Intensive Wean

We are starting Kyle's intensive wean today. We have slowly decreased the amount of calories and fluids he receives through his tube in preparation for today. He still receives a limited amount through his tube over the next two weeks and we really push the oral eating.

We wanted to plump Kyle up as much as we could, so we increased his calories to 1000/day over the last month. We saw a dramatic decline in what Kyle was willing to eat by mouth as we added calories. It paid off though, and we managed to get him to 22lbs and 2 ounces. It will be hard to watch that weight drop over the  next couple of weeks because we worked hard to get it on him. We hope that he will drop 1-2 pounds and level off as he increase oral eating.

He has already made some progress. Over the course of yesterday, he ate 28 cheerios! Until this week, he had never eaten even one whole cheerio. I figured out the calories for it--only about 10. But the practice of taking bites, keeping it between his teeth with his tongue, and chewing and swallowing is invaluable.


Here's to a successful two weeks!