Height: 31 inches

Weight: 24.9 pounds

Nickie feels that Eric has caught up for his actual age, not just the adjusted age. He has even advanced in some areas such as fine motor skills. The only concerns now are feeding and speech. Eric should be up to at least 6 words right now. While Eric had learned some words, he has forgotten them. Nickie wasn't too concerned since this is common as a child becomes focused on other tasks. We will have a speech therapist working with us starting soon.

Still not much luck on getting Eric to eat. Doing research, I have discovered that many infants and small children can acquire a feeding tube dependency. Originally, Eric needed the tube for medical reasons, he has GERD and loose stomach muscles. He learned that eating hurt and took a lot of work. (For more information, regarding feeding tube dependency click here.) The more he is on it, the more difficult it becomes to get him off of it. Most adults and older children, who need feeding tubes, do not become dependent because most of them have already established a normal relationship with eating and food. They merely have to relearn to eat, not start back at day one.

So what does Eric eat? A blend of things and probably healthier than most toddlers. A typical schedule looks like this:

Upon waking: 3 oz. Ginger-Chamomile Tea

Half an hour later: 3 oz. Ginger-Chamomile Tea

Wait another 30 minutes: Meal #1 - 5 ounces of goat milk with baby cereal (120 cal)

2 hours later: Meal #2 - 5 ounces BeneVeggie, a combination of BeneCalorie with a pureed veggie (180 cal)

2 hours: 3 ounces of water

Half an hour to 45 minutes later: Meal #3 - 5 oz Pediatric's Compleat - or a real food blended formula (150 cal)

2 hours: 3 ounces of water

Half an hour to 45 minutes later: Meal #4 - 5 ounces of a home-blended meal that adds in new foods to test for allergies (varied)

2 hours: 3 ounces of water

Half an hour to 45 minutes later: Meal #5 - 5 oz BeneVeggie (180 cal)

2 hours: 3 ounces of water

Half an hour to 45 minutes later: Meal #6 - Usually a blend of evaporated milk, formula and cereal. It takes a long time to digest, but is very high in calories at 300 cal for 5 ounces.

Each meal takes about 15 to 30 minutes. Depending on the day, timing of naps, how quickly Eric's stomach digests, and vomiting, we will get most of the calories in. Eric cannot take in too much at a time. Most children his age would be at 8 ounces at a meal. Sometime even a 5 ounce meal can make Eric vomit. If a meal is too high in calories and/or fat, Eric does not digest it well enough. If we go off schedule too much, we skip the water before the meal and add a an ounce or two with the feed. It depends if there is too much residual left over from previous meals. On good days, we can get all of the1000 calories and up to 40 ounces of liquid total. The schedule changes from day to day but the above captures the gist of it.

Cris and I write it on a white board to keep ourselves on track and then he inputs it in the computer later. I blend the formulas right before I go to bed so that they are ready in the morning. It is a team effort and we both do our best to keep it balanced.

Oh, and yes he is officially walking and getting ready to run.