Re: Any success stories for SI/Oral Dysfunction?

[Guest guest]

Sheryl,

First of all, you have to relax. Dahlia is only 14 months. It's

okay if she still drinks from a bottle. You can gradually introduce

the cup and straw, but don't make a big deal out of it. She is

getting her food through the bottle and that is what is best for her

now. You have plenty of time to work on the other and it's not

really considered " socially unacceptable " to be on a bottle until

she is closer to two and a half or even three.

As for solids, just keep on introducing them and don't make a big

deal out of those, either. Oh, I remember the days when we would

give Max a bite of hamburger and we would find it in his cheek hours

later! I don't know how he could stand it being there, but to him

it was better than swallowing it. Yuck. If you are more relaxed

about the feeding thing, she will be, too. She needs to know that

it is okay and fun to eat, not a stressful time. If you read posts

from moms who had difficulty getting their older kids to eat, you

will see that once they " let go, " their children did eat more.

You are still, I hope, doing the OT and ST sessions. The ST is the

one who eventually got Max to accept other foods and not be as

sensitive to various textures. But I like to think that our being

laid back about it and letting him take the lead with softer foods

was a big part of it.

I guess from this side of things, and I'm talking about being an

older parent, it is easy for me to say relax. It is true, however.

I find that the more I relax with Max, the better he is doing. If

only I had known this long ago....

Jodi Z

[Guest guest]

> I remember the days when we would give Max a bite of

> hamburger and we would find it in his cheek hours

> later! I don't know how he could stand it being there, but

> to him it was better than swallowing it. Yuck.

Now I KNOW I've told y'all about my childhood experiences with kosher hot dogs.

But for

those of you who haven't had the pleasure....<grin>.

When I was a little girl, my mother would ONLY buy Hebrew National or Shofar hot

dogs.

She liked the taste better and I guess she believed the commercials that they

were better

for you (nowadays we know that processed meat is processed meat is processed

meat). I,

of course, being an undiagnosed, untreated RSS kid, didn't give a rat's @$$ what

brand

they were...I'd STILL just take a bite and stick it into the side of my mouth,

like a hamster.

For an hour. And sit there, because heaven forbid I left the table before I was

done eating

(this was the late 1960's and early-to-mid 1970's...Dr. Spock was still The

Man). And when

my mother would finally threaten death (or worse yet, no TV), if I didn't finish

eating, I'd

finally take it out of its " hiding spot, " chew it and swallow.

To this day, the reminder of the flavor of an hour-old, cold kosher hot dog

infused with

saliva is enough to make me want to puke <wink>. Please note that the ONLY hot

dogs

*I* buy are fat free Meyer or Ball Park. They may have rat tails in 'em

but they sure

as hell don't taste like Hebrew National and Shofar!

And in case any of you were wondering, I remembert EXACTLY why I didn't want to

chew

and swallow them while there was even a remote chance of their tasting good. I

just wasn't

interested. Wasn't hungry. Why bother wasting time with chewing and swallowing,

if it

didn't " do " anything for me? As far as I know, I didn't have any oral aversions

in

childhood...I was picky as hell and didn't like the TASTE of anything (except

chocolate,

bacon and my grandmother's chicken soup...all of which I STILL only ate minimal

quantities of), but the only texture or consistency I didn't like was slimy

stuff. Overall, I

just wasn't hungry and didn't want to be bothered.

-Sharon-

Just an RSS kid who grew up

Orlando FL

[Guest guest]

Hi Sheryl,

I went through similar frustrations with Willie. We went to feeding therapy

and they gave me a zillion ideas but they all seemed to bug him and stress me

out. And be one more thing I couldn't do right.(ugh) He still takes a bottle

for his amped up (30 cal/ounce) formula and he just turned 4. This raises

eyebrows in the outer world of non-RSS families but who cares, right? We are

trying to get the calories in there however we can. I wish I could tell you of

a

trick we tried and worked but instead I can only tell you we've been there

and things didn't progress really quickly with all the little tricks. He lived

on those YoBaby yogurts for months but now eats quite a variety of foods. I

did discover one taste group he likes and tried to make that in every form I

could (he likes fall spices...cinnamon, cloves, ginger so I'd make mushy

pumpkin pie or mousse then moved on to soft molasses cookies...). The one

therapy

trick I did like was explained by that Feeding Therapist at the convention.

She suggests toothbrushing in a really predictable pattern every time. He

expects it this way now and since we have to brush anyhow, it doesn't feel like

it's not working, you know? We brush top outside left then bottom outside

left, top out right, bottom out right then all the way around 2 more times on

surfaces and inside with an electric toothbrush. Good luck to you . Sorry this

is so long. I know the frustration you're going through!

Kathy(Jack, 6, non-RSS and Willie, 4, RSS, Periactin, Zantac)

[Guest guest]

Hi Sheryl,

Keep trying the texture thing. the nuk brush. It is easier said than done. I

would give up it then go back to it too. na wouldn't even put a toy in her

mouth. I was curios about the speech class? na had 2 evals with team groups

of OT, PT and Speech. na is 4 now and still will not eat meat any form,

shape or purreed. We also did the classes, kissing licking etc..........i think

now it is behavorial to a degree however she will eat pizza. I have put

vegatable on the table every night and my husband pretends they are just for him

and she can't have them, that worked for a week now she will have them still in

the jar. She'll go to her cabinet( thank you for the idea everyone) and get them

out and eat them. I think the smell it, kiss it, put it down started her with

grilled cheese. We have moved up to pizza, grilled cheese but not much further.

I used to pull my hair out and dance but that didn't work and i lost too much

hair.

Good luck

Marcy na mom 27lbs. 35inches

olifraz wrote:

Dalia still won't eat any " pieces " of food...only small amounts of

smooth baby food or yogurt if she feels like it...she refuses this a

lot of the time also...she will now put large pieces of food in her

mouth for moments at a time (i.e. cookie, carrot) and lick it. But,

she still protects her mouth tremendously and will not take a piece

of food and eat it. She allows me to put a toy in her mouth here

and there for a couple of seconds.

Anyway, we've done the ST thing and other than trying to put

different things/textures in her mouth on a regular basis, there

seems to be nothing else to do. I do this, although maybe not

enough (sometimes I feel like it is hopeless and get discouraged).

So, I've asked for an OT eval for feeding and SID and am waiting to

hear back about this. I also called EI back for a new eval since

the last one was at 4 mos and she didn't get in at that time.

Can anyone tell me how they did " stuff " that helped and it actually

caused their child to eat real food one day.

Also, she is still on the bottle for all liquids, and I think this

is ok for her situation, but I would like if she could learn to

drink from a straw or something, but I'm afraid to rock the boat too

much. I don't wan't to start training her for no good reason and

only because I would like it. Is it important for her to drink from

a cup or straw right now??

Help!

Sheryl (mom of Dalia, 14 mos, 16lbs, 27in, SGA)

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