Feeding Reflection

I initially started this blog for a couple of reasons. One was so that our family & friends around the country can keep up with us. Secondly, I thought it would be kinda neat to document our experience with Little Man's feeding problems. It's not a very common problem but it's not all that rare either. We really need more people to devote themselves to this problem so that kids can stop sitting on waiting lists for months at a time.

Anyways, the great news is that last week Little Man had what may very well be his last or next to last therapy session for the feeding. He's still not all out chewing but he's close enough that he only needs to be monitored periodically to make sure he doesn't slip backwards at all. He can eat almost everything that we eat; he's still mostly grinding but the chewing is beginning to emerge. The kid can eat gummy bears!!!!!!!

I have to say it's been a very VERY long road to get here. Little Man is 28 months old today and he was 10 months old the first time we ever thought there might be a problem with his mouth. That's when his pedi sent us for an eval with the OT & Speech people. I'll never forget when the waiter at a Chili's complemented Little Man for being such a good and quiet child in the restaurant. I teared up when he left and looked at Hubby and said, "It's not because he wants to, it's because he doesn't know how to make these noises."

We've been through so much with him. I can't tell you the number of days I sat in sheer frustration ready to break down because nobody seemed to have solutions. Numerous doctors appointments, tests, evaluations, etc. Once we found someone that could help, it took almost a full 3 months to get him off the waiting list to start therapy.

I have to say I have more patience now than ever before and I realize now that I will stop at nothing to get my child whatever it is he needs. I feel like I should be on some sort of crusade
for all of the other children out there that have parents asking, "What's wrong with my child?" while surrounded by people telling them, "it's okay, they'll outgrow it." It's not just kids like Little Man either where there is an issue as a whole with oral-motor issues. For some kids it's sensory/textures. For others it's a medical issue that caused them to delay learning how to eat and now struggle with it and for others it's strictly behavioral.

So that's it with the feeding. He's babbling more than ever and he even occasionally calls me 'mama'. That never gets old. I'm sure that as we continue to work with his oral-motor issues his speech will continue to develop and the chewing will continue to get better. Our latest task is to teach Little Man how to blow (as in bubbles.) That is a concept that he's never gotten and we're having a time of getting him to figure this out. His OT recently brought us a couple of really awesome 'tools' to help but for now he's not interested, lol.