Brody’s Journey: One family’s path to tube-weaning and eating by mouth

By: Ashlei Fisher Brody William Fisher was born on July 5, 2015 weighing in at 7 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 20 ½ inches long. He was perfect in every way and still is. He nursed well and took pumped breast milk from a bottle with no problems. He loved baby food when he was 6 months old and ate every drop of yummy fruits & veggies. Around 2 ½ months old, I noticed a dip in Brody’s chest wall as I was about to bathe him one evening. I immediately showed my husband and called the pediatrician the next morning. She had us get x-rays taken and quickly referred us to an orthopedic surgeon. He sent us to get an MRI when Brody was 3 months old. He was diagnosed with scoliosis and needed to be monitored. The curves continued to progress in that time, so the orthopedic surgeon applied a Mehta cast when he was 7 months old. The first cast went well, however his second cast application was extremely tight. Frightening vomiting started and then he quickly stopped eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping. I had never seen vomit like what I was seeing come out of my baby boy. I would give him 1 oz. of milk and he would projectile vomit it all over me and the floor. I rushed him to the emergency room, where they removed the cast. After that, he wasn’t keeping anything down and started to drastically lose weight. We were referred to a GI specialist who did numerous tests and told me Brody had a sliding hiatal hernia, which means...

Confessions of a Mommy Feeding Therapist

Working with families who struggle to feed their children on a daily basis, I often hear, “Your kids must be great eaters!” or “I bet you don’t have any trouble at the table with your kids!”.  Well, let me tell you, it isn’t quite that simple. As a feeding therapist, I am confident that what I am suggesting to parents will at least help, and not hinder, their child’s progress with eating. When I am working with someone else’s child, I can see their issues objectively. That makes it fairly easy to navigate next steps and to tease apart what may be going wrong. I have done loads of research and reading on the topic, wrote a book, and provide therapy for children from newborns to teenagers. I do trainings for other therapists, physicians, and students. So you would think I would have all the answers with my own three kids, right? Not so much. At home, things are a little more complicated. Do my kids sit at the table and eat at most meals? Yes. Are mealtimes a beautifully harmonious experience where all three of my children eat complicated dishes with a smile on their face? Hasn’t happened yet- I am still waiting. So what does a feeding therapist’s family mealtime actually look like?  Here is a window into my world: Setting:  We eat at our kitchen table for all meals, using family-style serving. I do a lot of “pile-on” and deconstructed meals and we don’t pre-plate the kids’ food. I work full-time and the kids have lots of activities, so our meals are fairly simple, and I get take-out about once a week....

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