Physical Therapy

Last week we finally took Dylan into a Preemie Evaluation Clinic. This is a place that evaluates how babies are developing that were in the NICU when they were born. They spent a good hour with us seeing what Dylan could and couldn't do. When all was said and done they recommended that Dylan start seeing a physical therapist weekly. So in a way, I feel like we are starting chapter 3 of Dylan's life, though this chapter is much less traumatic and stressful than chapters 1 and 2.

Here are the findings: Dylan's fine motor skills are actually pretty close to where they should be at his age (or his adjusted age, subtracting 6 weeks for his prematurity, which would put him at 8 1/2 months instead of 10 months). His gross motor skills are pretty far behind. Because he can't sit up, roll consistently, support himself on his tummy, etc, they determined that he is functioning at the level of a 5 month old baby. They pointed out that he lacks the abdominal muscles to do these things, and in addition is essentially learning bad habits to compensate for his lack of strength. For example, he lifts his shoulders to hug his neck and help stabilize his head. He sits back on his tail bone rolling his back a bit to compensate for his lack of core strength. He has "frog legs" when he is on his stomach or sitting and locks them into that position, which will make it really hard for him to learn how to move in and out of different positions. So for those reasons, we will be hopefully getting him into therapy. In addition, he does not eat baby food. He has no interest. And he is a bit behind in his "speech." But the therapists believe that once we can help him strengthen his core and feel more stable, then he will want to experiment with his mouth more.

So that's the low down at this point. For his weight gain we are fortifying his formula again. Hopefully we can help him pack on the pounds a little faster too!