Lunchtime

Anyone who knows Jayden, knows that he is not a fan of eating. But what most people don't know is just how afraid of food he really is. Sitting at a table with a plate of food in front of him is the worse form of punishment for Jayden. This fear comes from the constant stomach pains he had up until he was diagnosed with Celiac Disease at 2.5 yrs old. Can you imagine being in pain for that long? And everything you ate made it hurt worse? So his fear is definitely understandable. Everyday is a struggle to get Jayden to eat and there has NEVER been a day that he has eaten a full 3 meals. In fact, getting him to eat 2 meals in one day is rare. So when he does eat a meal, we are very thankful!

It always begins with him attempting to ignore the plate in front of him. Don't want to eat? Then just put on a show for mommy and daddy!!

Eventually, he realizes that he needs to at least try the food in order to get down from his seat. Although he loves his gluten free bread, anything that he eats always begins with this same look of fear on his face, and it breaks my heart :(

But usually he'll realize that he likes it and it didn't hurt his stomach the last time he ate it so he''ll take a few more bites. He never eats much at all though, but something is always better than nothing.

These pictures were taken last week. Today wasn't a good day for eating. He refused breakfast (gagged on it even) although it was his favorite, suasage with maple syrup. He also refused lunch and he hardly ever eats dinner. And this happens very often. It's funny the things we take for granted in life. A mother never realizes just how important something as simple as eating is until your child downright refuses to eat.

My baby

He's finally feeling better. Still not eating at all, but his referral has already been sent in to the insurance company for a dietician and we just have to wait on the approval. Or the denial. The representative I spoke with believes that it will be covered b/c of his celiac diagnosis, but she couldn't be sure. So we just wait and see. If we cannot get him eating soon, he will need a feeding tube. I have no idea how he's not starving, but he drinks his milk so that must tie him over. That and the cupcake he had yesterday at his cousin's birthday party! Yep! My big boy was able to enjoy a cupcake at a birthday party thanks to his wonderful Aunt who baked a batch of gluten free cupcakes especially for him. Oh he was so excited. I gave him his cupcake and he happily walked into the living room and sat indian style with the rest of the kids and enjoyed hos treat. It brought tears to my eyes. I think it helped that he saw that his cupcake came from the same place that the others came from, and not out of his bag. I need to figure out a plan to get my baby a cupcake at every party he goes to from now on. It may mean baking it at home, smuggling it into the truck, and then sneaking it onto the birthday child's cake table when Jayden isn't looking. And I may have to call ahead to ask about the cake colors b/c I'm pretty sure that's important too ;) Anything to see him smile the way he did yesterday...anything for my baby :

Prayers for Jayden

March has been a tough month for my little man. First, a bout of synovitis, followed by a pretty bad staph infection. Then Friday he had a really bad seizure at school. Saturday he started to run a fever and it hasn't broken much since then, even with Motrin. He's extremely congested and not eating at all, but he's drinking a TON which is very encouraging. I've tried pushing pediasure but he gagged on it and threw it all up. He's just not feeling well at all. I'm waiting for the Dr to call back, both the GI and the general pedi, to see what the next step has to be. He's been in the Drs office for sick visits 3 times in the past 2 weeks.