Feeding Clinic

Last Tuesday we took Raymond to see Dr. Williams at the Feeding Clinic in Hershey.  Raymond's pulmonologist has given us the green light on trying to feed Raymond by mouth again!  Chris took the day off of work to go along.  We haven't been to the clinic in over a year so we were both agree to see what Dr. Williams would say.  We are starting by using a nuk brush and dipping it into a small amount of pureed baby food.  We are then inserting it into Raymond's mouth and helping him push his tongue down.  This is to be done 5 times a day for 5 minutes at a time.  It's not about the amount of food he is getting - that's not what we're after - but him building tolerance for things in his mouth.  So far Raymond is doing great.  Once there is food in his mouth he likes to take his hand and smear the food around in his mouth and on his face.  Raymond doesn't really know how to swallow so this exercise should help that also.  We go back to the feeding clinic on Feb. 20.  At that time, the doctor's will schedule a swallow study for Raymond to make sure that he hasn't aspirated any of the small amounts of food he's getting.  If he hasn't, then Raymond will start an intensive in-patient 6 week program (give or take) to really get him on track.  I will live at the Ronald McDonald House with the kids during that time.  We are excited for this chapter and know it will help Raymond tremendously!  Dr. Williams told us that according the the Down Syndrome growth chart for a boy Raymond's age, he is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.  So according to those statistics, Raymond isn't as small as we thought.  Now if that was a chart for a "normal" boy Raymond's age, it would show him as under weight and a little short.  Just for your comparison.   

HE LOOKS LIKE DADDY!!!

Silly Lily!

Everyone wanted me to take their picture...they kept trying to stand in front of the other.

Until Next Time!

Lots of Love,