Help a 5 year old boy learn to eat!

Alberta Health Services won't give my son a chance to learn how to eat!! He needs expert medical help, and they won't give it to him!

--He is being denied health coverage for a intensive feeding program in the US that can help him learn to eat. There is nothing remotely similar here in Alberta or Canada!

--Help him learn before he goes to grade one please!

Here are the details:

My son was born premature (27 weeks) with gastro esophageal reflux disorder (GERD). He never breastfed or drank a bottle well and always vomited. At 6 months, he was using a NG tube (through his nose) for 100% of his nutrition. At 1 year he was given a G-tube (surgically through his tummy). He used this tube for 100% of his nutrition for 2.5 years. When he was 3, with the help of a Doctor in Montreal, I was able to get him used to purées like yogurt and pudding. Her approach is the same as they use at the Michigan Children's Hospital program. Here in Edmonton, it's a different approach that doesn't seem to work with my son.

He's 5.5 years old now and I haven't been able to get him to tolerate anything else except mashed raspberries, which only just happened last month. So the process is quite slow. Without any intervention, he will probably learn to eat eventually — they say around 8-10 years old. And he will likely never be interested in food or eating.

This great program in Michigan works with all kinds of feeding issues. It's not a cure, but they are confident they can get him learning to chew. The program is 3 times a day for 6-8 weeks with an OT, SLP, dietician, pediatrician, psychologist, and a social worker working with Carter and I.

We obviously have all these people here but they don't work together in a team environment where the sole focus is intensive feeding therapy. The professionals here only see us once a week for a hour at best. And it's just one person. They also use a different therapy approach here vs the approach in Michigan.

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