Feeding Therapy

Is there really such a thing? If so, what in the world does it entail? Apparently, I may learn firsthand what, exactly, feeding therapy is. As most of you know, Noah has been in speech therapy for about 9 months now. Tripp is our speech therapist (ST), and comes to our house every week on Tuesdays at 11 am. Noah and Tripp have a special bond--Noah will jump up and down to greet Tripp, and will eagerly look to see what goodies Tripp has for him to play with. Noah has come a long way since beginnging ST last fall--he has a vocabulary of about 30 words now! Tripp works with Therapy Solutions in Dacula, but comes to our house through the Babies Can't Wait state program. Essentially, any child under age 3, regardless of income or insurance, is covered by BCW for speech therapy. Most insurance companies won't cover ST, hence the point of offering free (or deeply discounted) ST to children under age 3.



But I'm getting off-track. Let's rewind to when Noah was a baby, around 4 months old. He would scream quite loudly, and nothing would calm him down. He would spit up most of the meal that he had nursed, and solids didn't seem to make a difference. We were still in Douglasville at that time, so Dr. Flowers suggested putting Noah on prescription Zantac for reflux to see if it helped him with his eating. Almost immediately, our eating issues were behind us. No longer would Noah spit up every meal. He grew into a different baby--sweet, calm, and happy. After being on Zantac for 6 months, we moved to Grayson and took him off of the medicine. In May 2009, Dr. Hogan suggested putting him back on the Zantac because his eating patterns were still off. In August, Dr. Hogan suggested ST since Noah wasn't talking much. Never once did I believe that the two might be related. That is, not until recently.....



Noah used to clean his plate for every meal. Seriously, my then 18-month-old would eat more than his siblings did combined. Suddenly, this past December, just after his second birthday, Noah got more picky. Foods the he loved he would no longer touch. One by one, we lost foods. Initially, Noah would happily eat anything I placed in front of him, with the exception being fruit. He liked pureed fruit, but he would never touch an actual strawberry, banana, or apple. The only fruit he would eat was watermelon! He did, however, adore applesauce, and these things called Buddy Fruits that I found in the Publix produce department. They are pureed fruits in portable containers that you simply squirt into your mouth! Slowly, though, applesauce feel off of Noah's list of acceptable foods, and now there are only a handful of foods that Noah will eat, and I use the term "eat" loosely. For the most part, he will not eat more than a couple of bites of any of these foods. Here is his current list of acceptable foods, and ones with * means they are only sometimes acceptable (he might completely refuse the food one day only to eat several bites of it the following day):



Kraft American cheese slices, Goldfish, yogurt*, cheese pizza*, chili with cheese*, mac and cheese*, peanut butter crackers*, grilled cheese*, spaghetti with meat sauce*, french fries, and chicken nuggets*.



I am not exaggerating--I have no clue how this child has not lost weight. He likes milk, too. Do you see a common theme in his foods--almost all of them have cheese in them. Oh, and ice cream is also acceptable to him. I've worried about his eating habits before, but I've mostly dismissed them as Noah simply being picky. However, after ST today, I am finally getting professionals to be concerned with Noah's eating habits. Tripp has asked me to make up a list of the foods Noah will eat, and he's going to talk to his boss about Noah possibly getting some feeding therapy with him as well. So what is feeding therapy? Essentially, Tripp will sit down with Noah and offer him an array of foods. Tripp will watch Noah's reaction, and coax Noah to try the food. At this point, we are not sure if Noah's problem is from the reflux or a more serious problem, such as texture sensitivity or problems with swallowing. Apparently, it's quite common for children who need ST to also need FT. Honestly, I hope Noah can get FT--I've worried for a long time if he's lacking vitamins from his poor diet.

For now, I will continue to work with Noah on eating. There are days when Noah basically eats nothing but Goldfish, if we're lucky. After 6 months of this behavior, it's no longer considered simply a phase, or Noah trying to take control of something in his life. I know some people might suggest simply offering Noah foods I want him to eat, and only those foods. Guess what? I've tried it, and the child will starve himself for days instead of eating. Smoothies? Noah might take a couple of sips of it, but then won't touch it again. I think it's gotten to the point that Noah is simply not hungry any more. You know the feeling--you're stomach is so empty that the thought of food makes you feel worse.

I never would've believed reflux from Noah's infant days would plague his eating habits during his toddler days, or that speech and eating are related, but my third child is teaching me that, although I may have 3 kids, I still have a lot to learn as a mom!