Feeding therapy update Miss L

Miss L had a session yesterday for feeding therapy. I have asked that we focus on this in the hope that before she starts school we are off the pediasure and eating solids. At the moment choking and gagging are a big concern and she aspirates water. Aspirating is when the water actually goes into the lungs not down the throat. Her eyes go red and puffy and she coughs and gurgles when water is aspirated. Not a nice feeling.

Feeding is a mixed bag still and hasn't really changed in nearly a year. She likes bananas, yogurt, chocolate, sweets, hot chips and crackers. The majority of the food she eats is squishy or doesn't require much chewing.

Yesterday before eating her therapists tried several tools to wakeup her nerves and muscles in her face. They used a Z Vibe which is a vibrating brush and rubbed it over her face. Then we massaged the side of her face and chin. Next we used a tongue scraper which has a substance like toothpaste on it. Miss L often uses her tongue not her teeth or lips when eating.

After all this we got a variety of foods and she sat on the floor in front of an ipad with the camera on. She could watch herself eating and mimic our movements. Due to her fluoroscopy we know she needs more food than normal to trigger her swallowing so we don't worry so much about overtusffing her mouth. The camera worked well as she focused on when she had food and when she needed more. We all agreed that often she walks away and seems not to realise she still has food in her mouth. She doesn't close her lips over food or close them on a spoon and often eats with her lips open. She struggles with chewing and relies on her tongue pushing food around or easy food that slides down.

As a bonus she liked a new training cup that limits the flow of water and is very slim to fit in her hand. http://www.talktools.com/infa-trainer-cup/  http://infatrainer.com/

This is the first time she has been happy to drink thickened water and hasn't put up a fuss about it. Today we went out for coffee and she took it with her. Even funnier we ran into her therapist at the shop and she was excited to see L drinking from it too.

After trailing all these methods we are going to add them in bit by bit and see which ones work and which don't. In the midst of moving house and everything house sitting down to food therapy can be hard work but the long term rewards are so worth it. I want my 3 year old to be taking a lunchbox to school not a milk bottle.