Kaleb's progress-1 month

First feeding, 1 month ago

Now
I know it may be hard to tell in the pics, but Kaleb has definitely put on some weight. His face is noticeably fuller, his chest/stomach are fuller, and he's starting to get the slightest little love handles. I love it!!!!! I've also noticed some tiny leg muscles starting to develop.



We met with the nutritionist yesterday and he's up 1 1/2 pounds (way less than my $15 Target scale said at home) but none the less it is progress:) Even with just a 1 1/2 lb weight gain his BMI jumped from the 2nd percentile to the 12th...that's a huge jump in only a month! I've noticed a big difference in his energy level, too (I always thought it was fine, but now he's very active all day long) and he's definitely getting stronger. Usually when one of his friends bump into him they knock him to the ground, but now he takes it like a champ and is still standing! No change in height yet but the nutritionist is sure it will make a big jump soon, too.



I also noticed that his clothes are starting to get small...yes, small!!! I can't believe it! He is FINALLY growing out of his 24 month clothes! He's been in them so long I can't wait to see something different on him:) He's moving up to 2T shorts, 3T pants (for length, waist will be big), and big 2T or 3T shirts. I brought some clothes home a few days ago that a friend let me borrow and Kaleb was SO excited! He let me try on about 5 different shorts/pants and then demanded to wear red sweatpants the rest of the day (even though it was 93 outside!) Guess he's really excited to see some new clothes, too:)



Long story short, I got ahold of the lady in charge of a feeding program at The Univ of Virginia (which is 180 degrees different than the Marcus Institute) and she said we need to get Kaleb's whole body desensitized before we can work on feeding. (He definitely has some sensory issues) Anyway...we have an eval for OT next Friday. The OT will probably focus hard on sensory stuff for awhile, then move his feedings during the day (to get him used to hungry/full feeling), then work on feeding. It's all a process and this feeding clinic gets to the bottom of the problem for not eating, fixes it (or makes it better), then works on feeding (instead of just trying to make him eat). It makes a lot of sense really. They have great success with kids like Kaleb so we'll see!



Kaleb's eating the past few weeks had really dwindled to basically nothing, just water and sips of his milk. Well, this last week it picked up again. He usually will eat around 10:30 (half waffle) and then again around 4:30 (some yogurt or cheese). He still only takes sips of his milk but will drink plenty of water. The nutritionist said again that this is fine because he is actually full from his feeding over night. Once we switch to the feedings during the day he'll slowly become more hungry. Oh, and we're sticking to 2 boxes of his drink/day (not the 3 she originally said) because it seems like it's enough right now for good weight gain.

So, there you have it! More info than you probably wanted. We're just SO pleased with how well Kaleb has handled everything so far and how the long tube doesn't even phase him during his active days. He is such a big boy and a real sweetheart:)