Today I made an appointment for Camden to see a feeding therapist. I was very concerned after he freaked out (literally) from a Cheerio being in his mouth. He also is not allowing any solid food to be fed to him and I didn't know if I should continue to force feed or leave it be. I needed a professional's opinion.
My sister works at HealthReach which is a rehabilitation place. I called her just to see if she knew if Birth to Three would be able to evaulate this feeding issue on Tuesday. She suggested seeing a therapist at her work just for a screening. And she made the appointment for me to get in today! (Huge thanks, Bec.)
I expected to just get some tips and advice on what to do with feeding and got so much more! This therapist actually sat and listened to me!!!!!! For the first time I felt like she truly cared about helping get Camden better. She immediately said he needs to be evaulated by a gastroentrologist, ear, nose & throat doctor and an allergist. All his symptoms may be related to the reflux, but if something is not done now, he will never get better. Better yet, she's been down this road with one of her kids. She was able to give me actual names of doctors that she wants us to see. She suggested that Camden be on a combination of Prevacid and Zantac. Prevacid helps to keep the stomach acid from coming up and Zantac helps to soothe the irritation in the throat. But we'll see what the specialist (the GI doc) says about that. All these specialists need be seen to rule out any other contributing factors to his pain.
She also called in the physical therapist to do a quick screening on him. Within three minutes of her looking at Camden and moving him around, she could tell he definitely needed PT. She said he's pulling his shoulders back to close off his esophogus to stop the reflux. He'll probably never crawl because it's too painful for him. Therapy would probably focus more on walking for him. His muscles are weak though and because he never wants to be on his stomach, it's hard to strengthen them.
As fas as feeding, breastmilk is the best food for him! The therapist told me that I need to get through my head that nursing is his nutrition and what he needs. He does not need food-food now! I am supposed to put Camden in his high chair and put different foods on the tray, but NOT feed it to him. Allow Camden to do his own thing. He's developed a sensory disorder to feeding, foods, spoons, cups, bottles, etc. He sees it and knows he doesn't want it. Sensory integration disorder is a common thing among refluxers. We need to let Camden do his own thing. If Camden happens to get some food on his fingers and then puts his fingers in his mouth, that's a BONUS! But otherwise, just nursing for his main nutrition. We are going to be starting speech therapy/feeding therapy with him.
I can't tell you how wonderful it was to talk to someone who truly cared and wanted to make my son better as much as I did. I walked out of there and burst into tears. I know we have a long road ahead of us, but I finally feel like maybe this road will lead us in the right direction. And that there will be light at the end of this journey. Both the feeding therapist and physical therapist said that Camden will get better....there's just a process to go through to get there.
So as of now....his allergist appointment is on May 15th, ENT appt. is May 18th and I will know the GI appt. sometime tomorrow. All of these are at Children's Hospital. Please say an extra prayer for us on those dates.
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