Ally and I went for our second feeding therapy appointment yesterday. We had the same therapist from our last visit as well as the director of speech therapy sitting in on our appointment. It was much more productive and I came away from it with some good suggestions. The most important thing we learned is that Ally's reflux is not yet under control. She is still exhibiting classic reflux behaviors indicating that she is still experiencing discomfort while eating. We are unable to properly medicate her because she refuses to take the medicine from the syringe. We try mixing it in her bottles, but a lot of the medication cakes up on the side of the bottle and doesn't actually get to her. We tried an experiment yesterday by putting the syringe into the nipple and administering it that way. It worked reasonably well at the appointment, but the two times that I've tried it at home since it's been a disaster. Little Miss Grabby-hands has made me spill it- twice! Both the therapists believe that if we can get the reflux under control the rest will follow. While observing her eating some solids they noted that she processes foods like a 5 month old so she's developmentally behind in that respect, but it's all related to the reflux in the end. Does that make sense?
The therapists also encouraged us to start trying to hold her when we're feeding her. This is easier said than done. She's typically very squirmy and arches her back and twists her head around so we've started feeding her in a little reclined seat- similar to a bouncy seat. When she's sitting there we have a free hand to dangle a toy in her face to distract her. When she's sufficiently distracted, she'll go to town with that bottle. Since our appointment yesterday, I've tried feeding her in my arms several times but it isn't working. We're trying though and we'll continue to do so until we get this thing figured out. The medicine is the key to it all. I'm convinced that if we can find a trick to effectively deliver the medication everything else will fall into place. We have a standing appointment on Tuesday afternoon so we'll see what kind of progress we're able to make in the next week.
Thanks for checking in and for all of the kind & encouraging comments after my last post regarding our feeding woes!
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1 comment:
O mu God! I so understand you. I have my 3rd child, and he has very similar problem like yours and his previous 2 brothers. I wanted so much to have a son who would eat and talk on time, and not to spit up all over a house and us... But already third time submitting papers for Early Intervention.. another frastration. It's just helps a little to know, that I am not alone. Thank you for your blog.
Olesya.
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