Nutriiveda – First Thoughts and Impressions (and a little extra information)

Ok. First item of business. They are a little sneaky. Not a lot sneaky, but a little. Let me explain. Apparently, when you order your $80.00, 2 can package you are actually approving an autoship program. They do make that very clear in their confirmation email, but a lot of people don’t read those confirmation emails. So, if you do nothing, they will continue to charge your credit card and send you another shipment each month. They include the number to call to change that right in their email though so the issue is easy to fix. I just figured I’d give you fair warning.

Second small issue. The checkout process told me there would be a $7.95 shipping and handling fee. Ok. I was expecting that. It did not warn me that my state was one of the states where they also need to charge tax. So my total was $95.14 instead of the $87.95 I was expecting.

You receive two cans that have 15, 2-scoop servings each. The serving they recommend therapeutically for children is 2 scoops a day, so you’re talking a 30 day supply. That’s essentially an extra $100 dollars a month. This is not an inexpensive experiment by any means.

I did call their number. They answered with no wait and the person I spoke with was polite and helpful. She explained where the extra charge came from (taxes) and told me that if I wanted to postpone a shipment (or cancel the autoship entirely) I just needed to call at least three days before my scheduled ship date. I decided not to postpone just yet. I want to see how things go over the next three weeks or so. If I want to continue, and we’re successful at getting 2 scoops into Ava per day we’d need a monthly supply.

They also have a rewards program. They give you 10% of your product order in “Loyalty Rewards Dollars”. So for each shipment you earn 8 reward dollars. When you have enough to cover an entire order you can redeem them for a “free” product. So, essentially, it’s buy 10 and get the next one free (not counting shipping and tax). You only earn the rewards if you stay enrolled in the autoship program. So, it isn’t exactly an overwhelming deal, but if you do end up deciding you want to try it long term, there’s a bonus coming down the line. Oh, and you have to call to redeem them. They won’t do it automatically.

So, the product is nicely packaged and arrived promptly. I ordered it at 9pm on the 27th and it arrived in the mail on the 31st. They recommend you start with one scoop a day and work your way up to two. I was mixing up Ava’s yogurt/Omega-3 supplement nightly “treat” anyway, so I thought I’d just mix it in. After opening the container and looking at the size of the scoop I actually only added about 1/3 scoop to the yogurt (about half a container of yogurt). It took a couple of minutes of stirring before I felt like it had blended well. It takes some time for the mix to actually dissolve. She ate it just like she normally does. I couldn’t tell that she even noticed it was different. Michael actually had some mixed into his yogurt as well and didn’t seem to notice.

The next morning I mixed in half a scoop with about 4 ounces of yogurt and again, Ava didn’t seem to notice. So getting it into her doesn’t seem like it will be a problem. At least not when mixed in at those ratios. Ava only has yogurt twice a day though and I haven’t tried mixing a whole scoop in yet. I’m not sure that it would still be unnoticeable at that amount. We’ll see.

Now I just have to wait and see if I feel like it’s making a $100/month difference for her. We’ll see.

As an aside, I tried it myself. I mixed two scoops in to about 11 ounces of non-fat milk. This is the recommended amount for an adult meal replacement shake. Now, admittedly, I’m a picky eater. Truly. I am. But I only managed to drink about half of it and poured the rest down the sink. I didn’t like it. I wanted to. I really did. But, at least in milk, I felt it had a really chalky aftertaste. If I can think of something else to mix it with perhaps I’ll try it again. (I don’t like yogurt, so that’s out.) So that was my opinion. Then again, for our purposes, my opinion doesn’t matter. Ava needs to eat it and she will when it is mixed into yogurt.

Bottom Line(s):
Ava ate it without noticing when mixed in with yogurt. She’ll even eat both the Omega-3 supplement and the Nutriiveda supplement mixed in at the same time.

Their shipping is prompt and their customer service is polite and helpful.

Remember to cancel the autoship if you don't want it.

I personally think it tastes awful. (We’re using vanilla.)

Time will tell about whether it seems to help therapeutically for us.

Oh, and as a bonus, I found a more detailed web page testimonial on Nutriiveda for Apraxia.

A B C

I’m working on making my own alphabet border as a decoration for our playroom. I thought it would brighten the room a little. Michael knows his letters and is working on his letter/sound correspondences. This project is a good way to talk about that a little. I’m trying to choose a picture (or pictures) for each letter that is appealing to my kids. If the letter corresponds to one sound in some words and another sound in other words I’m trying to represent both sounds on the border. So, A has both acorn and apple and C has both cow and city. I’ll post more pictures as I get more of the border done.

The Weekly Review: Week Three

Blog Post I Enjoyed Most: Robert Rummel-Hudson is a father of a daughter with polymicrogyria (a rare neurological disorder) which effects speech in addition to many other things. He has written a book about his journey with his daughter, Schuyler. He also writes a blog and I particularly enjoyed his most recent post. This particular post has little to do with Schuyler but much to do with frustration. I also enjoyed the Office Space reference.

Interesting Apraxia Article: Here is an article I found on the Apraxia-Kids website about trying to get insurance coverage. I’m just starting to seriously research this topic so I’m sharing one of my first finds. I intend to do a full post on this when I get a little further in the process.

Ava’s new favorite phrase: I love this one. This week she’s started saying, “O-tay (okay) Mama.” I’ll say, “Let’s go put your shoes on.” and she’ll reply, “O-tay Mama.” It really is adorable. She says it in the cutest way and it’s a nice contrast from last week’s constant “no.” We still hear lots of “no,” but at least we’re hearing some agreeableness too.

Ava's second new favorite phrase: I don't love this one quite as much. "Na (not) Dada. Mama." This is repeated several times in urgent succession any time my husband attempts to help with Ava's care. I have mentioned the Mama stage she's going through?

Michael's Phrase of the Week: "Daddy, will you come play with me?" This request has been constant this week whenever my husband is home. I'll admit to a little bit of quiet amusement every time I hear it. Ava has been going through that Mama phase. I enjoy seeing the tables turned a little with Michael.

Favorite Project of the Week: My favorite this week was definitely the eye dropper art with the kids. It was a lot of fun.