A Smoothie Transition
Greetings to everyone.
Little Xavier began cutting a third tooth late yesterday; it made for an enjoyable evening for all. Rebecca escaped the timing of Xavier's most dire discomforts. With a tooth coming in, she did not want to drag him all over town shopping, but thought to give him a restful day at home. So, she went grocery shopping last night while I watched the Little Professor. Over the course of several hours, we administered one dose of infant Ibuprofen and two doses of the "common home remedy." It helped immensely. For the record, we are not sure which tooth (or teeth) are coming in, but we suspect one of his top central incisors.
Xavier was supposed to meet with his occupational therapist this morning. However, Neve, since meeting Xavier a couple weeks ago, has taken another job. DDRC (the group who manages our therapists) is working to find another OT for Xavier.
The loss of one OT did not seem to hinder Father, however. Last Friday afternoon, Rebecca got into a conversation with a woman who is (you guessed it) an occupational therapist. Though not trained with the specifics of preemies, she did have much to say about the topic. We were able to apply some of her advice over the weekend. Though the timing may be coincidental, we did see some changes for the better.
Al, the OT whom Rebecca spoke with, told us (in some cases reminded us) of some things unique to preemies. The most interesting (and germane) one being that most preemies struggle with learning to swallow. Neve suggested Xavier's difficulty in swallowing may be due to his tongue tie; however, Al took it further than that. With or without the tongue tie, it is still a common preemie issue. With Dr. Abbey's concerns about Xavier's lack of aggressive eating still echoing in Rebecca's ears, Rebecca took some of what Al explained and put it work.
One of the things common to preemies is that they don't care for pureed foods. They prefer more solid food. So, Saturday morning, Rebecca created for Xavier a blueberry, avocado and strawberry smoothie with his formula (Dr. Abbey told us to start feeding Xavier mayonnaise, tuna, ranch dressing, avocado, fish oil--all high-fat foods to help Xavier get what he needs for this stage of his development). The smoothie was thicker than his normal formula, so we had to modify a nipple to accommodate it.
At first, Xavier didn't know what to make of it, but with some persistence on Rebecca's part, he took an entire bottle (4 oz)! Sunday, Rebecca concocted a peanut butter and banana smoothie, which Xavier really liked. Another 4 oz, and he drank it with gusto! Shortly after, he wanted more to eat, so he took about 2 oz straight formula. (Part of this hunger may be his tooth coming in. We learned with his last two teeth to be very careful not to over-feed him. In his discomfort, Xavier eats without control. We think grinding on the nipple helps soothe his pain. If we let him over-eat, he blows everything back up--and I do mean blow. It's a change of clothing and bath for everyone).
Late Saturday morning we stopped at Wendy's for a bite to eat (we had a two hour road trip ahead of us; we were peckish and Xavier was on the verge of hunger). While Rebecca and I ate, we gave Xavier a french fry to "gum" on (something previous to Wednesday's visit with Dr. Abbey and Friday's enlightenment with Al, we would not have done). The little man liked the fry, and noshed it into swallow-able chunks and swallowed them.
Another thing common to preemies Al told us is they get overstimulated very easily. Rebecca and I knew this from the NICU, but we had grown a little lax about it with Xavier. We were reminded once again a few weeks back while at a party where we let many adults and many children handle and play with Xavier. It was way too much for him, and we all paid for it the next few days. It was after that party Rebecca and I decided to be more careful with him. Al's information was useful, and has helped encourage us in our decision to guard Xavier more closely where crowds are concerned.
We have an appointment with a team of eating specialists at Children's Hospital next week. Xavier will be examined by a PT, an OT, a nutritionist and a speech therapist. (Al also mentioned speech can be a problem with preemies. It's amazing how many issues with the tongue preemies seem to have, tongue-tie not with standing). Encouraged by Xavier's eating of smoothies this weekend, Rebecca has set a goal for Xavier to gain half a pound before meeting with the team next week. I find her goal-setting amusing. She gets on my case for setting goals for Xavier, saying I'm going to give him a complex. Now she is setting similar goals!
Goals are great, and Great is our God and Father, Who does for us more than we ask or imagine! Father has not brought us this far to abandon us. With His hand upon us, this goal can easily be made. I expect to learn some very good news next week.