mmm...cereal

Gabe's poor little cheeks are red and dry from his oxygen tape. I really hope we can get rid of it soon!

Feeding continues to be the biggest thing we are working on with Gabe. Gabe could always suck, but his reflux was so bad and the irritation was causing his airway to swell, that he required a Gtube with Nissen when he was 2 months old. After heart surgery, we started working on formula thru a nipple, but by that point, he had kinda forgotten how to do it. We were working on syringing small amounts of formula thru a nipple, but that was a challenge as well. Gabe has lost his sucking reflex when it comes to a bottle. This happens to babies around 5 months of age. Babies typically get nutrition from bottles, then rely on their learned behavior to suck on a bottle to get food. Because Gabe did not have this (and never really had a positive experience bottle or breast feeding), we decided to go right to cereal and sippy cup. Gabe currently takes about 1 Tbsp of rice cereal on average..sometimes more, sometimes less. We offer his cereal as his tube feed is running so he can associate feeling full with eating by mouth. The good news is, he moves his tongue well, his bite is strong and he really likes it which means he does not have an aversion. We are really working on him pulling his lips together when he takes the cereal off the spoon. He does spit alot of it back at us. The Occupational Therapist said it's not really tongue thrusting, just exploring more or less. He likes to play with it more than anything. We also don't think he realizes that having something in his mouth means getting full. It's hard not to lift up with the spoon once it's in his mouth or just shove the spoon in his mouth to get some in there...that would be doing the work for him which is a big no no and force feeding could lead to aversion down the road. The OT warned me that feeding is the most emotional thing he will have to accomplish, especially for mom's. It's part of that nurturing thing I guess. It is difficult. It requires lots of patience. It is also hard to leave him with others during feeding times b/c tube feeding can be intimidating and is a skill that has to be learned. I really do have a love/hate relationship with this Gtube. The goal is to get it out by Oct.1st...one year after his heart surgery. As patient has you have to be, how can feeding him not be fun when you get smiles like this?!