I recently learned why I haven't been able to feed Barrett things like meats, apples, carrots and other raw vegetables. I took him to a speech pathologist who specializes in feeding and she said that he chews like a baby who is just learning to eat table foods. He doesn't use his tongue or the rotary motion that allows food to be ground up smaller. So I guess now he gets to have "chewing therapy".
I didn't think too much of his chewing abilities until I noticed that his little sister with no molars could chew up things he couldn't. I hope if we can get this solved we can help him to be better nourished.
Any chance Barrett is tongue-tied (due to too-short connective tissue under the tongue)? That can run in families.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is sort of tongue tied - he's never been able to stick out his tongue out much past his lips, though it doesn't affect his speech or eating.
When my son was born, nursing him was incredibly painful for over two months. He was getting enough milk and was gaining weight just fine, but I was in agony each time I fed him, despite lots of help from lactation nurses, etc. I noticed he didn't stick out his tongue over his lower lip when nursing like other babies did. I was just about to call the pediatrician to discuss "snipping" that connective tissue a bit, when it resolved itself and the tissue stretched. Within a week, his tongue was "out" properly when he nursed, and my pain went away. He can stick his tongue out normally now.
Just a thought.
Funny you mention that. I had my tongue clipped as a child. Later I heard it was a useless approach, but it might be worth asking about next time I visit the pathologist.
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