You Don't Tell A Boy No

If you know me, Liam or what we've been through since he's been born then you know about his tubie Journey. 

You know that he's failure to thrive, meaning he doesn't grow like a healthy child. He doesn't eat enough my mouth to gain proper weight so he has a feeding tube. Gtube. 

If you've followed us you know that Not only does Liam not eat enough but he's very picky on what he will eat. This is caused by a severe oral aversion due to all that time being intubated and all the times he's vomited. No one wants to eat if they're just going to bring it back up. It's painful. 

So of you know all this, than you probably know that I don't deny Liam food. Just about anything he wants to eat, he's allowed. At any given moment. 

So it's probably no surprise that Liam's sitting here eating popcorn after dinner. Why? Because he wanted it. 

I do try to help him make healthy choices. I still sit him down for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a plate of whatever we eat. He knows he must sit there even if he doesn't want to eat. For a few minutes anyway. We try to get him to at least try the foods even if it means eating off our plates. Whatever gets those calories into his mouth and down to his stomach. 

Once he knows he likes the food, he is willing to eat it off his own plate. I make a lot of the same things repeatedly because I know he will eat them. After all, the goal is to eventually get rid of the feeding tube. 

He loves meet in almost any form, including beef jerkey. He loves eggs, French fries, cereal, pop tarts, popcorn, chips, potatoes, bananas. I could keep going but I won't. 

After working and talking to many specialist and GI's, and everything failing, I had to find a way to make eating happen. I had to teach Liam how good foods can be. Nothing anyone did helped. Except what I've done. I'm not trying to brag, just simply stating a fact. 

I've worked very hard to get Liam where he is today with eating so I'm not ashamed to say I hardly ever tell him no when it comes to food. 

Even if it means popcorn for desert.