Belle has been progressing nicely in her therapy program developed by TalkTools. This month we continued working on her Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) by introducing pureed foods. We like to start her with OPT to remind her of the basic instincts for eating and swallowing plus it stimulates and wakes up her jaws and mouth. She loves the start of her therapy when I am massaging her cheeks and mouth with my hands. But as we move through the chomping exercises she is starting to get bored and doesn’t want to do it. I have to start motivating her, which really is fun for me because I get to kiss all over my baby girl. I love seeing her smiles and hearing her giggles as we play through her therapy. Making it fun for her, makes it easy and fun for me. Having this special time with her 2-3 times a day makes it all worthwhile.

After Belle’s OPT, we start on her feeding process. We will continue working with pureed foods this month. She has been doing a great job eating it and keeping it in her month. Her Dad and I, along with her TalkTools Therapist Whitney Pimentel, want Belle to swallow the food before she can push it back out with her tongue. She is getting the hang of the process and keeping more food in than she is pushing out. We are so proud of our daughter and how far she has come the last few months. We are hopeful for this progress to continue and are looking forward to learning and growing with Belle.

-Lanie Beetsma