Feeding Therapy...

People have been asking me about Juliana's feeding therapy and what it entails. I wasn't sure myself, but after a couple sessions, I can give you kind of an idea of what it is.

Our therapist, Vicki (same name as my mom, so that's a good sign), comes to our house, which is very nice. While she is at our house, she asks questions about Juliana and her lack of eating habits. Then, she holds her and touches her face and mouth, so that Juliana gets used to other people and having her face touched. After that, she gives Juliana different "toys" with different textures for her to put in her mouth, like a toothbrush, spoon, etc. We end the session with either Ryan or I giving Juliana a bottle while she watches Juliana eat (she's at the 1 month stage on sucking on a bottle, and the 3 month stage at how she sits while eating). While one of us puts Juliana to bed, she writes up her recommendations for us to work on until the next session.

This week's task has been getting her to hold a biter biscuit and having her put it in her mouth. We are supposed to do that every day. She's done pretty well with that, and lately she cries when she loses grip of it or if she can't get it to her mouth fast enough. We also have to try to get some baby cereal in her. We try that every day as well. That isn't going as great as the biter biscuits. I usually can get 2 baby spoonfuls in her mouth before she either gags or refuses to take anymore. The other night I got 5 spoonfuls in her before she turned away.

Anyway, that's what feeding therapy is. They tailor their therapy to the kid, so what works for Juliana may not work for another baby. Vicki told me that there are 32 steps to eating, and it starts with having the child in the same room with the food (some aversions are that bad- yikes!), so at least we've accomplished that step!