Day Sixteen, Monday

First session: ZZ chose a puzzle to do for his session. Bites went great other that one or two gags (he was eating yogurt) and the first set of drinks went well. We were surprised, as was the therapist, that the formula today was strawberry flavored. There were a few short stand-offs with drinks but the longest was only 3 minutes so not too bad. During one of the stand-offs I was offering several different toys he could play with when he took his bite and he knows the drill so well by now he actually suggested one I hadn't mentioned like he was cluing me in to what would work. I need to speed up on our pace, however, so that his total intake is higher. Now that he's eating more I want to start jotting down the amounts he takes so that I can see the progress and also gauge my feeding rate.

Second session: ZZ didn't want to go into his session but I found a toy we hadn't played with before. It was a talking drum with a screen on top that would show pictures, ABCs, etc., when he hit it. That worked to get him sitting down and started. ZZ ate his bites with no problem (potato soup) but really didn't want his drinks. He would clamp his teeth on the straw and try to pull it out, move his head, push it away, etc. One of his drink stand-offs was 8 minutes long but he did finally come out of it to play with the bulldozer I was playing with. He also watched Strawberry Shortcake and was mildly interested in that. Toward the end he was motivated enough by what was happening in the movie to keep going.

Third session: The third session is shortly after ZZ's nap and it seems like it frequently doesn't go well. We pushed this feeding back by 30 minutes to give him as much time as possible to sleep and digest the feeding he has during his nap. Today's session started out fine until ZZ vomited. I knew I was supposed to ignore him and keep offering bites but it's awfully hard not to at least wipe him up. He was very distressed by the mess on top of the upset stomach and quite frankly, so was I. I kept offering his bite but then he vomited more. At first it was just the food and drink he had taken during the session but now it was his tube feeding coming up. I kept his bite there and he kept refusing. At one point I had to just sit quietly because I was trying not to cry. I just felt like I couldn't show any compassion and I hurt so much for him, covered with vomit and being asked to eat when he just threw up. He refused the rest of the session. The psychologist told me that based on his vomiting here and his history of it despite having a fundoplication (surgery that should keep him from vomiting) that she had recently read a study where patients with problems that seemed to her to ZZ's, were treated with pain medications with success in diminishing vomiting. She asked for ZZ's GI doctor's contact info to pass on the article.

Fourth session: This session went better than last but ZZ still refused his drinks for the most part. His refusals were more being funny and cute, chewing on the straw and singing.