NoTube Eating school day 1 (chapter 2)

No therapy or medical professional in the Netherlands could help Elodie learn to eat. In fact, they made matters worse. NoTube’s multidisciplinary team with pediatricians, speech therapists, psychotherapists, psychologists, dieticians, nurses, etc. who have solely been helping children to tube wean and learn to eat (for over 30 years), with a success rate of more than 95%. They were once part of the Graz hospital before they started to run NoTube as a separate entity in order to help even more children.

So here we are again during Covid-19, a pandemic. How much the world has changed since our last visit. A time when a global pandamic, worldwide lock down, and quarantaine, sounds just as silly as a zombie apocalypse.

Today was quite an emotional day. 9 months after the first time at NoTube. How lucky we are that we could go again to accelerate Elodie’s eating progress even more.

Walking the route to NoTube brought back many memories. We also feel and know that we are in a better place now, but just thinking of our emotions and feelings back then was still tremendously suffocating.

We are happy that we could go to NoTube a second time thanks to my employer, the insurance company and our family. They saw Elodie making steps and us in a better mental state. We all hope that this second visit will speed up her eating development even more, and bring even more stability to our home. Because of all the steps she has made the first time we didn’t want to miss this chance to go again. Yet, it was scary as well because she was doing really well at home, a change if scenery becomes a risk because you don’t know which impact it will have in her eating. But there are many more advantages like the safe environment, the knowledgeable team, the families, the activities for children.

Upon arrival families had to have a health check due to the Corona circumstances. Questions were asked about our health, similar to the ones on the plane, and our temperature was measured. Also, everyone has to wear a face shield or mask except when eating. It’s such a difference when compared to the eating school from last year October, just 9 months earlier.

This eating school we got the pediatrician and co-founder of NoTube (and inventor of the Graz tube weaning model), Dr. Marguerite Dunitz-Scheer, paediatrician Gertrude, and speech therapist Eva.

This time there were more German families. All families were from Europe due to travelling restrictions. There were a few French families, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Also more families came by car. We got too much luggage, and it didn’t fit into our car, so we took a flight. Travelling by car was not meant for us.

So far all families seem really nice, there are more infants this time, I think half of the children are under 12 months.

Today was mostly about understanding the NoTube rules during the pandemic, how we could stay safe and what to do if anything happens. Also, we got our schedule for the day, we got to meet everyone of the team like the physiotherapist, paediatricians, psychologist. We told our story, and they asked our expectations for this eating school. Our goals are to let go even more, for Elodie to have fun and to hopefully try a bigger variety of food. Elodie loves being at the eating school, playing with kids, trying foods, and doing some sightseeing in beautiful Graz.

Not sure if Elodie still remembered the place, but she sure felt at ease. There is a nice play room for the kids where they can explore, read, draw, and build with blocks. They can also play outside there are swings and a big playground is close by. We also loved going to the botanical garden, it’s 2 blocks away and there is no entrance fee. You can leave a donation if you would like.

Elodie wasn’t eating that well, but we don’t stress too much about it anymore because she gets at least one NutriniDrink compact a day, which has 300 calories in a bottle of 125ml. She drinks this quite smoothly since we arrived in Austria. One little girl was drinking orange juice and ice cream and Elodie wanted this as well. So that’s already a little win as these are new flavours.

Elodie was a bit grumpy because she has missed quite a few hours of sleep the last few days. Hopefully it will get better when she settles into her new routine. She has to wake up a few hours earlier now.

During our lunch break Raf went to NH hotel to pick up our stuff because our apartment from booking.com wasn’t available earlier. It was only 1 night at the NH hotel, the funny thing is that the exact same thing happened to us during the previous eating school as well.

Dr. Scheer, who was the paediatrician during our first eating school, came by to see us during lunch which was a lovely surprise. It was wonderful seeing him again, and we’ve talked for quite a bit. He told us that there was an increase in families doing the netcoaching out tube weaning therapy. Maybe because parents are working from home and shops, restaurants and entertainment is closed. There might be more resources or time and energy to do therapy. I am just happy for those parents when they finally see their child eat or without tube. That feeling is priceless.

• We hebben een substantieel bedrag terug gekregen van onze zorgverzekeraar en de zorgkosten ook aangegeven bij de belastingaangifte. Het was veel werk maar zo hebben we uiteindelijk de helft van de kosten van de NoTube therapie terug gekregen. Als je vragen hebt over hoe je dit het beste kan aanpakken dan mag je me contacteren.
• I am happy to help if you are struggling and have questions about NoTube, the therapy or if you just want to talk. I know how you feel, and it can be really lonely and you may feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Please feel free to contact me on social media or at riceandfriesfamily@gmail.com