Evaluation Update

Wow, great comments in that last post!! Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions and ideas to help Carolina eat. I will definitely try many of them. Imola, I loved your idea of giving her really well-cooked foods.

Since I last wrote my post, I have introduced tofu to Carolina and though she wasn't especially thrilled to eat it, she did eat all that I gave her. I also tried beans, but, alas, that was a no-go.

Her evaluation went well - there was a psychologist, a nutritionist and a woman who is trained in a few things, I believe.

Here's the general idea of where Carolina stands, though I'll have many more details later today:

Gross motor skills - 17 month-level
Fine motor skills - 14 month-level
Speech - 10 month-level

At 2:30 this afternoon I have another appointment where we will discuss our options and choose a plan of "attack" to get this girl on the right road.

Keep the suggestions coming! I think it's a very positive step that in the almost six weeks that we've had Carolina, she now eats Cheerios, eggs and tofu, whereas before she would only eat jarred pureed baby food. Progress is progress, right?

Oh, and we finally determined why Carolina pulls her tongue back when she has food or a bottle in her mouth. The general consensus is that she likely had to pull it back when she was given her bottle of porridge (with the nipple cut off) to protect her airway while laying down. As my friend Tracie pointed out in the comments, swallowing and eating really is a learned thing. Bad habits die hard.