Ben's eating

If you have been reading my blog for a while you probably know that eating has been a major struggle for Ben. He didn't really start eating until he was 15 months old and that was only because he was put on an appetite enhancer. Even then he would only eat foods that turned to mush in his mouth. Anything that was any type of solid, even after being chewed, would be spit out, or never even enter his mouth. To say it was concerning to me would be an understatement to say the least.
Feeding, eating, should be such a natural part of life. Unfortunately for Ben, it wasn't natural at all. The thought is that his reflux caused him to be so uncomfortable that he wouldn't swallow foods when he should have been learning how (around 4-6 months old) and he kind of missed the window for natural eating.
I can't even tell you the stress and worry this caused me. I talked to the doctor about my concerns starting at about 8 months old. It wasn't until Ben stopped growing consistently that the doctors finally began listening. Even then, the answer was an appetite enhancer and then shortly following that we did some tests. When the tests came back ok, other then the reflux damage, the doctors looked at his weight gain and didn't feel it necessary to do much more. Now, don't misunderstand, I don't feel like the doctors were negligent or anything, I just don't think they see the whole picture like a mom does. They saw a little boy who was now gaining weight, thriving in every aspect of toddler hood, and didn't see the little boy who didn't know how to eat.
Finally a few weeks ago I took matters into my own hands and contacted our local early intervention program and had them come out for an evaluation on Ben. Just as I had assumed, Ben was perfect in pretty much every aspect. His speech is slightly delayed, which is very likely due to Ben's not eating. The muscles in his mouth are just not developed like they should be. There was no doubt that Ben qualified for therapy for his eating issues.
Low and behold, right after qualifying Ben began to make some small steps in the right direction on his own. I can't tell you how elated I was when he swallowed blueberries for the first time. For the longest time he would put them in his mouth, chew, suck on them, then a few minutes later or a half hour later they would come out. So when he swallowed them I was thrilled.
I was hesitant to blog about it for fear that I would jinx it! For the last few weeks Ben has been doing so well with his eating. It is still a struggle but we are having a lot more "good eating" days then bad. His therapist has taught me ways to help Ben be more successful and although it is more work it is well worth it. Who would have thought putting lemon on chicken would help him swallow it??? Not me, but that is one trick she taught us. At first it seemed pretty overwhelming, like a month or so ago, when it took Ben 10 minutes to swallow a bite of apple. The work that his therapist did to get him to finally swallow it seemed daunting. But the other day when I put a few tiny bites of apple in a bowl and Ben chewed and swallowed them all on his own I was beside myself with excitement.
In the last few weeks there is a noticeable difference in how Ben eats. He has more endurance for eating and is willing to try so much more. I am feeling much more optimistic now then I was about Ben's eating. Many of the tricks have become second nature when I am preparing his meals. He has made leaps and bounds lately and I hope he will continue in the right direction. Such great progress that we are going to bi-weekly therapy instead of weekly. Yay!
Who knew that eating could be so stressful and not natural? Not me, but I do now. Thankfully, Ben didn't have anything seriously wrong, like we had worried about, and that his issues are really working themselves out, well, with help from his great therapist!