Our Journey with Feeding Therapy

Disclaimer: I am not a SLP or Feeding Therapist, nor will I pretend to be. This is from a parent perspective in an effort to give hope and support to others struggling.

Every parent only wants the best for their children. We want to give them the world. But sometimes things happen that are out of our control, and our children are given challenges. Challenges that we wish we could take on ourselves to unburden them, but in reality, we have to do our best as parents to give them the tools to deal with whatever life throws at them. 

I feel it’s important to note that we’re so very blessed that until this point, we are all healthy and happy (for the most part), and our trials and tribulations pale in comparison to those of others. But that doesn’t mean that everyone’s personal journey isn’t hard and doesn’t suck sometimes. So now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s continue.

I knew something wasn’t right.

Azi is not only my second baby, but I had literally been through the same stages of baby life with Miri, exactly one year earlier. Miri was a thriving little girl, hitting or beating all of her milestones. Basically, an angel. So it was easy for me to sense that something wasn’t right with Azi, in the eating department, fairly early on. I first tried to give Azi pureed solids when he was 5 months old, per the new recommendation to try solids sometime between 4-6 months. He immediately gagged and vomited upon having the food touch his tongue. I figured that maybe he just wasn’t ready for solids. So I tried again at 6 months. Same deal. At this point I brought it up to our pediatrician at the time, who didn’t seem concerned. “He’s just not ready”, she said.

Fast forward to 8 months old. This was still happening. And I mean projectile vomiting. Ask any of our guests at Shabbat meals when we would try to get Azi to taste anything — JUST ONE BITE!! It wasn’t pretty. And the vomiting increased to after bottles as well. His “mealtimes” were becoming quite the scene, and I was becoming increasingly worried and frustrated. He became extremely constipated, and the vomiting continued. Thank G-d, throughout this entire process he was still growing fairly normally and drinking a lot of formula, so he wasn’t malnourished. 

Does something seem wrong here? I also thought so, but our ped was still not convinced. That’s when I began to look for a different pediatrician who would hear my concerns and give them validation. Going to the doctor with your child should never be a painful experience (although shots are never fun). It had gotten to a point where I stopped taking Azi in for sick hours because I dreaded the experience, and I knew they would just tell me the same “everything’s fine”. When I found Dr. Olson of Kids Health Partners in Skokie, IL, I knew we were at the right place. The practice is much smaller than our first pediatrician, and from the first visit, he helped set a plan in motion to help my son.

I’ll never know why Dr. Olson recognized an issue right away, while our other ped thought that nothing was wrong. But the point is, is that, albeit a few months later than I would’ve liked, we finally had the ball rolling to get Azi some feeding help. And that’s what matters.

Early Intervention

Azi qualified right away for Early Intervention, not only in speech/feeding but he also qualified for physical therapy and occupational therapy. He still receives all 3 therapies, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Anyway, all feeding therapists are speech therapists, but not all speech therapists are feeding therapists, specifically specializing in infant feeding. So it was a bit difficult to find a good feeding therapist for Azi. 

Over the past 10 months, we’ve had 2 feeding therapists. We loved our first dearly, but she ended up taking a new position. We also love our current feeding therapist. We’re really lucky that Azi has worked well with both of our therapists. For blog purposes, I’m going to talk about therapy as one piece, but know that there was a switch of therapists in the middle.

I remember our first session well. Azi was 10 months old at this point. Elaine (Therapist 1) came and said she wanted to observe a mealtime. That didn’t really mean much for Azi at that point as he wasn’t eating solid food. She watched him drink a bottle. We spoke about an approach, and she ensured me that all would be ok, but it would take time. I had to prepare myself for mealtimes to take most of my energy and take even more time than they already took. But I had to do this for my son. So I dove in head first.

We started with the baby led weaning approach combined with a type of aversion therapy. We encouraged Azi to eat on his own in hopes that this would help the gagging. While going at his pace, we introduced new foods to counter the negative experiences he had had until this point. The aversion therapy involves a several step process of getting the child to tolerate the food. It starts with touching the food, then picking up, to kissing the food, licking, biting and so forth. The ultimate goal is obviously to swallow the food without vomiting, but each step could take weeks or months depending on each child. 

Our feeding therapist is also an advocate for eating “tools” that we use at the beginning of each session as a warm up for his mouth muscles. They help get him used to having things in his mouth, and tool time has become a really positive experience for him. He has a much higher tolerance for sensory aversions than he used to, which has helped his eating exponentially. Most of the tools we use in therapy are from Talk Tools. 

Looking forward

While it seems that Azi’s progression has taken forever, it is truly amazing to see the progress he has made. He now regularly eats a handful of different foods, and he is open to trying many different things, as long as they are the “right” color and texture. While we haven’t been able to completely cut out his bottle, and he still struggles with constipation, due to lack of fiber, the vomiting has almost stopped completely. His stomach is much smaller than it should be at his age because he just doesn’t eat very much. We are working to stretch it, aka getting him to eat more and more, without upsetting it. 

Mealtime is still a process, and I think it may be for a while. But with the help of a wonderful pediatrician and therapists, I have learned to deal with it as a parent and roll with the punches. My anxiety surrounding this issue has almost completely subsided, and I am able to enjoy his progressions rather than focus on his challenges.

Be a super mom

And now I speak to every mother out there who has ever had a concern for her child. Don’t let anyone invalidate your concerns. Stick to your motherly instinct, and search for answers until you find them. If you’re not satisfied with your current care, go elsewhere. Our kids are the future, and it is our responsibility to advocate for them when they can’t advocate for themselves. People thought I was crazy because I was so high strung about Azi’s eating. But would he be on the growth charts, eating hot dogs like a champion, if I hadn’t been? 

All I’m saying is, if you think something’s wrong, it never hurts to look into it. Take a deep breath, know you’re not alone, and search for the resources and you need. Life has challenges, but we never have to tackle them alone. 

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