Thank you to everyone that called this morning to let me know that the Today Show was featuring a little boy who doesn't eat food at all. I just got done watching it on the show and it really touched home. Even if this little boy has a different medical story than Allie, it still pertains to our situation with Allie and her lack of oral eating.
I particularly like how the video talks about weaning your child off the tube, it is a difficult and sometimes dangerous procedure. I think that is one of the biggest mis-perceptions about feeding tubes. Many people (including myself) dream that one day their children (or a child they know) will just start eating. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. A child that is tube fed will need to be weaned to some extent. A child like Allie who is basically 100% tube dependent, will need a lot of therapy and coaching in order to eat orally again and get off the tube. The longer children are tube fed, the harder it is to wean them off and eat orally. The clip on the Today Show is another reminder of how long of a road ahead we have with little Allie Rae and her oral eating.
I am happy to see that the Today Show shared this story because it's one more positive step in expanding feeding tube awareness. So, thank you to the Today Show for helping spread awareness of how children like my Allie eats via her tube.
In case you missed the Today Show this morning, below is the link for the story of the "Why won't this little boy eat food?"
Why won't this little boy eat food?
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