One week after tube wean program

Sam and James are doing so great!  They have made a lot of progress in just one week, it is so amazing!  At the beginning of this week, James drank 20 ounces in one day. The next day he drank 24 ounces!  He is really catching on to recognizing hunger and knowing what he needs to do about it. Yesterday he drank less, about 14 ounces, but that is still good.  At this point, they are developing self-regulation and figuring out how much they need in order to make them feel good.  It is normal for them to drink a lot one day, and then not so much the next day during this period.

Sam has been drinking about 10-12 ounces a day, which is also really good.  I have been giving him a couple ounces of pedialyte after drinking to keep him hydrated and make him feel good about his hard work.  He has been a pretty happy boy and the amount of tantrums he throws has significantly decreased, which makes my job a whole lot easier.  I have been talking to Heidi everyday and she says that we can start cutting out the pedialyte to see if that will help Sam feel like he needs to drink more.  The only time he will be tube fed for now is before bedtime, if we feel like he needs it.

They are both so close to not needing their tubes at all!  They still just drink chocolate Carnation instant breakfast, but I am working on getting them to try some new flavors. They tried vanilla today and didn't mind it for a minute but then they wanted chocolate again.  That is fine for now though, we will keep working on flavors and start adding in puréed foods later when they are ready.  I am so happy that we went through the tube weaning program. It was not easy, but it is making life easier for us and giving the boys more freedom, not having to be hooked up to feeding pumps for hours everyday.  I will continue to post updates on their progress.