween, children collect any where from 3,500-7,000kcal worth of Halloween candy in their pumpkin pails. 

I don't want you to know that I don't love Halloween, the treats, goodies and decorations. I love celebrating holidays, but I think it is important to remember that you or your child do not need ALL the Halloween candy. Trying to keep moderation at the fore front of your mind is the main message. Enjoy your time trick-or-treating, taking pictures and dressing up. Just try to be active, burn off those extra calories and make sure you have a healthy dinner before you head out. Have a safe and wonderful Halloween! 

Navigating Food Allergies on Halloween

This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart. Every year I try to take some time and make sure I talk about the Teal Pumpkin Project. This program is sponsored by the Food Allergy Research & Education group and its main focus is to provide all kids safe treats this Halloween. This campaign was launched back in 2014 nationally and has gained lots of traction over the last 2 years. 

For kids with food allergies, it is not safe for them to eat candy, because often these sweet treats contain dangerous allergens. This project wants to encourage people to provide non-food treats for trick-or-treaters so that they can still participate in the Halloween traditions, but not have to worry about their food allergies. To participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project follow these simple steps: 

1. Have non-food treats available for kids to pick up. It is easy to find Halloween themed goodies at your local grocery store, party store or craft store. Plus, these are great goodies to hand out to all the children, because they are going to get plenty of sugary treats.
   • Bubbles 
   • Pens/pencils 
   • Glow sticks/necklaces/bracelets 
   • Vampire fangs 
   • Stickers 
   • Bouncy balls 
   • If you don't have time to run to the store to find these goodies - go ahead and purchase the Essentials Kit from FARE Teal Pumpkin Project and get it shipped directly to you! 
2. Put out a teal pumpkin in front of your home, on your porch/in your entry way. Incorporate your family and paint your teal pumpkin today! 
3. Display the FARE Teal Pumpkin Project sign  explaining what the teal pumpkin means.

Not All Formula Is Created Equal

I decided to put together this blog post because I work in a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) and we work with a lot of breastmilk and baby formula to feed our patients. This is my area of expertise and I had the pleasure of recently attending lunch with a formula rep and talking about formula. This luncheon, brought this topic to the fore front of my mind - Not all formula is created equal. I don't want this post favor one brand over another. I just want to bring some facts to light that you might find helpful. My perspective is that for all babies, breastmilk is best and is a very unique substance. We have worked for years and years to try to create a formula that mimics breastmilk. For some of our babies in the NICU, we have to add things to the breastmilk to increase nutrients because our patients are born early and breastmilk isn't designed to meet their unique nutrition needs. 

That being said ... I wanted to discuss all the different types of formula and how there are various brands. In the US, we have Similac, Enfamil, Gerber and Store brand options. All of these companies abide by rulings set out by Congress in the 1980s, referred to as The Formula Act. This piece of legislation has been around for awhile and unfortunately hasn't been totally updated since then. There have been guidances given for the formula industry and an example in includes the health claims made by formula companies (September 2016).  Baby formula always ends up being a controversial topic. Thankfully all of these companies continue to create and work on new research in the area of baby formula even though the standards they have (required by law to follow) are now ~35 years old.  There are lots of different types of formula options within each brand and some times the options can be overwhelming for parents. The main focus that I wanted to bring to your attention is that the brand name formulas may cost more, but there is more research being done in those products and they are up to date with the best nutrition compared with the generic products. Just so you are aware, the generic version of the formulas are the older recipes from the brand name companies. This means they may not contain some of the important nutrients that we have discovered and are now able to add to formula. This means that as the consumer you are getting a product that is based on older research and may not be as helpful for their baby's growth and development. This is the one time in your baby's life when they are eating 1 food item to get all the nutrients that they need to grow and develop. Whether it is breastmilk or formula this is a very unique time for your child (the 1st 12 months of their life). 

For example, we have learned that DHA (docosahexaenoic acid or omega-3 fatty acids) and ARA (arachidonic aicd or omega-6 fatty acid) are very important for brain development in infants. These fatty acids have been around awhile and most of the generic formulas that I looked at had at least DHA in them. Another important phytonutrient that is now being added to formula is Lutein. It helps with eye health and is a carotenoid that has an important role to play in brain function/development. We didn't necessarily have this information back when the Formula Act was put together so if you read the label for a generic baby formula and make sure that these formulas have these nutrients added. Most of the ones that I glanced at, did have these nutrients added, which was reassuring. These nutrients are naturally found in breastmilk and has we do more research they are being added to infant formulas as well. 

I wanted to also just touch on the different types of baby formula so that you know what you are looking at when you go to the baby aisle of the grocery store. There are lots of options and often the challenging is just determine, which product is appropriate for your baby.

Different Types of Baby Formula - 

• Cow milk protein-based formulas. Most infant formula is made with cow's milk that's been altered to resemble breast milk. This gives the formula the right balance of nutrients — and makes the formula easier to digest. Most babies do well on cow's milk formula. Some babies, however — such as those allergic to the proteins in cow's milk — need other types of infant formula.
• Soy-based formulas. Soy-based formulas can be useful if you want to exclude animal proteins from your child's diet. Soy-based infant formulas might also be an option for babies who are intolerant or allergic to cow's milk formula or to lactose, a carbohydrate naturally found in cow's milk. However, babies who are allergic to cow's milk might also be allergic to soy milk.
• Protein hydrolysate formulas. These types of formulas contain protein that's been broken down (hydrolyzed) — partially or extensively — into smaller sizes than are those in cow's milk and soy-based formulas. Protein hydrolysate formulas are meant for babies who don't tolerate cow's milk or soy-based formulas. Extensively hydrolyzed formulas are an option for babies who have a protein allergy.

*In addition, specialized formulas are available for premature infants and babies who have specific medical conditions.

My intent with this blog post is not to make you hate formula or purchase only a certain type of formula. I just wanted to make sure that you knew how much research goes into infant formula and how it is always being updated and our knowledge base is growing. Breastmilk is an amazing substance that women's body can produce and we have spent lots of time and money trying to find ways to create a formula that mimics what nature can create. I am a huge proponent of additional research and I am always excited to hear what companies have learned and are able to add to their formula products. 

If you end up with questions about formula, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me and I would be happy to talk with you more about this fascinating topic of infant nutrition! 

Kids Eat Right

I know that I kind of missed the mark with this post. It is a little late, because August was Kids Eat Right Month and I know it is now the beginning of September, but I am think this is such a great topic that we should continue to talk about it into September. 

As many of you know, I am a pediatric dietitian and I feel passionately about good nutrition for our kids. This week I am was asked to put together a display booth as a Elementary/Jr High Wellness Night at a private school. I also have the chance to be on Indy Style again talking about school lunches (tune in tomorrow at 9am on WISH TV). I thought this would be a great topic for the blog this week and really focus in on recommendations for school-aged children.

There was also a great news article that was released at the end of August from the American Heart Association talking about children and sugar consumption. This statement came from research put out in the publication Circulation, looking at how sugar affect children's overall health. The recommendations are that children/teens (ages 2-18 years old) should not be consuming more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day. Added sugars are classified as table sugar, fructose, honey found in processed/prepared foods or beverages, sugar that is added to foods at the table or eaten separately. It has been determined that children eating more than this per day (> 6 tsp added sugar) are often consuming more unhealthy food items. 

Now you have to be wondering what in the world can you do to cut back on your child's sweet treats? Well thankful there is a great handout from the USDA on this exact topic. 

In addition to just sugar intake, overall diet is important as well for children to grow/develop to their full potential. As a parent/caregiver, the responsibility falls to you to help make sure that your child is getting the proper nutrition that they need. You should be aiming for a well-rounded, balanced plate at every meal. I know that feel intimidating, specially if you have a picky child. But keep offering healthy options and encourage your child to take at least 2 bites of each food item offered at that meal. 

Your child's plate will be smaller compared with yours, but it should still contain all of the above mentioned food groups (Fruits, Vegetables, Protein, Grains and Dairy) with each meal. Now I know it can be challenging to fit in vegetables with your breakfast, so if that doesn't happen every morning, make sure to offer another vegetable at lunch/dinner and move a fruit to a snack in the afternoon. 

Tips for a Healthy School Lunch

1.  Incorporate fruits and vegetables in a fun way. Variety your produce options in the lunch bag. Use different dips throughout the week with the veggies (hummus, ranch, sunbutter) or with the fruit (like yogurt). Cut up the fruit/vegetables so that your child is more likely to eat them. 
2. Make the bread on their sandwich whole grain. This could be sliced bread, crackers, pita or a wrap. You can have a variety of types of sandwiches (lunch meat, PB&J, chicken salad). 
3. Have a snack for them in their bag for later in day – for the ride home on the bus or in between school and a sports practice. Make this something easy to carry that doesn’t need an ice pack – granola bar, crackers, dried fruit, or nuts.

If you  have more questions or want more information about planning healthy, meals for your family, feel free to get in touch with me! Have a great Monday and hope your Labor Day weekend has been amazing! 

Another Week at Diabetes Camp

The last week of June I had the pleasure of getting to help out a Diabetes Camp in Noblesville, IN. The Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana puts on a week long camp for three weeks every June for kids with diabetes. Commonly this kiddos are type 1 diabetics, but it is a great opportunity to have these kids enjoy a week at camp and have the diabetes taken care of during that time. 

This was my 2nd year back at this camp and it went great. We had a wonderful week! My role is that of a "lunch lady." I am in charge of making the food substitutions for the kids with food allergies or special dietary needs. Last year I had a ton of these kids (like 12-14), but this year it is a much smaller group. I have 2 girls with celiac disease, 1 boy with dairy, peas, peanut allergy, 1 vegetarian camper and another boy with just peanut allergies. My role was to prepare the food substitutions for meals. For example ... on a night with chicken strips, I would get and prepare gluten free chicken strips for the celiac campers. I wouldn't have to prepare their whole meal, just a portion of it. It works well because the head dietitian for the camp, does a great job putting together the menu each year, which includes fruit, vegetables, lean protein and dairy. It is a well rounded meal plan. There is always 1 dietitian each week to help oversee the kitchen area and the campers with food allergies/restrictions. This year we had another addition - a Purdue intern. Her name is Molly and she helped us in the kitchen throughout the week. She just finished her sophomore year at Purdue and is majoring in Dietetics and Nutrition, Fitness & Health. She was a great addition to the kitchen crew and did a great job. 

It was a busy week. When I wasn't working in the kitchen getting meals ready, I was using my time to chart on our NICU babies. Our census has been crazy high this summer in the NICU so we have been busy. It was a great experience as always and I really love being able to volunteer and spend some time each summer out at this Diabetes Camp. If you know of anyone with Type 1 Diabetes then make sure you share the Diabetes Youth Foundation of Indiana website with them and maybe next year they can go to camp! 

Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management Certificate Program

I had the opportunity to attend the Childhood and Adolescent Weight Management Certificate Program in Indianapolis last week. It had been a goal of mine for the last couple of years to attend that program when it was closer to where I live. They offer the 3 day program twice a year and they rotate the sights all over the country. This spring it was in Indianapolis! I just had to go, because it would have been cheaper and less travel compared to going to another state for this training. 

Now you might be wondering what this training is about. It is focused on combating the obesity epidemic in youth and the goal is for RDs to be able to learn more about this issue and be better equipped to work with patients to help them become healthier. To complete the certificate program you have to complete required readings, complete a pre-test (score minimum of 80%), attend the 2 1/2 day program and then complete a post-test (scoring a minimum of 80%). At the end of all this you get to claim this certified training on your resume and gain useful knowledge in this specialty area. 

So even if you aren't an RD, I did learn some interesting information that you might find interesting. 

• Children ages 2-19 - 32% of them are obese and 21% of children ages 6-10 years are living in food insecure homes.
• It is projected that by the year 2072 - 80% of everyone in the United States will be obese (BMI >30kg/m2). 
• 60% of children 10-14 years old have a TV in their bedroom. Research has shown that kids gain 1 extra pound per year when they have a TV in their bedroom compared with children who didn't have a TV in their bedroom. 
• Children are often the main target for intense and aggressive food marketing and advertising efforts. Often this is NOT for healthy, food options.

I know some of those statistics are depressing, but I think it helps to realize how big of a problem this is for children and this isn't a problem that goes away in adulthood. This weight gain trend often continues as the child gets older and continues to be a problem throughout the child's entire life. 

There are lots of things that we (as a community) can do to help our youth be healthier now and for the future. 

• Make an effort with your children to limit screen time, get outside a move more and purchase healthy food for your home. 
• Try to eat out less and make being healthy an entire family commitment. 
• Support health/wellness initiatives in the local school systems. 
• As a parent or caregiver, demonstrate healthy behaviors for your children. 

I wanted to share this video from the FNV Campaign (Food and Veggies) that is a partnership from the Healthier America and Let's Move Campaigns to help encourage healthier food marketing to Americans. I just wanted to leave you on that note and encourage you to make healthy choices for yourself and your children. 

Being a clinical dietitian in the NICU

I have been thinking about writing a blog post about my job as a Registered Dietitian in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. I know some people have no idea what I do on a daily basis and even some of my family may be confused. 

But to start off this explanation we need to go back to high school. I met with a Dr Fadley who was a therapist of sorts. He meets with people, has you take a test and that then determines future occupation based on your interests/skills. He told me that I could go into dietetics, but it would be tough (and it was), but I would be best suited for special education and being a teacher. I kind of blew him off and thought that was ridiculous. 

Well here looking back about 10 years later ... I think Dr Fadley spoke some truth. I have a passion for helping those that can't always help themselves. I love working with people who have faced challenges in their lives - mental, emotional or physical. I have a special place in my heart for being that care giver and helping people. Looking back I can see that displayed in many ways, but I think in my current job it helps to sums up what I do every day. I help to provide care for the littlest of babies who aren't suppose to be born yet. All of us in the neonatal world, work to help them beat the odds and have a chance at life. Being able to be part of that team, who works to give each of these babies a fighting chance is amazing. I love it! 

My specific role as the dietitian is to calculate the nutritional needs for our neonates. I work with a team of neonatologists, speech therapists, nurses and dietary technicians to make sure that our babies are getting the best recipe for feedings to meet their  unique needs.  More goes into these calculations than just crunching numbers. As the dietitian, I have to be aware of various medical conditions that could have an impact on their nutrient absorption/metabolism. This can be a complicated process if you have a baby with renal failure, a cardiac condition or a GI issue. Each of our patients, is like a puzzle that we are working on figuring out during their hospital stay. 

In addition to charting on each of these patients, I help to oversee the formula room. This is the place in our hospital where all the feedings are made by dietary technicians. We make 24 hours worth of feedings for all of our patients and we help to make sure that these techs are doing their job right. These techs are valuable part of our team and help ensure that the nutrition plan the dietitian comes up with is put into action. 

I wanted to share my job with you, because it is different. Hopefully this is a helpful little snap shot into the world of neonatology through the eyes of the dietitian. It is an amazing place to be and I enjoy being able to play a small role in so many children's lives. 

Certified Specialist in Pediatrics

I got the letter. I have been waiting to hear how I did on the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics National Board Exam for the Certification in Pediatrics. I took the exam back in November, just prior to Thanksgiving. I had been waiting while they graded all of the exams and determine who passes. I felt better about this exam and after reviewing some flashcards for the exam I felt like I had a better handle on the material. 

For those of you that may be confused about what this means ... the accreditation body for the dietetics profession is the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. They have several certification exams that you can take in a variety of speciality areas - for example Nutrition Support, Diabetics, Pediatrics, Sports Nutrition, etc. To be eligible to take these exams you must complete a set number of practice hours. For the Certification in Pediatrics it was 2,000 contact hours with pediatric patients. You also must have at least 2 years of experience as a Registered Dietitian. Once these requirements are met you are eligible to sit for the exam. Once you pass the exam you can place these certification letters after your name. I have been wanting to obtain these credentials for several years, ever since I developed a love for pediatrics and working with families in a nutrition setting. 

I got my letter this past week, congratulating me on passing this exam. Now I can sign my name Anna Busenburg, RD, CSP. It is quite exciting to see all the hard work, hours of studying, finally pay off!

Featured as the RD of the Day on Today's Dietitian

So I totally have to geek out on you for a minute. I did a news story with WISH TV, which aired this last week. It was about Sports Nutrition and Children. If you happened to miss it, well head over to my media page and check it out. 

Well Today's Dietitian decided to choose me at the RD of the Day on their Twitter page. I know it doesn't seem like the coolest thing to you ever, but it totally made my day.  This popped into my email and I felt honored that someone had noticed my work and decided to share it with their 8,000 followers. 

It is so neat that because of social media we can connect and share what we are doing all over the world. I think that is a huge win for nutrition education we can provide people with tips for wellness via these social platforms. I just love being part of that! 

A Week at Diabetes Camp

This week I am spending my time at Diabetes Camp in Noblesville. I am playing lunch lady because I am in charge of the allergy diets. I have 16 kiddos who are on some type of special diet. That means I am cooking up everything from Vegetarian meals to Gluten free + Dairy free + Soy free. So needless to say it at times can be complicated. It  had been fun though! I have learned so much! I haven't had to work this closely for an extended period of time with diabetic patients. Doing clinical work means that we see patients for a short period of time (3 to 5 days) in the hospital. So hanging out with a bunch more of kids for 7 days has been fun. 

My scheduled consisted of cooking/preparing food for 3 meals a day + 2 snacks each day. I ended up preparing food for about 13 kids throughout the week. I spent my mornings making breakfast and then getting the lunch and snack items ready. I would get a few hours off before lunch to do work things, wonder around camp or go for a run. Then I would make lunch and finalize the evening snack. Then I would have another couple of hours off to do something fun. Then back to the kitchen for dinner preparation. I would then normally hang out around the camp in the evening, watching the camp game, going to campfire and then evening snack was at 9pm each evening. 

Camp has always held a special place in my heart. I love spending time at camp during the summer. I even had the opportunity to work in a kitchen at Camp Lakeview for a whole summer. I feel quite comfortable in a camp kitchen. This week at Diabetes Camp was great. I felt like I was able to make a positive difference and able to help this kids with allergies have a "normal" week. I also was able to learn lots more about Type 1 Diabetes in the process. It is amazing how much fun  you can have when you decide to enjoy yourself, work hard and make friends. I am thankful to have this opportunity and be able to serve these kiddos and staff for a week. 

Hanging out watch the camp activity for the evening. 

Thank you to my co-workers Kara and Kim and for all their helping preparing for this week at camp. They both helped so much with inventorying food items, making food labels and creating a chart to help organize the meal preparation process. Thank you to the two Tracys, who were in the kitchen, with me for the week. It was so much fun getting to know them and work with them each day. Also one last thank you, to my other co-worker Kristin, for letting me go to this camp for a week and leave her alone at the hospital. It is tough to be short one person, but I am so thankful to be able to have this experience! 

The Dining Hall at Camp.

The Gluten Free Prep area in the kitchen.

Great week being able to work with some great people!