feeding therapy {1}

At Lillie's 9 month check-up I looked our pediatrician in the eye (who I highly respect and LOVE his approach to medicine) and said, what do you think about feeding therapy.  {He is a relatively young doctor, has two little girls of his own and a wonderful sense of humor.}  In a perfectly frank tone, "I've been practicing for 9 years and I hadn't seen a child in feeding therapy until two years ago.  Currently I have three children I see in feeding therapy."

Interesting.  By the way, the conversation with the doc went on to provide support for feeding therapy.

I asked the original question in response to my always loving mom who routinely says, "I'm just going to give that baby some pizza."  Which is pretty hilarious to me.  Even if Lillie wasn't in feeding therapy, I would NEVER let Mimi give her pizza at 9 months.

And then there is my husband, who takes Lillie to her weekly or every other week appointments.  He drives 45 minutes each way for a 45 minute session for a total of a 2 1/2 hour round trip.  And he says to me, "Have you ever met an adult that cannot eat?"

So, you may wonder- what is the deal with feeding therapy anyway?  And yes, all of us in the thick of it have wondered that very same thing.

You can understand why I was absolutely thrilled when Lillie finally picked-up this puff and inserted into her mouth and didn't choke.  This was progress!  FINALLY!

Or was it?  Well, here is the reason we are in feeding therapy.  Lillie is a little trickster.

Lillie is a good learner.  And she learned to put that puff in her mouth and let it sit under her tongue until it dissolved and could be swallowed.  Right... that is normal.  Although I will say it is very smart- and lazy!

So now, at this moment in time, we go to feeding therapy to try to teach Lillie how to chew.  No easy task.  We have already been down the road of learning to move your tongue, learning to swallow purees, learning about textures- if you have questions, just ask.  We have totally given up on correcting Lillie's ability to seamlessly coordinate her suck/swallow.....she still loathes the bottle.  So, we chalk it full of thick-it and hope for the best five times a day.