Remember when I said earlier that Grayson was the easiest baby in the world? I meant it…he was. But now that he isn’t a baby anymore, he is a TWA (like NWA), a toddler with an attitude. Don’t get me wrong, he is still super sweet, has the cutest freaking laugh you ever heard, and will melt your heart in a minute. But MAN, is he bossy. The irony is he can’t talk yet, yet he controls this whole house…like a bigger version of “Boss Baby”. The things I always swore as a mom I wouldn’t do-lets just say I am eating those words.
One of the biggest problems and delays we have with Grayson is his talking and eating. Now don’t get me wrong, the fact that he doesn’t talk still does not bother me at all. I’m not one of those moms who think kids need to be talking by two. As long as babies make connections to what you are saying, and can follow clear directions, then I believe kids will eventually start talking. His eating delay, however, has proven to be more difficult. He will ONLY eat stage 1 puree’s, and he is 3 years old. I was that mom that made all my kids baby food from scratch. Well, you can imagine 3 years later it has gotten really old. And not only that, he will not eat it anymore and will only eat food from a squeeze pouch. But not directly from the squeeze pouch. WHAT? Yes what exactly….not only do I have to feed him food from a squeeze pouch, I have to squeeze it onto a spoon and then give it to him. He will turn his head if I try to put the squeeze pouch directly in his mouth. Makes no sense…I know. He totally plays me, I know it, and I keep it going.
I have tried everything the doctors and therapist have told me to do, and then some. Nothing works. We started occupational therapy just to get him to eat. After his first session, he boycotted eating altogether. The therapist decided we were not going to work on his eating, so as to not make things worse for him.
Since he still only eats puree’s, I am afraid to cut back his goat milk, that is drunk from…you guessed it…a bottle. My 3-year-old still drinks from a bottle even though he is able to drink from a cup. Not just any cup, he prefers to drink from a wine glass.
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Grayson drinking orange juice from his favorite wine glass
If I hand him a regular cup of water, he will get up from his chair, walk over and dump into one of my potted plants. Maybe that’s why my plants thrive so much, from their filtered water diet?
He will not drink MILK from a cup, just water or orange juice. So there you have it, my 3-year-old drinks from a bottle and only eats squeeze pouches from a spoon. It gets slightly worse, however. He does not LOVE vegetable squeeze pouches, and I can’t have him on a fruit only diet his entire toddler life. He hates the taste of vegetables, even the ones mixed with fruit. We have discovered that the downfall of humanity cell phone with nursery rhymes on Netflix helps distract him enough to eat those pouches that are not as pleasurable to him. The nursery rhymes distract him enough that he will open his mouth to eat whatever you put in front of him (not solid food, trust me I already tried). It was great at first, and we thought we got one over on him. Only to discover, the joke was on us. When we bring out the pouches with the vegetables in them, he points to our phone and won’t open his mouth until we hand him the phone with his nursery rhymes on them. I mean, “can you read Grayson???!!! How do you know which squeeze pouches have vegetables on them?”
I have brought my concerns up with his doctor, the Trisomy 21 clinic, his therapist and even God! Everyone has different opinions on what I should do, and how I should move forward. So what have I done about it? I’ve decided to do absolutely nothing. Until I feel I know what the right next step is, I am doing nothing. My little Grayson will continue to manipulate me and Andrew and will keep on eating squeeze pouches and drinking milk from his bottle. He is thin, but so are my other children, who eat a ton. His weight is a normal weight for the Down Syndrom chart, and I started giving him iron supplements to make up for the lack of meat and iron in his diet. I am giving him more water from a cup so he can get used to drinking out of a wine glass cup, and we will move forward from there. I believe using a bottle delays your speech, so this is one area I would like to see improvement in. But as far as the texture of his food, and the type of food he eats, and him still only drinking his milk out of a bottle, I have to just let that be what it is. The bright side is I never have to worry about him eating too much junk food, candy, or unhealthy food. He won’t eat any of it. I’ve come to realize, when you play the worst case scenario forward in your mind, it alleviates some of the anxiety you feel as a parent. What would happen if he ate only puree’s into adulthood? I mean it would be annoying for me until he was a teenager because after that he can make is own puree’s! But aren’t a lot of people on fruit and vegi only diets, or juice only diets? And if he can keep his weight up doing it, then I guess it is not so bad. We would have to supplement with more vitamins I’m sure. Is that what I am afraid of? Or am I more afraid of what I look like having an older child not hitting the milestones he should have by now? My two older children were both walking by 10 months, and eating solids. I’m sure that made me feel good about myself (more Mommy issues I need to work out). Now with Grayson everything is different.
He started preschool recently, and in the past few days I have been able to put pureed food into a container, and he eats it. That is a big win, I feel because no one is feeding it to him and I believe he is at least aware of what he is supposed to be doing, even if he is not doing it at home for me.
Some of his feeding delays are because of diagnosis, but I feel this feeding issue is more of a control thing for him. And I get it, we all try to control some area of our lives, especially children, who have no control over anything. I’m willing to let this part slide for a while. Not everything has to be done when the experts say it should be done, or myself or Andrew for that matter. I’m learning as a parent I have to pick and choose my battles with my kids. I know there will be many more battles ahead of us, and if I can’t give up control for this one, then I will not be prepared for the bigger issues Andrew and I will have to face that we will have no control over. If his health is good, then the rest will follow in its appointed time.
I know I am not alone with feeding issues, and I am sure many of you parents have had problems getting your children to eat, who don’t even have a diagnosis of Down Syndrome. I would love to hear what they were, and how and when they were resolved (if at all).
Daddy feeding me (sorry he likes the Cowboys) His yogurt eating days that I miss
No Down Side 