This Boy Is BANANAS!

This little boy is completely bananas for bananas!  All of the sudden Milo has been wanting to eat new foods.  For the longest time he would only eat cheese, then only hot dogs.  Yogurt was he passion the beginning of the year.  Cheetos are a favorite too.  Since last fall he has been eating meat, anything dairy and getting most of his starches orally.  We even cut his g-tube feeds down to one per day and those consist of mainly fruit & veggies or 8 oz of formula.   Despite all my efforts he just WOULD NOT eat fruits or veggies much less drink juice.

Earlier this year I caught him eating applesauce for snack at preschool.  He would eat it at home too, even the flavored ones with strawberry applesauce being his favorite.  However he still wouldn't even attempt to eat an apple or a strawberry.  He did drink apple juice for me one day but has never wanted it again.  

About 3 weeks ago Milo decided he wanted to eat a banana.  I have been putting them in his g-tube food  and the only ones we had left were a bit ripe.  I gave him half of one figuring it would be mushed up and that's about it.  He really wanted to eat it but was hesitant.  We sat on the couch and I had him smell it, then kiss it (put his lips on it) then lick it and finally he got a tiny piece in his mouth.  We played a game and I fed him the rest of the banana.  The next day he wanted more and ate a total of one and half bananas. A few days later I cut some up and put it with his beloved Yoplait strawberry yogurt and he ate that.  He's been eating bananas every day, in fact I've had to start hiding them in the cupboard or he would try to eat them all in one day!

About two weeks ago Milo asked me for broccoli, out of the blue.  Of course we didn't have any that day and it was a few days before I went to the grocery store.  When I told he I bought some he was so excited, I figured that would end when I put it on his plate.  Instead he totally surprised me and ate steamed broccoli, the next day I added some steamed carrots and he ate those too. 

The last week has been incredible.  He has consistently eaten his broccoli and/or carrots as well as his banana in yogurt.  He has asked for a juice box and has been working on drinking that same one for about 3 days.  The straw is still a bit hard for him to use.  He tried blueberries but they aren't his favorite.  Yesterday he ate 2 gummy vitamins, I'm so glad he decided to try that again because I wasn't sure how to get vitamins into him if it didn't go in his g-tube.  He will take all his meds by mouth now too.  Today he decided he wanted Funyuns while in the check-out at Wal*Mart so I was skeptical he would actually eat them but bought them for him and he ate half the bag on the way home.  Right now he is playing with some apple chunks.  He found a regular size straw and drank most of him milk at lunch with it, I've never seen him use a regular straw before.  He was so excited! 

In January I decided that maybe he needed some visual re-enforcement to decide that fruits and veggies would be good.  I included a reward system too.  I put it on the wall and made a big deal about it but he could have cared less.  Well, within the last month he has decided that it is fun to earn a reward.  His goals increase every time and he has done pretty well.  He gets to choose a small reward such as a book, a small toy, a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, a trip to the Disney Store and mall play area.  The poster of fruits & veggies has been helpful too.  He has been looking at it more and more and telling me what each one is.  It's also been helpful if he tries to get an "X" for something that isn't a fruit or veggie, if not on the poster then no "X"

Of course he still has some things to work on.  He won't touch bread, tortillas, pancakes, muffins, etc. but I'll just be patient like I was with the fruit and veggies and one of these days he'll surprise me about that too.

And ya wanna know what the most exciting thing about all if this is?  Milo has NOT had a g-tube feed in the past 6 days and so far has had no weight loss. 

 Hallelujah!!

Of course now that I have posted this he will probably go on a food strike or loose weight!

Ok must go now because Milo just came and asked me for chicken nuggets (gluten free and not so processed) and french fries (Orida crinkle cut for this picky guy) so far be it from me to tell him 'no'!