"Feeding Camp"

I tried to make her feeding therapy sound fun, like ML's gymnastics and art camps, but Maggie is no fool. She says every morning that she does not want to go to feeding camp. I don't blame her.

Last week all they worked on was putting a dry spoon in her mouth. The first day she refused and screamed and gagged, but by the end of the week she was putting it her in mouth with a dab of chicken noodle soup on it. Baby steps, right?

At her evaluation a month ago Maggie only sipped out of a straw twice, which is normal for her. "Well," the therapist said with total conviction, "she just doesn't have the muscle strength to suck more than two sips." Ok, makes sense.

Well last Wednesday, as she was groggily coming out of her anesthesia for Botox, she slurped down two juice boxes! (She was so thirsty from not eating or drinking for 15 hours). Good to know she has some survival instincts!

When I told the therapist about it she said, "Well, now we know it's not a muscle issue, it's totally behavioral." It just goes to show (once again) that often we get the wrong answer before we get the correct one.

The Botox went well and we are actively stretching and strengthening her neck, shoulders, and leg. She now wears a brace on her right leg all the time- the poor child garners much pity when we are out in public!

Maggie hates the stretching. We have to coax or bribe her to do it. Yesterday my heart broke when she finally crawled into the nurse's lap to stretch, succumbing to the torture, saying to me, "It'll make my neck straight." I started crying immediately. She totally gets it. I sure hope I haven't given this child a terrible complex about all this...

Four more weeks of feeding camp and praying for good results!