The Honeymoon is Over

Greyson's been doing really well at his therapy sessions, despite being a very tired boy.  On Thursday, we moved to trying some diluted apple juice (50/50 water/juice) on a spoon, and he took 2 ounces during one session!  That is a major, major deal.

Friday morning, some diluted applesauce was introduced.  Greyson had a lot of trouble with the texture of it, even though it was heavily diluted.  He sputtered and spit out (or wiped out) the few bites he did accept, but quickly decided he was not going to accept any bites.  He began crying, reaching for me, and calling my name.  It's very hard to see your child obviously upset and wanting/needing you, but being able to do nothing.  That behavior (during mealtime) is something that needs to be ignored, so as to not reinforce it in any way (positively or negatively).  There was also some obvious manipulation, because at one point, he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes and smiled.  That boy.  We always end sessions on a positive note, usually Greyson accepting one more bite, and then lots of praise and he can get down. 

Small Successes

Most people find it very difficult to understand when a child won't eat orally.  "He's just going to wake up and do it one day" is something that I hear all of the time, and that's simply not the case.  It's going to take a lot of hard work and consistency on our part and his part in order to see a difference in his eating skills.

We had a pretty good day in therapy, and while both of us are dog tired, we are celebrating a few successes today.  Greyson took 30 mL (one ounce) of water from a spoon today.  He also took over 30 bites of Goldfish crackers!  Our "homework" tonight was to try another session with the Goldfish.

This video is a bit lengthy, but you can see how frustrating (for the both of us) mealtime can be.  You can also see that, yes, in fact, some children refuse to eat orally.  I wanted to give up right away during this session, but continued, and you can see the reward at the very end :)  Notice Greyson's mouth when we get the book out-his mouth begins to chew even though he's not eating.

Functional Feeding Program Begins!

We arrived in Pittsburgh around 2:30 pm on Sunday, got checked into the Ronald McDonald House, and spent almost 2 hours trekking to and from the car (in a parking garage) with all of our belongings.    We made a quick trip to the grocery store to buy some cold items that we couldn't transport.  By dinnertime, I was exhausted, and G was fired up and ready to run around.

The Functional Feeding Program at the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh

It's been a long, crazy summer, but we're finally getting ready to leave for the Functional Feeding Program at the Children's Institute of Pittsburgh.  We recently got our schedule for each day of the week, and when they say it's intensive, they aren't kidding!

9:30 am-10:30 am:  Speech Meal and Nutrition session
10:00 am-11:00 am:  Break for G's Bolus Feed
11:00 am-11:30 am:  Occupational Therapy session
11:30 am-12:00 pm:  Behavioral Psychology Therapy session
12:00 pm-1:30 pm:  Break for my lunch, play, and/or rest
1:30 pm-2:00 pm:  Speech Meal session
2:00 pm-2:30 pm:  Occupational Therapy session

We are hoping to have a room available to us at the Ronald McDonald House, but there is a possibility that there is not.  If we are lucky enough to get a room, it will be great, because the RMH has play rooms, books, toys, and nightly activities that we can keep ourselves busy doing when we are finished our sessions for the day.  I'm sure we may both need a nap before partaking in evening activities, though ;)

I will be keeping you all posted on our progress throughout our time there!

Barefoot Singalong Sale!

Oh boy...some of G's very favorite Barefoot Books are the singalongs.  He could sit and watch the videos for an hour or more while he's playing, periodically stopping to dance to Portside Pirates, or making animal noises to Walking Through the Jungle.  When he sees Driving My Tractor, he yells, "Chracher! Chracher!"  That's why I'm so excited about this sale.