Tuesday, August 4, 2009

elie update

Week four started yesterday, and El's progress has been nothing short of amazing. At the beginning of last week, she was taking 30 - 40 grams per feeding session, approximately 3 ounces of food (which I thought was fantastic!). I was pulled into the "classroom" and trained to feed her, and last weekend I fed her at home and at Grandma and Grandpa's, and she ate perfectly.

Yesterday, her feeding therapist moved her from a level spoonful to a rounded. This was a huge step, as the amount of food increased dramatically. Eliot ate 142 grams at one session. I thought we were going to have to roll her out of the room.

With this recent progress, the nutritionist at Marcus has recommended that we CUT three out of her five daily tube feeds. (Go ahead and read that sentence again.) Over half of her daily calories are now finding their way into her stomach via her mouth. HER MOUTH!!!! This is unbelievable, right?

Here is a short video clip of Eliot eating last weekend. I forgot to put on her doo-rag before she started eating, so you're not going to get the full effect. But trust me when I say . . . this gangsta girl can eat!


4 comments:

Stacie said...

Way to go, Elie! That is just amazing!

Anonymous said...

what a process! you have AMAZING patience! i love the cuts to owen... you can see him thinking, "what a sucker- she has to do work for her food!"
suz

Viking said...

Oh my, I can't believe the progress she has made!

Marsili's Baby News said...

girl! I don't know how you do it! god has granted you tremendous patience! what an amazing mom and dad eliot and owen have! She is very blessed! hang in there! Tony and I loved watching all the new clips! :)