Operation G.E. (Griffy EATS)

So I took some pictures the other day intending to post them, but we are NEVER inside anymore when I am home, so I didn't get it done. I have made a serious commitment that I'm going to need a LOT of support with. I have decided to fully take on Griffin's refusal to eat. If you haven't been with us from the beginning, you don't understand, but if you have, you can imagine that this will not be fun or easy. I felt like he was getting better- he was eating cereal bars consistently, trying out new things, etc....but it's bad again. Really bad. He lives on pediasure and pediasure alone for nutrients and protein. He consistently eats only crackers, fruit snacks, bananas, berries, and cheese. It's getting old.....REALLY old. In his defense- it all started out with him not being able to eat. He did have a real medical oral aversion that kept him from eating normally, but he has since been released from Therapy and now it is ALL behavior. He doesn't want to. It's too much work, it takes too much time, and he just doesn't feel like it.

Tomorrow his milk (pediasure) goes away. AWAY. I spoke with the dietician today at work and she gave me permission to take his milk away completely for a day or two and then replace it with regular milk for awhile to see what happens. She said the one thing pediasure can cause is long term feeding issues because they get too full from it and never feel the need to eat. Well, we are going to make him HUNGRY. She gave me some handouts and I've been doing some reading about how to tackle the issue.

Starting tomorrow we will eat EVERY meal and EVERY snack at the table in his new booster seat (which I plan to make a really big deal about). He will get 3 meals and 2 snacks each day of appropriate portions and nutrients. He will NOT get any milk at all and he will NOT get any food that is not eaten at the table. I do not plan on forcing him to eat- no more forcing him to take bites. He can eat it or not, but if he chooses not to, then it's going to be a long few hours before the next chance to eat- AT THE TABLE. He's pretty smart, so I'm hoping he'll catch on rather quickly. The first week or two I plan on giving him things I know he likes relatively well or that he has eaten in the past. I don't want to spring a new system AND new and scary foods on him at the same time. For awhile we are going to be stuck at home. We had already agreed that we would not be eating out at all for an entire month, but I really think we need to not even go to friends or families' houses to eat. We need to eat in the same place and the same exact time every single day until we get this resolved.

This is going to be bad. Really bad. There is going to be melt down after melt down. LOTS of screaming. Please- pray for our patience.....