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D.C. Area Babies
DS to get occupational therapy - and - I'm NOT crazy!
I don't think I've even mentioned this very much before, but today we had a three hour assessment and have been OK'd to get DS into an Occupational Therapy service through Fairfax County for some feeding and motor delays. The main problem is feeding/eating/sensory stuff (he eats a 6 month old level and is 12 months old), plus some other slighter delays.
Short version: DH and I have been worried about the eating for a while and finally one of the pediatricians in the practice we go to was like "you know what? If you have a gut feeling something is wrong, just get it checked out." We were growing tired of advice from others (mainly our mothers of course) basically saying that we weren't trying enough variety of foods, and we weren't spending enough one on one time with him (hello working mom guilt). Anyway, we're not crazy, there is a fairly major delay with his eating/sensory issues - and we can address the gross and fine motor delays at the same time (he doesn't pull up to stand, much less cruise, and seems many months away from walking).
It would take forever to type it all out in details, but suffice to say it feels very good to have an ACTION plan in place, and hurray for county services!
Wife, Musician, Fed, WW-er, and Mom of three little kids - not necessarily in that order.
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Re: DS to get occupational therapy - and - I'm NOT crazy!
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
I am glad you got him the help he needs and hopefully he'll catch up soon. She'll probably chime in, but 2VTHokies had similar issues w/her DD and she did catch up and is now a great eater.
I'm glad you got help for him.
Infant/Toddler Connections is a great program, and most kids who are seen through it end up exiting the program prior to age 3.
Thanks everyone, it feels good to be cheered on a bit. I was especially tired of feeling like we, DH and I, were either doing something wrong or not doing enough - that's such a crappy feeling, like it was our "fault" or something.
Wines - the pedi gave us the number to the county service, Infant Toddler Connections. They assign you a case worker to come do a free screening, which determines whether or not the child should get the more extensive assessment. That's what we had yesterday - they obeserve the kiddo, watch you feed them, give kiddo all sorts of little activities to do to see their abilities, etc. Then they decide a course of action. We'll get weekly services once we're assigned an OT. The plan right now is to be in the program for a year, and see where we go from there.
ETA: Sorry, you asked to describe the issues as well... DS basically can't handle solids except for very runny purees. He chokes and gags and turns red and throws up anything more solid than apple sauce or baby ceral mixed with formula. He sort of can eat puffs, but it's like his mouth muscles don't really know what to do. The assessment ladies said he is an "immature chewer." He hasn't learned to push food to his molars with his tongue to then chew with the proper teeth.
He has other slighter delays that are physical. The reassuring thing was finding out his cognitive and social/emotional skills are all on track. So it's really the physical stuff - motor skills, sensory issues and this feeding/eating issue.
Oh, that's good news and kudos for following your gut. DD#1 qualified for PT through MoCo county and the services were great. Also, I found it very empowering to learn how I could support her. Now when you watch her climb the bars on the playground, you would never know that she was a late walker (17 months old!)
I hope this helps him and that things more forward from here.
Yay, that sounds great. It's so nice to have your feelings validated.
We were thisclose to being sent to a feeding team because of DD2s issues. She pulled a bottle strike at 10 months (started with her getting strep, then HF&M) and she was eating NO solids at the time. She HATED solids. Hated isn't even a strong enough word. She had zero interest, just the sight of them made her cry. If she did put anything in her mouth she had no idea what to do with it. Her tongue was always in the way and most times I couldn't even get the spoon in there. Some things she wouldn't even touch with her hands because of the texture. There wasn't even any gagging because she refused to swallow if I even got something in her mouth. Puffs would dissolve on her tongue as she tried to figure out a way to get them out of her mouth. Her only source of food was BM. Our ped was okay with it because she was born in the 90th and although she started to drop percentiles (down to 80) she maintained the same growth curve.
During the bottle strike she would only nurse when we were together - so nothing during the day at DCP (liquid or solid). I had to send in syringes just to have the DCP give her a few mLs of BM every hour (talk about working mom guilt). This went on for almost two weeks (after all her illnesses were done - about 4 weeks total). Our pedi set a deadline for her to get back on the bottle before we would be sent to a feeding team or we even addressed the solids issues. We worked on getting her back on the bottle and she met the deadline. After that we slowly started introducing solids again (we started at 6 mos, but gave up around 8 bc it was too stressful). Pedi said if she didn't start eating something by her one year well visit, she would make the referral to OT (and that was the plan we had set at her 9 mo check up).
With DD1 I was super anal about what she ate and made sure that it was always super healthy, homemade, blah, blah. This time around I let DD2 have whatever she wanted and did a lot of very soft finger foods so she could self feed and go at her own pace. She sat with us at the dinner table and it took her a while to even figure out how to put her hand up to her mouth and get the food in (even though I would guide her hand). By 11.75 months she was up to 1 (small) meal per day, no more crying, etc. but definitely not jumping for joy when it was meal time. I found two things that she loved (veggie pirate booty and bananas) and that's what I fed her. She LOVES bananas and I mixed bananas with everything (avocados, sweet potatos, chicken, rice, squash, zuchini, yogurt, etc.) just to get her to try something new. It worked pretty well. The pirate booty helped her work on self feeding. Then a week or two after her birthday she jumped up to 3 meals per day plus a snack. Just like that. It was so weird. In fact, we had to go back to the pedi at 13 months for a vaccine catch-up and she had gained a pound, that's how much she was eating. Our pedi almost fell out and had them recheck her weight.
Even though she eats really well now, she is super slow - it takes 30-40 minutes for her to eat dinner, especially now that she mainly self-feeds table foods (she will be 14 mos on Monday). There are still some things that she won't eat, like hummus or apple slices (she sucks on them and spits out the pulp) or meat that is not in meatball form and she only started eating pasta a couple weeks ago. The other thing that helped was that she noticed that the other kids at DCP got to sit in the highchair and eat. She wanted to sit in the highchair so badly so they would put her up there with a random assortment of things to eat (always a piece of banana plus crackers, nilla wafers, etc.). Most days she would take a bite or two and then refuse and but after a while she started to get the idea.
She also struggled with sippy and straw cups. Most of what she could get out of the cup just dribbled out of her mouth. In the last three weeks she has picked up the straw cup like a champ.
As for motor skills, DD1 didn't sit up until 9 months and didn't walk until 16/17 months and now, at 39 months, still has balance issues. We actually are in the process of getting her evaluated. DD2 sat up at a reasonable age and started cruising around 11 months (no crawling in between), but she didn't roll over from back to front until she was 9 months old. Then randomly, after her birthday she started crawling. Just like that. I put her down one day when we got home from DCP and she crawled over to where I had walked. She had shown no signs of crawling until right then. And given that she has been cruising for three months she still isn't walking (she has taken a few unassisted steps though).
Geez, that was a book! Your DS is young, so you have a good head start and I'm sure he'll catch up in no time. It was super frustrating and definitely anxiety-inducing but I just kept having to remind myself to be patient and that she would get there. She did, but definitely in her own time and on her terms. I think your DS is also cow milk protein intolerant right? DD1 was as well and I can't imagine how hard it is to balance that and a feeding issue.You are top notch mama, hang in there!
oh gosh, i didn't even know you were dealing with this! i'm so sorry, but woot woot for your mamasense! i'm really glad that you are going to get the help you need for DS. i hope the little guy starts showing improvements soon!