Ben finally had his "swallow study" done at the hospital today. (A swallow study is where the patient eats and drinks food that has been dipped in barium and the doctor and speech therapist watch his mouth and esophagus "live-action" on a tv screen). It's very weird to watch one's baby's mouth in action from the inside!
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| in his hospital gown playing with his new touch-screen "phone" |
I've been stressed out for weeks worrying they might find something really wrong with him and knowing he might easily have a meltdown at the hospital and refuse to eat during the test.
However, all my fears were pretty much unfounded. I had luckily thought to buy two new special toys that made exciting beeping noises to entertain him while we waited at the hospital, which helped a lot. He also was reluctantly wiling to eat the baruim-dipped blueberries & velveeta cheese/chicken mash-up I'd brought. It took a bit of cajoling, but he ate and drank enough for a successful test.
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| this is the seat Ben sat in during the test |
The speech therapist present during the test said he does NOT aspirate while he eats or drinks (thank goodness!), and that he seems to keep all of the food he eats in the middle of his mouth instead of pushing it to the sides to chew with his gums (which is why he's not able to chew food like other young toddlers yet). The therapist said his own speech therapist could work with me to help him learn how to chew with the sides of his mouth more.
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| all the foods I brought to tempt Benben |
So.... all my stress and worry may have been for nothing, but at least we're more sure he's just fine!
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| holding his bottle like a big boy |
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| my two favorite people |
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