It has been a busy few months, as evidenced by my radio silence. Grendel continues to have many of her same tummy problems. Her endoscopy and upper GI series were negative, so now we are seeking out second opinions in an effort to pinpoint what is leading to her tummy aches and regurgitation.
The Hobbit has been keeping us on our toes. We had her annual review for early intervention a few months ago. She was being discharged from physical therapy for torticollis. I fully expected to shake hands and part ways with the therapists, but apparently the Hobbit qualified for not one, but TWO types of therapy. She had a speech delay (I didn't realize you could identify that in a 14 month old, but apparently you can), and scored extremely low in adaptability. What does adaptability measure, exactly? It is the grumpy score. She scored clinically grumpy to the point that the state is paying an occupational therapist to come in once a week to help her be less grumpy. I wish I would have known you could receive therapy for baby grumpiness when Grendel was younger, but I digress.
As it turns out, Hobbit's grumpy score was so bad due to her sensory processing disorder. For example, Hobbit had a ton of trouble self regulating when going to sleep. I personally will not let my kids cry it out. I will hold them, comfort them, and rock them as they drift peacefully into dream land. But that's not what was happening. I would rock her and she would scream. Aren't they supposed to stop screaming when you are holding them?!?!?! I reached out on a sensory processing disorder support group board on Facebook and explained my predicament. Several suggested NOT rocking her. They said that it might be agitating her. So I stopped rocking her. She stopped screaming. Amazing! Who would have thought to NOT rock an upset baby? She has been receiving occupational therapy now for about 2 or 3 months to help us develop strategies to overcome other areas of grumpiness.
I was going over Hobbit's goals with the OT on Tuesday in preparation of the quarterly review, and I expressed my concerns about Hobbit's diet. You see, Hobbit wants to eat all the time (she is a Hobbit, after all), but all she wants is milk. She is constantly signing to breastfeed. But when I try to offer her real food, she might take a bite or two, and then she gives up. She is essentially surviving on milk and air. The OT asked me what Hobbit eats: berries, melon, banana, hummus, beans, sweet potatoes, peanut butter. All soft foods. She refuses all grains and meat (btw: we are no longer vegetarians, but that is a post for another day). She will eat things like Lara Bars and veggie chips, but she breaks crumbs off with her fingers and eats them one crumb at a time. The other way she eats harder foods (like chips) is that she will break a small piece off with her front teeth and let it dissolve in her mouth. But all kids are weird about eating. They are all finicky and her diet didn't seem THAT weird to me. It just seemed to me that she wasn't eating enough.
The OT observed the Hobbit eating, and, drumroll please, she doesn't really chew. She tentatively opens and closes her teeth, but she never completes a chewing motion. She also doesn't use her molars to eat. She will tear off little pieces with her front teeth and continue to hold the food toward the front of her mouth until she is ready to swallow. She is also really weird about teething management (she won't put any teething toys in her mouth), and she is awful about letting us brush her teeth.
The OT recommended that we increase the frequency of her sessions to work with Hobbit regarding sensory sensitivities and muscle weakness. Since we have a running theory now as to why Hobbit is such a fussy eater, I started feeding her large amounts of pouches. She slurps them down quickly like she is eating her last meal. Today I stepped up my game and ran an entire taco through a food mill...and Hobbit ate almost all of the disgusting looking mess. Today she ate more than she has ever eaten in a single day. She ate so much she had little interest in milk.
So this new eating challenge will take a lot of work to correct. It will be frustrating. But it has already answered several questions. What is causing her speech delay (for the most part, she can only say Ma and Da)? Since she hasn't developed the muscles in her mouth through chewing, she doesn't have the strength and dexterity to speak. Why was Hobbit so grumpy? Well, there are many reasons, but one major reason is that she was hangry (hunger that causes anger) all the time. It makes so much sense. If I couldn't chew I would probably be pretty mad myself.
The Hobbit has been keeping us on our toes. We had her annual review for early intervention a few months ago. She was being discharged from physical therapy for torticollis. I fully expected to shake hands and part ways with the therapists, but apparently the Hobbit qualified for not one, but TWO types of therapy. She had a speech delay (I didn't realize you could identify that in a 14 month old, but apparently you can), and scored extremely low in adaptability. What does adaptability measure, exactly? It is the grumpy score. She scored clinically grumpy to the point that the state is paying an occupational therapist to come in once a week to help her be less grumpy. I wish I would have known you could receive therapy for baby grumpiness when Grendel was younger, but I digress.
As it turns out, Hobbit's grumpy score was so bad due to her sensory processing disorder. For example, Hobbit had a ton of trouble self regulating when going to sleep. I personally will not let my kids cry it out. I will hold them, comfort them, and rock them as they drift peacefully into dream land. But that's not what was happening. I would rock her and she would scream. Aren't they supposed to stop screaming when you are holding them?!?!?! I reached out on a sensory processing disorder support group board on Facebook and explained my predicament. Several suggested NOT rocking her. They said that it might be agitating her. So I stopped rocking her. She stopped screaming. Amazing! Who would have thought to NOT rock an upset baby? She has been receiving occupational therapy now for about 2 or 3 months to help us develop strategies to overcome other areas of grumpiness.
I was going over Hobbit's goals with the OT on Tuesday in preparation of the quarterly review, and I expressed my concerns about Hobbit's diet. You see, Hobbit wants to eat all the time (she is a Hobbit, after all), but all she wants is milk. She is constantly signing to breastfeed. But when I try to offer her real food, she might take a bite or two, and then she gives up. She is essentially surviving on milk and air. The OT asked me what Hobbit eats: berries, melon, banana, hummus, beans, sweet potatoes, peanut butter. All soft foods. She refuses all grains and meat (btw: we are no longer vegetarians, but that is a post for another day). She will eat things like Lara Bars and veggie chips, but she breaks crumbs off with her fingers and eats them one crumb at a time. The other way she eats harder foods (like chips) is that she will break a small piece off with her front teeth and let it dissolve in her mouth. But all kids are weird about eating. They are all finicky and her diet didn't seem THAT weird to me. It just seemed to me that she wasn't eating enough.
The OT observed the Hobbit eating, and, drumroll please, she doesn't really chew. She tentatively opens and closes her teeth, but she never completes a chewing motion. She also doesn't use her molars to eat. She will tear off little pieces with her front teeth and continue to hold the food toward the front of her mouth until she is ready to swallow. She is also really weird about teething management (she won't put any teething toys in her mouth), and she is awful about letting us brush her teeth.
The OT recommended that we increase the frequency of her sessions to work with Hobbit regarding sensory sensitivities and muscle weakness. Since we have a running theory now as to why Hobbit is such a fussy eater, I started feeding her large amounts of pouches. She slurps them down quickly like she is eating her last meal. Today I stepped up my game and ran an entire taco through a food mill...and Hobbit ate almost all of the disgusting looking mess. Today she ate more than she has ever eaten in a single day. She ate so much she had little interest in milk.
So this new eating challenge will take a lot of work to correct. It will be frustrating. But it has already answered several questions. What is causing her speech delay (for the most part, she can only say Ma and Da)? Since she hasn't developed the muscles in her mouth through chewing, she doesn't have the strength and dexterity to speak. Why was Hobbit so grumpy? Well, there are many reasons, but one major reason is that she was hangry (hunger that causes anger) all the time. It makes so much sense. If I couldn't chew I would probably be pretty mad myself.