Feeding Therapy

After 3 developmental evaluations, we had our feelings confirmed. Luke is delayed in his feeding but has no other developmental delays. He is delayed enough in feeding that he is eligible for early intervention. Children have to have a 30% delay to be eligible and his feeding delay is considered about 50%. He is developmentally between 6-7 months. It seems that his main issue is his gag reflex. His is currently in about the middle of his tongue and by 12 months it should be much farther back on his tongue. I never knew that your gag reflex moved through childhood but I guess that makes sense - very helpful for those little babies.

The little bit of guidance that we got from our feeding therapist during the evaluation has been helpful although we have a long way to go. With early intervention you set a 6 month goal and ours is to have Luke feeding himself and eating "normally".

Although I knew that he was eligible for feeding therapy before the meeting today, when the feeding therapist said that she did recommend it for some reason it brought tears to my eyes. It is a combination of relief - I am tired of cleaning up throw up and sadness - I feel sad that he is struggling in any way. The feeding therapist complimented us though for seeking help. In talking to an old neighbor who worked in early intervention she said that often there are delays in getting referrals from doctors on development issues. She said it was not unusual to see a child who was 18 months and not walking yet and that was the first time it had been brought up as an issue. So for Luke to be in therapy at 12 months is awesome.

We are looking forward to the progress we will be making over the next couple months and will be celebrating with cake when he is ready since he missed out on cake on his 1st birthday.