Intensive Feeding Program - week 1

Another day down! Today was very interesting and quite different from yesterday. I love that the team is so vested in Noah and his individual needs. They made sure to have toys, puzzles, and videos that he especially likes and in between sessions they all come into the playroom and play with him. Today's sessions did not involve any food, but instead focused on transitioning me out of the room. Again, he would sit in his feeding chair for 10 minute intervals but I would sit across from him and the therapist that was working with him at the time, would sit next to him. The first couple of intervals he screamed and cried the entire 10 minutes, but after the 3rd one, he did so much better. I would think by the end of the week, I will be out of the room completely. We also began introducing oral motor excersises. Every few minutes they would stop, push the toy away that he was playing with and tell him it was time for his exercises, have me do them, and when I was done, he would get to play again. Each time we are in a treatment session, the other members of the team are watching him on camera. They literally watch his every move and have picked up so much from their observations.
1. They feel that Noah's anxiety issues and irritability is due to something internal. They have noticed these issues at an all time high just after a bolus feeding. They said his behavior is that of a child that chronically just doesn't feel good.
2. They are highly suspicious of a milk protein allergy and have decided to switch his formula to a highly specialized casein free formula. The downside is that it can only be made to a 30cal concentrate, so we are going to lose some calories in doing so. They are hoping we can get him eating the difference soon!
3. They are adding another antacid for a total of 2, 4x a day.
4. They truly feel he has issues in his gut and hope that the formula change and addition of another med will help alleviate some discomfort. They are worried that he can only handle 60mls at a time without retching. They feel at his age and size he should be able to tolerate far more in his stomach that this.
Overall, I think he had a great day. I am so excited to see the progress continue and finally get him going in the right direction.
Elliot is still going to need some time to adjust, he didn't eat much or nap at daycare again today. Needless to say, I had no complaints from him at dinner and he went right to sleep at bedtime!