Oh the irony...

My child has a feeding disorder. If you knew me in college you know that I majored in speech language pathology. Now without a masters degree (and a certificate & license) I am not qualified to evaluate or write a treatment plan, but I did learn just enough to know when something is wrong. And boy has it been clear for a while that something was wrong. Don't get me wrong, a HUGE part of our problem is stubbornness (where that comes from I have no idea), and now it's clear that he's also picky about flavors, but I also think that it has taken him longer than normal to develop the skills to eat (he never really developed the skills to nurse, so this is a long-term issue I guess).

His weight hasn't been an issue since his 2 month appointment, thanks to the copious amounts of formula he drinks, but that is obviously not a permanent solution. Our second pediatrician gave us advice that several people have now told me was bad, but luckily I have a friend who works for ECI and she got me started in getting info from there. They evaluated Carter before Christmas and agreed he needed therapy, and that started two weeks ago. The day before it started, he suddenly had an epiphany and ate a decent amount of table food at lunch, dinner, and the next lunch... More than ever anyway. I started giving him table food, really delicious kinds, like veggies boiled in chicken broth, and he has done great. He's getting his lateral incisors so we've had a rough week or so, but today for lunch he had turkey and veggies, and for dinner he had veggies, pears, and an entire whole grain blueberry waffle (the waffle was mostly for some calories and to hide the pears under). AND today he finally drank out of the darn sippy cup that I've been offering forever with no success. 

All this to say that once again as soon as I stopped shouldering the burden of an issue alone, and asked for help, the situation resolved itself. This was one of those things where I really felt alone physically. Not emotionally or anything, plenty of people have been supporting me this whole while, but no one is home with me to help with the stress of a feeding. I am definitely ready to be at the point where I plop Carter into his high chair, put a plate of food in front of him, and he will willingly have at it. Since I was a picky child (and am a picky adult for that matter), I don't expect him to be eating lima beans and brussel sprouts, but carrots and beans would be nice!

Next: This Morning