As we all know Ryder was born at 31 weeks and had problems with eating and breathing while he was in the NICU. Once he got that down he was able to come home. Ryder has always been a picky eater and wouldn't eat much. If we were to look back on previous posts from the past 4 years his foods would be about the same as they are now. Every time I asked his pediatrician about it he would tell me it's normal and that he'll grow out of it. Ryder isn't just picky, when he tries new foods he will gag and sometimes throw up. He takes 30 minutes to an hour to eat and the foods he used to eat he no longer eats half of them so his diet is not very healthy. I took him in for another well checkup a few months ago and we were seeing a new pediatrician since his other one had retired. Anyway I asked him about it and he told me some things I could try and we had tried all he said to do. He gave me info for a speech therapist who specializes in eating disorders and told me to give her a call if I felt like we weren't getting any progress with what we were doing at home. Ryder has been the same size for the last 2 years. Clayt and I talked about it and decided to call her and make an appointment. We were able to get in a week later.
With him being premature she said that this was very common and if we would of known that when we left the NICU we wouldn't be where we are today. Clayt and I were both frustrated that nobody told us this and that our other pediatrician told us it would go away pretty much. She did a few different things with him with different foods and drinks. We go see here every other week for an hour. We have now seen her 3 times and I can see an improvement in him already. I know it's going to take some time since this has been going on for 4 1/2 years. Ryder has eaten a cheese casadia a few times now without gagging, he drink 4-8 ounces of chocolate milk a day. (He hasn't had milk since he was 2) he is starting to eat foods he used to eat but quit eating, he has tried, potatoes, steak and oranges but gagged with all of them. It's a work in progress but I know that this is going to work and that he will be able to eat more foods some day.
His therapist also wanted to rule out all the medical factors that could be causing him to be like this. We have met with an ENT and he will be getting his adenoids and tonsils out on May 19th. He has hyper sleep apnia that they want to get taken care of and then hoping once those are out that can help him with his swallowing and trying new food. Who would of thought all this ties in with how you eat ha He also needed a swallow test to make sure his food was going down the right tube and into his stomach. He had that done today and it was pretty cool to watch the liquid and food go down his throat on screen. He also drank the stuff they needed him to drink and eat without a fight and gagging. That's a pretty big deal. Everything looked good with that so we can rule out swallowing being an issue. He does hold his food and water in his throat for awhile but I kind of already knew that ;)
P.S Primary Childrens in Riverton is AMAZING they have been so good to us and they are so kid friendly Ryder feels so comfortable there. I absolutely love it and would recommend it to anyone :)
Hopefully in a few months Ryder will be eating more food and gaining some weight. We sure do love this little boy and are so thankful to have him in our lives.
If he eats good and finishes his food quick he gets to go play in the playroom.
His awesome therapist Helene pushing him around the building :)
Coloring waiting for his swallow study appointment.
Talking to a therapist about what he's going to do.
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