“Baby” food steps

As I have mentioned before, we removed basically all finger foods and solids from Hannah’s diet.  For the past 6 weeks, she has had nothing but bottled pureed food, milk, juice, and formula (yes, all together sometimes!).  We have allowed her ice cream dots, syrup with whipped cream, and any other liquid or melting kinds of foods.

It proved what Dr. Schiffmann, the Gaucher specialist, had told us when we saw him last.  Hannah’s hypersensitive gag defensive gag reflex was likely causing her gagging episodes, many of which required oxygen to help her get through them, and two that landed us in the ER after having to call 911 for hypoxia (lack of oxygen).

To understand what this reflex does, just image how you feel when you feel something caught in the back of your throat.  You cough it up.  But just imagine that you can’t seem to get it dislodged or moved.   You start gagging on it.  You start to panic as you are still gagging.  That is what was happening to Hannah — the catch?  Because her gag reflex has become so hypersensitive, the food could have already been moved and gone, but her throat kept telling her it was stuck.

So after 6 weeks of a completely oxygen-free, gag-free period (which has been quite nice!), we decided to take baby steps and try to reintroduce some finger foods back into her diet, those that had not yet caused any gagging problems earlier.  We know that goldfish, cheerios, and vienna sausages are no longer options. 

But we did try the big Cheetos many times for the past few days, and this morning we gave her some pancake.  She LOVED having her foods again, and neither of these brought up any gagging episodes.  My guess is that because they literally melt in her mouth without having to gnaw much or chew on them too long. 

She is such an oral motor child.  She ALWAYS loves having things in her mouth.  At least 80% of her playtime will show her with either a toy in her mouth or her pacifier.  At least now we can let her satisfy this oral feeding sensation with a couple of her favorites for now!  Hopefully she will not lose this ability, but for now, at least we can give her a couple of snacks to help satisfy her oral needs.

99% of her calorie intake will still be by bottle.  But at least we have that little bit of her day where she can munch on snacks and enjoy that sensation.  THAT is a great thing!