Something you may not know about, and something I notice in many of the children’s pictures, is that many are tongue tied, which makes feeding for all children difficult, not just those w DS. I am an IBCLC (Intl Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and often work w babies who are having difficulties breastfeeding and/or taking a bottle. Hello! I have so enjoyed reading through these posts. Keep up with the wonderful log – you inspire so many with hope when they have otherwise so wrongly been given a bleak outlook! I sometimes wish that there was some way we could let everyone know how blessed we are to have these little angels among us! Deacon is now five years old and manages with a fork and spoon with no trouble and there isn’t much that he doesn’t eat (except for things he doesn’t like! □ Good luck and I’m sure you already know this, patience is key! It seems that just as soon as I’m getting close to giving up on a challenge, Deacon accomplishes it wonderfully in his own sweet way! Ya got love it! What a great post and thank you so much for writing it as I know that self feeding is a huge challenge for many of our kiddos! We tried the NUK brush and the Z-vibe with my son around 24mos and didn’t have much success as he was a real chewer and quickly destroyed both! Instead we used the ARK Grabber (firm model) which is also an oral motor tool and it’s shaped like a “d” so it was easy for my son to hold, dip it into his food and get it into his mouth. Looking back, I’m grateful Lyra did not take the bottle because it was the reason we saw the speech therapist so early and I truly believe the work we did minimized any other feeding issues. Along with baby food mixed with oat cereal, Lyra also eats off of our plates, including a variety of textures. #Tips for introducing z vibe full#While she still breast feeds, she now drinks from a Nosey-cup enough that I can leave her at daycare for a full eight hours, instead of just four. But now we can fly that airplane straight into the hanger! We use a “Maroon Spoon” and, at first, approached her mouth from the sides to minimize tongue thrusting. Nonetheless, these exercises “organized” Lyra’s mouth and at six months she easily began eating solids. This was the first of what I suspect will be a lifetime of wondering if something is directly attributed to Lyra’s Ds or her personality, though we strongly suspect the latter with the bottle. We also used the Z-vibe above and below her lips.Īfter three months of daily exercises, Lyra still didn’t take the bottle and we decided to move on. Our speech therapist taught us to use an infant gum brush and a Z-vibe on the inside of her mouth. We will never know if she didn’t take it because of her Ds or her personality, though we suspect the latter because she breastfeeds like a champ. When she was three months old, she began speech therapy in an attempt to get her to take a bottle. What great photos of Noah using his own brush! How thrilled you all must be. I know that texture sensitivity can be an issue for a lot of our kids and this is one way to work on helping the mouth tolerate new sensations. It has helped Noah be able to brush his teeth and eat new textures. We were often told to wake up Noah’s mouth muscles simply by rubbing these devices around the mouth, on the cheeks, gums and tongue. The Nuk and z-vibe are excellent stimulation devices for the mouth and tongue. I think it is definitely something to explore with your speech therapist. All of the studies that I found are pretty poor. One disappointing fact if that there is not a lot of research showing that this works, but in my opinion the research just hasn’t been done correctly yet. We used Beckman Oral Motor Exercises, but there are others available as well. Theses are basically exercises and stretches for the mouth that help build strength. One reason Noah improved with eating is that we started doing oral motor therapy. You can actually purchase both of them by clicking on the links below. They are similar devices and we have used them a variety of ways.Īmazon is actually one of the best places to buy the NUK Brush and Z-Vibe. During this time time we got introduced to the Nuk brush and Z-vibe. We found that he actually ate best in his car seat which was handy. #Tips for introducing z vibe how to#Once we figured out how to stabilize Noah’s core and trunk he started to eat much better. He was actually deemed by his speech therapist as one of the hardest kids she has ever tried to feed simply because he wouldn’t hold still. He breast fed great but when it came to the bottle it was a different story, and this mama had to go back to work. Noah was in feeding therapy for a few months prior to 6 months of age to help him drink from a bottle.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |