He Made Me EAT My Words

I spoke with our Speech/Oral Motor Therapist about my concerns(and frustration) with Austin’s eating/ texture aversions during our therapy session on Monday afternoon. I admit it, I was feeling pretty down. And I shouldn't have let it get to me because when he's ready, he'll do it. It's just hard when I know he's capable. Well, there have been some major changes at our house since Monday... I brought a Gerber Toddler Meal that consisted of Pasta Stars in Meat Sauce and Green Beans for Austin to eat during his therapy session on Monday. What would you know? Austin ate nearly all of his food. He chewed it up well. No choking. He did it! Austin’s Speech Therapist, Miss D, recommended that we stop pureeing Austin’s food and stop the bottle cold turkey. She said he’s shown that he’s more than capable of eating real food and drinking out of his straw cup on his own.


That night, I fed him another Gerber Toddler meal and he ate it! The true test came after bath time, which is when Austin HAS to have a milk bottle. I gave him a straw cup full of milk and HE DRANK IT! EVERY LASTY DROP! No choking. He didn’t seem to care that he wasn’t getting a bottle…he just wanted the milk.

Austin always has a bottle when he wakes up in the morning. On Tuesday morning, I gave him his milk in his straw cup and he drank it all. We are so proud of our boy!! It doesn’t stop there though…Tuesday for lunch, I decided to let Austin try a peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich. I was always scared to let him try peanut butter because it’s a common food allergy. However, thanks to the allergy blood test we had a few months ago, I know he is not allergic to peanuts or peanut butter. Peanut butter is a very difficult texture, so I was skeptical…but I figured we were on a roll, why stop now?


And guess what?

HE ATE HIS PB & J SANDWICH LIKE A CHAMP! Every single bite. I thought I might have to feed it to him, since it’s kind of sticky, but he didn’t mind at all. He fed himself. Of course, I cut the sandwich into mini pieces. No choking. No issues. He loved it and ate it well.


We told Miss D (Speech Therapist) his progress on Wednesday and she was so proud of him!! She also said that peanut butter is good for his oral motor skills/tongue.

The only reason we kept the bottles around was because I felt like he wouldn’t get enough fluids if he didn’t have a bottle in the morning and at night. I almost feel like we were holding him back, because it turns out he was perfectly capable of taking in fluids via the straw cup.

Goodbye to Dr. Brown's bottles and pureeing food. We are so excited and proud of our little man. He truly made me EAT MY WORDS. And I couldn’t be happier about it.