Feeding at school....training the professional

I started out wanting to feed Artie at school. Yes, I did. Then when we got to the point where the nurse and I were looking eye to eye over his food, she took the spoon.
Instantly Artie turned his head away. Rejection! She looked at me with a sad puzzled expression and I said "tell him to take his bite". She did and like it was set on automatic, his mouth opened and she delivered the bite.

Since then we have trained quite a few of the staff and faculty there. In addition, they are revising the menu to include wet ground foods similar to the way they are prepared at the Marcus Institute. They have so many children there who could benifit from the Marcus Institute. I encouraged them to use fresh frozen instead of canned and try to avoid the over processed stuff like the canned mac and cheese. I will continue to send Artie's meals becasue I dont want him to eat sausage biscuits and hash browns wet ground.
While it is a step in the right direction, I dont think canned pears are as good as fresh peeled with moms touch. Will there come a day when I cant send food? Sure, but on the flip side, I am there now. Building a foundation.

Texture...no drinking today

We have decided to move on with texture and wait on the drinking. The general idea is that as he swallows more that the swallow study will show improved action. When that happens, and it is not honey thick liquids, we will work on swallowing.

Everyday during one session we will work on chewing. The other three sessions will be focused on accepting texture.

We have three weeks left...

The first session with chewing was like his feeding at home. Refusal and constant fussing with jerking his head away. There was not any choking because he was allowed to escape the bites.

The frist session with textures included going to wet ground with everything in a less fine texture than he was used to. According to the plan, they will allow him to progress to lumpier (is that a word?) foods. In the natural progression I think that would induce chewing on its own. Right now he is frowing and doing some gagging as he is trying to get used to it. The feel is different in his mouth. I do remember the same behavior with pureed when pureed was put in his mouth.

I am so pleased to note that he swallowed all of his wet ground bites today...

One more day this week and we have the weekend! YAY! Me and lil man may go to the zoo if we can find it. The address is Grant Park so my trusty Tom Tom won't be of any help. Anyone know how to get to the Zoo here? He loves the animals and we are ready for some nice weather!

Right now the pollen count has been up. It doesnt affect much but when he has itchy face and eyes he is grumpy! I am hoping that will be down by this weekend and we can hit the town!