Thursday, January 17, 2008

Feeding Clinic - More on Week 2 & First Family Meeting

Things have been going well at the clinic. The TV is really working nicely has a motivator. At lunch today, a psychologist was feeding her and Sarah really put up a fight. The psychologist was very firm with Sarah, and didn't let her get away with anything! By the end of the meal, she was allowing the psychologist to put a cookie up to her mouth and then to put a chewy tube up to her mouth. She didn't like either thing, but she stopped fighting so hard when she realized it wasn't getting her anywhere.

Her snack was even better. This time a speech therapist fed her. She refused pureed pears at first because they weren't in a baby food jar, but with a little distraction from the TV she ate them. They added diced pears to the bite, and she spit it out each time. But the fact that she even got them into Sarah's mouth is a plus. Sarah ate the pudding beautifully (of course), and did something very very surprising with the graham cracker. She actually was putting it up to her lips to "kiss" it. The therapist even got her to lick the graham cracker a few times. She didn't like that part, but she did okay. I'm just amazed that she was actually grabbing the therapist's hand to put the graham cracker to her lips. You could have knocked me over with a feather! Maybe she'll eat graham crackers before this is over. That would be a start. They're also working with her on drinking from a regular cup. She took four sips of milk, all took a lot of convincing. She definitely didn't like to feel of a regular cup to her lips, but at least she tried.

The family meeting was pretty good. We were able to conference call Rob so he could participate. The primary therapist thinks the first major hurdle is to get over the behavioral problems. We are making major headway there, so I'm happy about that. After we get the behavior under control, then they will be able to help her more. In other words, if she stops fighting them so hard, they can teach her to chew foods and try new textures. The psychologist said that one of his colleagues (the therapist who pushed Sarah very hard at lunch) will be meeting with me soon to help solve some non-feeding-related behavioral problems we're having at home. I'm very interested in doing that because I'd like to have a lot of these issues under control before the baby gets here.

After the meeting, we braved the icy roads and heavy traffic. It took us over an hour and a half to get home. It was awful! Thankfully, most of the roads were just wet. The hospital parking lot was a little slippery, but not awful. The street where the hospital is located wasn't a ton better. Our street was pretty slick, as was our driveway. But we made it home just fine, and Sarah actually slept in the car for the better part of the trip. She still isn't napping at the clinic, so that's great.

Sarah had a speech therapy session today. The speech therapist said she did a great job making eye contact, and she was working on some signs with her. I'm pleased to hear that. Hopefully this will be a good lead-in for when she starts at the college next semester.

I'm sure I'll be updating sometime next week. I'm not staying at the clinic every day, so I don't always know for 100% sure what she does at every feed. She seems to really enjoy being there and spending time in the play room, so I'm happy about that. She runs into the hospital very happily, and generally heads straight for the playroom when we get there. It's really cute.

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