I have another blog post saved as a draft that I have been working on for a couple of weeks now. It's silly really because it is an update of all the backlogged things I haven't posted about. Catch 22, the longer I wait to post it the more gets added to the content.
I decided to interrupt that with this brief Edison update in relation to his preemie-dom.
I don't know what the cut off is, but as far as Edison is concerned he will get NICU follow-up visits until he is 3 years old. It is a test of his developmental progress so they can monitor and catch anything that is below where he should be based on his adjusted age. For the record Edison is now 11.5 months old actual and 9 months 6 days adjusted. Really, it's a big difference.
So at his last visit they asked the typical questions about his routine and what he can and cant do all while testing him with shiny objects and noises. I had mentioned that he was not yet holding a bottle on his own which I know Lilly did earlier than 9 months and that he wasn't really showing interest in the baby foods I was trying to feed him. He actually often got so upset when I tried to give him food instead of his bottle that when I set it down on the table he started crying.
They referred him to the Witwer Children's Therapy center for some Occupational Therapy. (I later discovered the Dr. referred him for Physical Therapy as well because I guess he is concerned about him standing on his tiptoes more often than flat footed and his army crawling rather than up on all 4's.)
The OT appt. went okay. I was relieved and annoyed at the same time that he did the exact same things there as he does at home. It really makes you feel better knowing you're not crazy or making stuff up. Then you have that disheartening realization that.. you are right and you have to manage these issues that have come up. So here is what we discovered about Edison's eating habits...
*he doesn't really react much when food is introduced to his mouth or more his bottom lip (he doesn't do that whole baby bird thing and want food)
*He does not put food or other objects in his mouth on his own. (good for choking prevention, bad for the that needing to eat thing)
*He WILL NOT hold a bottle on his own and gets frustrated when you try to get him to or when you take a bottle away.
*He DOES have good oral motor reflexes so really it seems to be more of a disconnect between "the hand helps get food in the mouth and I can feed myself, etc."
*He chews just fine even though he is just now getting his first tooth.
So now at every meal we sit down and really work on eating. The OT said that she was going to sound crazy but I needed to get as many rod shaped foods as I could for him. This includes but is not limited to: long carrots, celery, long straight pretzels, and slim Jim's. Yes you read right, Slim Jim's. The big beef stick thing. It is to encourage him to roll the food around on his tongue and it hits the salty receptor side. We are also supposed to have baby food spread out on the tray so he can play with it and possibly graze his mouth with the food, and a cup with his formula in it to work on using a cup. I also gt some of the yogurt bites and baby puffs things.
We have done this for 2 days now and it isn't too bad. The OT said I will need to muster up as much patience as I can possibly find because "it will be a slow process". Yep. I agree. It is a lot more frustrating than you could think but not in the ways you would imagine. I just keep wondering if there is something I did wrong. Did I not encourage him to hold the bottle, did I tell him to take things away from his mouth too many times because he might choke on it, should I have started him on baby food sooner even though the Dr. said to wait until 9 months, WHY did the Dr. tell us to wait until he was 9 months old??
We have PT tomorrow and then OT once a week. I like to think he wont have PT for that long because really he isn't doing too badly with things, but what I am to know. We'll just see how we can manage working on the eating issues and hope that something clicks.
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