Another OT Update

We've had some improvement with Ryan's eating due to the massage. He will now eat applesauce without any bananas. He did really well after the previous blog; I just had to hide the applesauce so he thought he was getting bananas. As it was Spring Break for the older kids, they were all home with me last week. On Saturday I was a little more distracted and didn't see his gag until all of the food came back up. We did do a little backtracking because of that but we are almost back to all applesauce again.

The trick with Ryan is to hide the stuff he doesn't like and distract him somehow while feeding him. Last week I was able to get the other kids to help me distract him and we had a good week (until Saturday's mishap) but this week it's a little harder with no extra distractions. At one point last night, I had him in front of the televison and I was singing songs with him so we were able to get quite a lot in him. He has gotten better with letting me massage his palate and teeth. He doesn't bite down as hard so my finger isn't nearly as sore as it was.

I'm having issues with the brushing. It's not that I don't feel comfortable doing it; it's I can't seem to get it on a set schedule with him and I'm getting very upset with myself. He seems to like it and I'm getting used to the pressure needed to give now if I could just remember to give it to him as needed. Tuesdays we have to get up and get Logan to therapy then take him and Marie to school. By the time we get home we've been away for almost 2 hours if not more. Wednesday we went to meet Daddy for lunch and of course that threw off the schedule. I really need to figure out the Tuesday schedule and not go anywhere until I'm totally used to getting this done for him. Once that happens I think I can go do whatever and still be aware of the brushing schedule enough to give it while we are out. I feel like I'm making this harder than it should be and I'm getting very upset. Okay, I'm going to go take a deep breath and try this again. Wish me luck on getting this schedule added in to our already fun filled days!!

New twist to therapy

Okay, last week I told you about (or it may have been the week before) the new thing we are adding to Ryan's occupational therapy. Well, we started it on Monday and he did pretty well. She showed me how to massage his palate then put a little pressure on his bottom teeth. I don't remember her doing the upper front teeth just the bottom front. I will have to make sure when she comes back next week. I fed him his bananas with a dip into his applesauce. He gagged once or twice but if she distracted him while I spooned it into his mouth he was fine. I did try to use the nubby/textured utensil but that didn't get very far so I just used the spoon. The main goal is to get him to eat so I thought it best to go with the spoon until he can relax a little better.

Yesterday I did this on my own so it was kind of hard to figure out how to distract him. He fought me a little on the massage but then he totally surprised me. I was able to dip the bananas into the applesauce with NO GAGGING after that very first bite! The boy ate two "tubs" (plastic rectangle shaped jars of food) of bananas and one complete tub of applesauce. WOW! Today it's time to see if I can get him to take a whole spoonfull of applesauce or pears with no banana chaser. Even if he takes a bite or two and I have to go back to dipping it will have been a major breakthrough for him.

Yeah Ryan!!!