Tube Weaning - Day 1

The time has come. Max's journey to becoming an eater has begun; although he doesn't seem to know it just yet. Today his breakfast was cut nearly in half. Tomorrow it becomes a tiny snack. On Sunday he will have his last official tube meal. Monday will mark the first day of his life that he doesn't have food delivered by tube to his stomach and a brand new feeling will creep over him.

We keep jokingly describing this process as starvation. We mostly choose this word to convey just how drastic a measure we need to take to get our child to eat. Really, we won't be making Max do anything. And we certainly prefer not to think of this process as starving him. We are giving him the chance to make a choice. We are allowing him the opportunity to feel something he's never felt before, and something most people take for granted. We are giving him the chance to decide whether or not he wants to become an eater. We hope that he will. We believe that he will. But that choice will be his.

This will not be easy for any of us. As much as we're looking forward to leaving behind the weight of plastic tubing that has been holding us down all this time, we're also leaving behind a certain familiarity. This is really all we've ever known. This is all Max has ever known. We'll be asking a lot of him over the coming weeks, and I know he will rise to the occasion as he has done countless times in the past.

Today Max didn't notice that very much was different. We spent a little more time in the kitchen, explored a couple of new foods, but otherwise a normal day. For now food remains another play thing - examined, banged around, licked, but ultimately tossed to the floor.

The remains of lunch

The coming weeks are bound to bring a whole new learning curve for all of us. It's sure to be an exciting ride.