Feeding Therapy

We do feeding therapy once a month.  Nikola's occupational therapist is wonderful.  She is helping develop Niko's facial muscle tones.  Niko's face is really firm, but underneath all that firmess is weakness.  We are hoping to help her loosen the tightness and at the same time tone her face.  Loosening up her face, developing muscle tone and pushing back her gag reflex will all contribute to the success of her eating solid foods.  So I'm definitely willing to stick to this program.  It's really important to me that Niko gets to enjoy food.  I think it's one of the greatest pleasures in life.  How can I plan a trip to Italy for her that doesn't involve gelato?

Her therapist gave us a tray for her bumpo seat, which is great for Niko to play and reach for things.  She also gave us a couple of cool tools.  One is the NUK brush.  I'm to brush the inside of Niko's cheeks with this to get her used to having objects in her mouth.  This also builds strength.

The second is a special needs feeding spoon.  This is basically the smallest, most shallow spoon you've ever seen.  It's called an E-Z spoon.  This spoon is super flexible and soft.  The tip is very small and flat so it's less likely to cause the gag reflex.

Here are the instructions for Niko's facial massages.  We are doing #2 and #4.  She will not tolerate the other massages.  I have to do this about 5 times a day.  Niko hates being fussed with but I'll try.