Saturday, October 17, 2009

Nathan's big boy chair

Earlier this week I met with Nathan's OT and Speech therapist to discuss what we should be doing to create a positive feeding experience. There's just so much involved around eating. Eating requires a lot of coordination and the use of all your senses. I never actually stopped to think about all the steps one has to take to get to swallowing. Nathan's therapist referred me to a great site called popsicle. This site raises awareness that feeding issues are a medically compromising problem that affects many families daily.
This said, it will be a long, long, long time before Nathan eats....I think I'm just starting to come to terms with that. The therapist have told me it could be four years or more... (sigh) Bottom line is that eating is a learned behavior and he must learn all over again. So here we are...

We have a new big boy chair, so that Nathan can be with us at the table during mealtimes (Bye bye high chair). The simple move from a high chair to this new feeding chair has been challenging for Nathan. He doesn't like it all that much. He cries and I must be within sight for him to be sort of okay with it and he still doesn't want to be in it. So we have moved to a reward program. If he sits in his feeding chair at the table, he can then play with the laptop (one of his favorite things to do) The laptop works the best but we do try with other toys and books. I usually give him a bolus feed while he sits in his chair so that he can associate a positive feeling of fullness when he sits in his chair. The goal is to have him sitting at the table with us, hearing us talk about food, smelling food and touching and experimenting and eventually trying to eat as we do by showing him how we eat.


Playing his favorite website game
with some help from his older sister

I love his new chair. It's a great way for him to be at the table with us participating in mealtime. Alyssa loves it too! She's always asking to sit in it! Doesn't Nathan look so grown up sitting there?

5 comments:

  1. Awww He looks so grown up in his big boy chair. I really miss them, they both look so gorgeous, Christine. Such a shame we can't swing by for some salmon! Cuddles for all you guys xx

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  2. Logan has this chair also and he loves it. We got it about a year ago..something he will be able to grow into as well! His feet have something to rest on which I think is important..feeding is such a tough issue for our kids..and he does look very grown up...take care!

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  3. I love the chair too! I want one for my Nathan. He looks great in it!

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  4. That is a great chair! And yes, Nathan does look so grown up in it. I'm sure he'll come to love it in time, and he'll be able to use it for a long time. Go Nathan!

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  5. Awww, he looks so sweet in his chair!! I love him!!

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