Any Single Parents?

Hi All,

I have been absorbing everything I can from these message boards since May.  I went through the hoops and got insurance approval today!!  Yayyyy me!!  I am a single parent to a 9 year old daughter.  It's just me and her, and I'm worried about how i'll feed her, especially immediately post-op.  How have other single parents managed?  Any ideas?  Hopefully i'll be so turned off by food, that preparing food for her won't bother me (high hopes)!!

Congrats on your insurance approval. You are in the home stretch now.

I, too, am a single parent. My kids were almost three when I had surgery, so their needs were somewhat different than your daughter's, but I thought I'd chime in anyway.

With the exception of the first couple of days, when I had very little energy, I was able to handle preparing meals for my kids without much of a problem. I really was not interested in food for the first couple of months after surgery, so food prep wasn't much of an issue for me. I would, however, suggest maybe preparing and freezing a few meals before your surgery, so that you don't have to worry about what to feed your daughter the first few days you are home from the hospital. 

I had help from my mom for a couple of weeks after my surgery, but mainly just getting kids to and from daycare and bathing them in the evenings. Since your daughter is probably pretty self-sufficient in terms of personal care, I think you will be ok on your own with her. You may consider havings a friend or family member on stand-by, just in case you have any unforeseen complications or if you just need a little bit of extra help.

Good luck with your surgery. I hope all goes well for you.

Thanks Gigi.  I'm super excited. 

I would recommend stocking your freezer with things that freeze well.  And also chili since it's really easy to puree post-op for you as well.  

I have three kids and am a single mom. Though my kids are older, I still do the majority of the cooking. I stocked our fridge and cabinets with things they could grab and go like fresh fruit and veggies, chicken salad, egg salad, salad fixings... that got them through the first few days when I was still on pain meds. After that, I stuck to easy to make meals like soup and sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, stuff like that. Breakfast was cereal and fruit, lunch was sandwiches. They survived and learned to cook some things for themselves. Good luck and congrats on your approval!!!

I'm a single parent to a little boy, 6 YO. I planned ahead to have easy things to fix that he liked in the immediate post op phase. I also had wonderful relative support.  Once I was able to eating soft and then regular food, I have tried to find foods in common we can eat and then add other items for each of us. He is very (VERY!) picky, so it can be challenging but it is doable. For example, I make tuna salad and have some with lettuce and make him a sandwich. Or, I have cooked ground turkey in marinara sauce and he has some over noodles. Or, I make hamburger patties and he has a bun and I don't.  These are just a few ideas.  You can totally do this!  A little planning goes a long way. :-)

I think the suggestion to freeze things is a good one. I am a single mom and my kids were 3 and 5 when I had my weight loss surgery. The hardest part for me was not finishing off their plates. I hate wasting food so I always ate their left-overs pre-op. Not anymore.

You will be fine.

I'm an 18 year young single mother of a 9 month old baby girl. Good luck to you. I just hope the fact that I am turning my life around will be a good influence on my beautiful girl.

That's one of the main reasons I'm doing it; to be healthy and teach healthy habits to her!

  Good for you!

Thank you!(: