Bye Bye Bottle

Today Autumn had a suck/swallow study done where they x-ray her while she eats and drinks her bottle to see if she is swallowing it correctly and not aspirating it. They first gave her baby food and then a bottle with nectar thickener and then another bottle with honey thickener. So, the results were not what we wanted to hear. Apparently she does fine taking her baby food by mouth with a spoon but when she first starts sucking her bottle she aspirates a little before getting the hang of it and then when she gets tired she aspirates a little more. James and I were not thrilled when they suggested that we should no longer feed her with a bottle. They said we could thicken her formula and give it to her by mouth with a spoon or we could bolus feed her through her g-button with a syringe. She LOVES her bottles so I hate to take them away but if she continues to aspirate a little each time then it could later on cause problems with her lungs. They said it was our decision but they highly recommend no more bottles!! I want her to still be able to feed by mouth since she likes it so much so I am going to try the formula feeding by spoon and she how she does with it. So, the plan is to make sure she gets 25 ounces of formula a day and the rest with baby food. She would need to be getting off the bottle in 6 months anyways so I am trying to stay positive about it all. They did say when she gets a little older and sitting up she could drink from a cup and we can just thicken whatever she is drinking like juice. She can't have sippy cups since they are the same as bottles though and straw drinking is even harder to coordinate so it would just be a big girl cup. :) We also may have to thicken some of the baby foods that are more runny like peaches. I think James is more mad about it than I am right now since she has been doing fine all this time. They did say we could give her one here and there but mostly needs to be with a spoon or through her button. We'll see how this goes. They also want her to keep her g-button probably as long as she has her trach--they said if she ever gets sick it will take her longer to get over any illness because of the vent and trach so to have a way to still give her nutrition is key. We will see tonight if this is going to work or not. :)