More bites.....

A few months ago I posted some video of Faith eating....

She has been making slow, steady progress. Our feeding doctor wanted us to increase the variety of foods we try with her. So this week, I have to keep a food log, documenting what she had and how much she had. I discovered these toddler meals with pasta and vegetables and different meats. I did try some of the already pureed baby foods but she DID NOT like them. Too bland, I think. So we moved up and tried pureeing bigger kid meals and she seems to really enjoy them. Yesterday, we started with a kid's version of ABC's and 123's with veggies...a six ounce container. I split the cup and saved half for the next night.

This is about 3 oz of food.

She ate the entire amount....all three ounces...with very little coming back out, maybe a couple of baby spoons worth!

She really seemed to like eating the ones with pasta in them...

She IS her momma's daughter!
Then tonight she finished off the rest, just leaving a couple pieces of meat that didn't get mashed up!

When Faith was three, we spent 8 weeks at the Marcus Institute in Atlanta, for an intensive feeding program. She had very little success, despite every one's best efforts and HOURS and HOURS of work, everyday. But now that she IS eating, we are bringing out the old arsenal. We use a NUK brush, to give her additional input on her tongue. I collect the food in a ball on one side of the brush. I ask her to open her mouth and say "ah"...when she does I put the food at the back, middle part of her tongue then roll the NUK brush backwards off of her tongue. This technique was used to elicit a gag response, when she was smaller, to "teach" her how to swallow. Now we don't go as far back anymore, since she has figured out how to make a swallow happen. But we still do use the rolling NUK brush routine and it seems to be a good reminder to her that food is in her mouth and she needs to swallow. When I looked at these pictures, I couldn't believe that MY child had eaten all that food! I feel like it's all a big dream and I am going to wake up and she won't be eating, again. All you moms whose kids don't eat/have G tubes know that feeling of utter desperation in wanting you child to eat. For me this eating seems so foreign...I don't know how do react! I have had trouble with gauging how much is enough, when I should push her, how often I should offer her food. I feel like an alien in the weird, food world!