Eating 101

Ramsey had an appointment with a speech therapist this past Tuesday. Not because of speaking issues, because he can say lots of words but speech therapist also work with children who have eating issues. Since Ramsey was a baby I have always had trouble getting him to eat what I considered to be "enough". Even with the bottle he would sometimes take very little and stop if someone entered the room, sneezed, talked, etc. I found this sort of difficult but decided to feed him in a quite room since it was more important he eat then NOT. Once we began solid foods he was never really into them and often wouldn't take more then 1/2 a stage 2 jar at a sitting. Usually he would end up crying and frustrated and I would be feeling exactly the same if not more so. Needless the say being home with him full time and being a single parent this past year while Cope was gone, eating time was HARD! I always felt like I was doing something wrong. Was it supposed to be this difficult? I had visions of me offering the baby food and him popping his little mouth open with delight. This never happened but I kept pushing to not much relief. He did start eating baby food good around 9-10 months and picked up small finger foods easily.

At 12 months I told the doctor something didn't seem right but she said wait till 15 months and we'll see. When he got frustrated with baby food I thought he was telling me he was done eating the baby stuff and ready for full time "people food". So I'd offer him lots of options and he would try some of it but mostly just spit it out. It got so bad at one point that he was only eating about 4-5 bites of grilled cheese and nothing else in a day. He lost 1 lb. in about a week so back to the doc I went full of tears and frustration. I truly felt like I was failing him in some way because I could not figure out what he wanted. We went back to baby food immediately and and back on the bottle. He was so excited to see his bottle that evening since I had already put them away a week earlier. He drank 2 oz ferociously and pulled away and screamed his head off. I decided to take him to an ENT(Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor) later that week but that doctor found nothing out of the norm so then we decided to go with the speech therapist and get him evaluated. In the meantime we have kept him on stage 2 baby foods, he is eating a ton of yogurt, and crackers and cereal galore. His weight is up to 20lbs. 9oz! So he is eating a good amount but not wanting to try much new stuff.

The evaluation was Tuesday and he did great! They evaluated fine motor, cognitive, sensory stuff, etc. He scored very well and every single aspect except for his eating. They watched him eat his lunch and see how frustrated he was. They think there could be a swallow issue but before we order a swallow study test (which they say can be a little traumatic) we will start with eating therapy and see if progress is made. They think it could just be something called "oral sensory issue". They we're so surprised that he loved to play in his food and nothing else related to the senses seemed to bother him. I'm not sure if we have totally pinpointed the real deal issue but I do believe we are on the right path. They did say it was good we intervened this early so that we can get him working on a more varied diet and rule out anything else. They did say too that doing nothing would be ok but he would probably be a 4th grader only eating chicken and french fries. Kids with eating sensory issues find only a few foods they'll eat and stick with that because they get there senses used to it but nothing else. Also, they said typically to get a child to accept a new food you should introduce it up to 10 times but add a oral sensory thing on top of that and you might have to introduce it a 100 times. My goodness! They will also work with us on getting him to accept his milk again.

Here is a list of what Ramsey is eating fairly consistently these days:

Grilled Cheese

Sliced Cheese

Yogurt- 2 containers mixed with oatmeal a day

Ritz Crackers

Cheerios and Kix cereal

Cereal bars

Grapes

Stage 2 Fruits-mostly bananas

Stage 2 Veggies-He is very opinionated these days and will often try to skip the veggies

Overall I am really glad we're doing this. Of course no parent wants to think there is anything up with there child but I've decided to be more positive. Ramsey is AMAZING! He is so smart and they even said his understanding and words are at the 18-20 month level. As cope and I have said to each other "we are his parents and it is our job to do what is in his best interest and help him grow into his best self", hopefully his best self being on who enjoys a variety of foods :) I will say too that this parenting stuff is HARD. I somehow always knew feeding Ramsey was not supposed to be this difficult but everyone kept saying "oh, he'll get it" and I felt like I was failing him everyday. I am so grateful to have someone with better knowledge then me help me figure it out. If you know me, you know it is hard for me to accept help often but if it is in Ramsey's best interest, so be it...I'm in! Cope and I are so thankful to have a bright, healthy child and this eating thing is just a blip on the radar but one I am now ready to tackle and help Ramsey live his best life. I'll keep you posted as hopefully progress is made.