My Lovey's

We had a new therapist come to the house Friday morning--- Pat. She is an older woman who is supposed to be exceptional in her field. She specializes in working with babies who have eating and mouth issues. She spent a few minutes with Kean and told me it is no wonder he could never quite get the breast feeding thing down. She said the little horseshoe shaped bone under the chin that hold the tongue (from slipping down the throat-- I think it's called a hyoid)--- well, his is too far back stuck in some muscles. So we are working on some exercises to get it into place. His tongue is also flat on the bottom of his mouth instead of in a trough shape. Pat put Kean on a new type of bottle-- one that makes him work much harder to suck the milk out (and therefore work on the right muscles). She said there is hope that he may still be able to nurse-- but if we had not intervened this early-- she'd be working twice as hard down the road when he tried (and would fail) to be able to eat solids. One other benefit-- Pat says getting his mouth in the right positions and shape should also help with how stuffy his breathing always sounds. No guarantees-- but she'd be surprised if we don't see a difference. I'm excited!The coolest thing she said to me was that if she hadn't been told, she'd never had known Kean had Down Syndrome. And she's been working with special need babies for FORTY YEARS. That comment made my day! I keep thinking/hoping that he will be higher functioning since his Downs is not quite so apparent at this stage. I also had to add this picture for you to see. It's one of my very favorites (thanks Melissa S.)!