Speech and eating

grbnik

I have been struggling with my DD's eating for 12 months now.  She is 14 months old and has never shown hunger signs.  While we are miles away from where we started, with only eating 8 oz of breastmilk a day for 5 + months, we are not anywhere near close to where I want her (key words, I want, haha).  She will eat certain things, like Cheetos or Cheezits, but usually very small amounts.  I have been trying to expand her repertoire, and keep introducing other things, but she sticks with the salty, processed crap.  We work with EI and had worked with a private feeding therapist, but didn't feel that we were getting much further with the private therapist (through our children's hospital) and having to pay, where EI is free.  So, we may look at going about 90 mins away for a different feeding team to evaluate, but not sure.  Anyone go that far for therapy?  My DH and I both work full time and have used all of our vacation/sick for all the illness that we have experienced with DD in the last 10 months.  Not sure if it is do-able, but we will make it work if it is best. 

Also, DD is not really speaking yet.  I have read that 9-12 months is around the time of saying 'mama' and 'dada'.  She will do dadadadada but it isn't really towards us.  She also has said 'uh oh' and 'yeah', both in the right frame of reference.  However, no mama really (I have caught a mamamama a few times, but not many).  At 14 months, should I be asking for a speech referral?  Not sure if it is linked to the feeding issues, or not.  She sounds very nasal when talking also.  Very similar to someone who can't hear her words.  But, she got ear tubes at 10 months, so I don't think fluid is an issue anymore.  

Thoughts?

kcisthebombdotcom

Sensory issues can cause both feeding difficulties as well as a speech delay. My child has been diagnosed with sensory issues and has issues with both eating/speech.

To answer your questions--I would drive/pay for feeding therapy if I felt the resources closer were not helping.

In terms of speech, I'd probably wait until closer to 18 months then see where she's at. At 12 months, a speech therapist would want to see your child if they werent babbling at all. There's not a whole heck of a lot they can do with therapy at that young an age and since she is vocalizing it's not that concerning yet. I would only look into getting speech if she does not progress over the next few months.

st.augbride

We never had progress with feeding therapy. In fact, after we even tried a more intensive private approach, we had a big regression and weight loss! Honestly, unless there are unaddressed medical issues, I think it's just a matter of time and patience. For ds, his lack of hunger (I think from being severe IUGR at birth), bad reflux (even still at over 2 yrs old), mild hypotonia, mild sensory issues, history of needing meds and therefore not wanting stuff coming toward his mouth, and very strong personality have all created the perfect storm for eating issues. For us, the only approach that has worked has been the use of youtube videos to distract him while we feed him. Pediasure, which we started at 15 months, also helped him to gain weight. Things have been a little easier lately, but it's clearly a very long road ahead. For us, dropping the feeding therapy and pressure from that has been beneficial, ironically. Ds is actually now 50th percentile for weight and height. At one year, he was 0.6th for weight and 20th for height, so he's done great with the youtube videos! As for speech, I'm not sure if your dd has gross motor delays, but for ds, his speech didn't take off until he started walking at 17 months. Since then, his speech exploded and he is now extremely verbal. So for us it wasn't connected to feeding issues.