Feeding therapy

Camden had his feeding evaluation with Birth to Three on Friday.  At this point it really doesn’t come as any surprise that he qualified.  He will have feeding therapy every other week.  They are waiting to start until after his feeding evaluation (swallow study) with Children’s feeding clinic, which is tomorrow.  The therapist also was hopeful that the tubes would help with his eating.  She did give us some tricks and tips to try with him until we start therapy.  Just really simple baby steps to get him eating.  Like dabbing our finger in baby food,  juice, applesauce and putting a little on his mouth.  He will stick out his tongue for this and this gets him use to different tastes a little at a time.  It’s also not so much that it’s going to  upset his tummy or reflux.  Too much food for him at one time can be very bad for his reflux.  So even when I was thrilled that he ate a whole jar of baby food, it could have really made him feel bad and upset the reflux.  His tummy isn’t used to anything but breast milk so we need to gradually get it used to other foods. 

Camden has a busy week.  Tomorrow we go to the feeding clinic.  This is an important appointment and should be very helpful for us.  Tuesday the tubes are being put in.  We have to be at the surgery center at 6:30 A.M.  Yikes!  Camden cannot eat anything or drink anything after midnight.  Oh boy….it may not be a good night.  I’m nervous for this procedure, yet excited to see the results of it.  Will Camden finally feel better?  Part of me thinks he’ll improve but not be 100% better because he still suffers from his reflux.  He has been refluxing quite a bit the last few days.  Between today and Tuesday I’m trying to keep  him away from germs because if he gets sick, the surgery is cancelled. 

He’s made some progress with physical therapy.  He doesn’t scream during his therapy exercises and he rolls over from tummy to back.  This may seem like simple things for a 10-month old, but this is HUGE for Camden.  He doesn’t mind being on his tummy so much, but now that he’s learned how to roll off his tummy, he doesn’t stay on it very long.  The therapist wondered if we should even teach him how to roll off his tummy and now I see why.