NoTube Eating school day 4

Elodie didn’t eat that much unfortunately. The confidence we had in her yesterday subdued pretty quickly. Seeing her being thinner doesn’t feel good, I have put so much effort in those kilograms. The days tire her out because she explores a lot, plays with the other children, yet her calorie intake is less.

Elodie likes to hang out with the older boys, being around them, in the same room and sometimes just observing them. That’s quite cute to see. Due to all the new impressions she needs much more sleep, and we even have to wake her up from her nap. The days are really emotionally straining, but we feel safe and in good hands.

The high chairs which are now used are better for Elodie and the older kids, because they are more focused and sit out a bit longer. Otherwise, Elodie would be so distracted and walking around, socializing and moving chairs. Even the other kids are following her example and are moving chairs. Guess we have a little trend setter here.

We have noticed that she is much more interested in food when the other kids give it to her or feed her. She isn’t eating larger quantities on her own, but she has been trying more textures. This is a good beginning. When we are doing our feeding walks the people here show much more empathy towards us, or give us a nice smile, and sometimes even a small chat. In the Netherlands I don’t even feel like I am doing something out of the ordinary because we don’t even get noticed. They mind their own business and don’t care.

During the information session it was explained that the kids here missed their window of eating certain textures, eating development milestones. Therefore, they currently don’t eat certain textures, large quantities, are picky etc. So, they will need to learn and that takes time.

When the mums have the information or talk session the partners have the sensory play group with the children. At other times, the partners have an information session and the mums then join the play session. For me this was the first time that I was actually away from Elodie for a longer time everyday, since her eating problems started. It felt really weird.

Elodie can’t really sit still and has a very short attention span, but luckily they don’t mind that here. The brothers and sisters of the children who get therapy here also join the play sessions. There is also a play room in the building and a garden outside with swinging sets and a monkey bar. So the kids are never bored.

There are families from all over the world, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Czech Republic, Norway. The group is really nice and it feels good to talk with the others and to share experiences. There are so many similarities, whereas at home you feel so alone with these issues.