7 weeks later, while he is still not where I wish he was, he is doing much better. He now finishes his baby food within 30 minutes. He doesn't fight us as much at mealtime. He will touch food now, though he still will not self-feed. He will also take very small bites of cheerios (if we hold his hands down). We do 10 bites per meal and by bite 7, he is barely fussing most of the time.
We will continue outpatient services once a week for a while for the next few months until we make more progress. Overall, he is doing better and we are happy that we made the trip every day. I highly recommend Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. The staff is wonderful and they are so kind and compassionate.
I'm glad to read that your son is doing better with eating. My son, Parker, is having some feeding issues. While not severe to where I would dx him with a feeding disorder, it is definitely keeping him from growing on a typical developmental level. Right now we are still doing baby food and toddler formula for most his calories (he is 15 months old). He lost weight between his 9 month and 12 month check-up, so the doctor gave us some tips (mostly about desensitizing him to food), but if he doesn't gain any weight by his 15 month check up (which is December 3rd), he is going to give us a referral to a feeding specialist. I feed judged a lot by others...I feel like some people think that I should just starve him. I get this said a lot, "Don't give him that baby food and he'll eat when he's good and hungry." False. That may work for some people's children, but he will literally starve than to eat what we give him (outside of his food preferences). I'm a behavior therapist, so I've addressed the behavioral aspects of it. He doesn't get to play or engaged in preferred activities if he doesn't eat; he has quiet time instead. This doesn't really motivated him either. Anyway...didn't mean to make this so long :) Just wanted to say that your story encourages me. I wish you the best of luck!
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