Mila continues to struggle with eating. She's developed chronic diarrhea. She refuses to sleep. We are all extremely disheartened. She's keeping hydrated and may very well be gaining. But right now, all I can say is that no one is sleeping, no one is happy.
I oscillate between wanting to believe that she is just a normal, skinny little girl. But normal little girls at this age sleep at night, and nap during the day. Mila does neither. Normal little girls finger feed themselves. Mila has stopped doing this and most often just throws the food to the side. If she does get a bit in her mouth, she scrapes it out like its burning her. Normal little girls will eat purees. Especially fruity sweet purees like apple and pear puree. Mila wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole.
Normal little girls don't gag when their hands touch something cold and slimy. Normal little girls don't choke on unthickened formula. Normal little girls have normal growth curves.
Here is a small series of pictures as I try to feed Mila a bite of bread. Look at how distressed she gets. THe last photo, she is pushing my hands away and shielding her face from me..I am trying to capture a small video soon to show this as well.
1 comment:
Hi- I stumbled upon your blog while looking for other parents who have children with feeding disorders. Your daughter sounds very much like mine. My daughter is now 22 mo. and has made a lot of progress, but still has a long way to go. At Mila's age she was very similar. She has never eaten a spoonful of baby food, is just now starting to eat a wider variety of foods without gagging (still almost no soft foods). She is also still on thickened liquids. We have been luckly to have a great feeding specialist, nutritionist and OT. They have offered some great suggestions if you are ever looking for some new ideas to try. We are also applying to the Feeding Encouragement Program at the Univ. of Virginia that seems really promising. If you are ever looking to connect with another parent who has faced similar feeding challenges, please feel free to e-mail me at sdsweet@comcast.net
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