09/18/2025
🌟MILESTONE MOMENT🌟
Harper bit, chewed, and swallowed all of her *age appropriate* size and quality bite today for the first time! Harper’s mom Jacqui describes this moment and working up to it best ⬇️
“Harper was born at 24 weeks and intubated for the first four months of life until she received her tracheostomy and g-tube at 4 months old. She spent 399 days in the NICU before going home for the first time, on a ventilator. She had been fed by g-tube feeds all of her life. Because of her history, oral aversion has been a struggle for Harper.
When she was 13 months old she began tastes of purees by mouth with little success. When she began outpatient occupational therapy/feeding therapy with Ms. Taylor right before two, she was able to taste 1-2 spoonfuls before spitting up. With lots of hard work, sensory exposure, oral motor coordination and strengthening work, and desensitization by Ms Taylor, she has gradually been able to tolerate more volume and textures without gagging or distress.
She progressed from 1-2 licks of her tube feed, to spoon fulls of the feed, to other purées like applesauce and yogurt, to chunky purées like cottage cheese and mashed potatoes, to chewing on a piece of solid food, to taking bites off of a piece of solid food, to chewing that bite of solid food then spitting it almost all out.
In the past three months she has been weaning down on her daily g-tube tube volume and replacing it with oral intake. Then today, Harper for the first time at age 4, took an age appropriate sized bite of a solid food, chewed it, and swallowed ALL of it. There was not a dry eye in the room. We are so proud of Harper Bug , how hard she works, and all the amazing big kid things she’s been doing.”
We are so honored to play a small part in your big journey Harper! You go girl!