Time Ticks on

Okay, let me start by saying I'm frustrated.
Nothing's happened.
That's in part why I'm frustrated!

I finally got hold of the speech therapist helping with T's eating earlier this week. She was very positive about the fact that we've changed dieticians. Apparently this new one is on this mythical 'feeding team' I've caught whispers about - and yes, we have missed on a referral to the team.

Get this - it's part of the Child Development Team and you have to have more than 'just' feeding problems to qualify! It may be that because T is speech delayed he might make it to the criteria. Well, the obvious answer is let him starve, let his development lag and then, hey presto, he'll qualify for the help he desperately needs and with the help his development and possibly whole future wouldn't be endangered.
Obviously I wouldn't ACTUALLY do this - but the situation is ridiculous!

We discussed T's relatively recent increase in pain, gagging, spilling etc and she seemed to think he's doing for attention - so why does he wake in the middle of the night, come to our bed, get propped up high on pillows and promptly go to sleep until he slips down?
Why has he slept through without waking us when I give him pain meds as we go to bed?
Why does he spit out food when no one's looking in a corner and doesn't bring attention to it? Why does he say 'tummy hurts? Food too heavy?'
It's not like I then go jumping up and down, fuss or give him huge cuddles and anything he wants. It's 'Oh, dear, give it a rub, never mind'.

She said that the new dietician will 'have something to say' about T's brownie intake and that we need to cut it. I have to feed my kid something! This is ridiculous - now I'm to be criticised for ensuring he gets some kind of calorie intake??!

So I tried an experiment yesterday and refused to give him cake unless he'd eaten a couple of mouthfuls of bread. This is a kid who had had only 200 mls of formula all day at that point so wasn't full on that, had had 2 bites of bread for breakfast and 1 tiny brownie for morning tea - and it was 3:30pm!!

He refused and wanted to throw his bread to the birds - 'Birds hungry!' 'Birds turn now!'

In the end he put his dummy in his mouth and went away to play. He didn't get anything more of anything before dinner - and ate 7 strands of spagetti and 1 mouthful of mince chow mein for dinner.

Breakfast today, I hear you ask? Um, eventually had 1/2 a slice of plain bread by 9:30 when he'd been up since 5:30...this child does not seem to feel hunger!
Who knows what his weight will be when he's weighed again tomorrow.

Oh and the speech therapist's plan for T's eating - we wait until we see the dietician on 30 Oct! He first saw this woman in late Feb - early April! Still no plan and no improvement.
And so we keep on keeping on - what else is there to do?