Happy "Adjusted" Birthday to Auden!

Today, in addition to it being my sweet little niece’s first birthday, is also one year from the day Auden was “supposed” to be born, a.k.a. my due date.  So in honor of that, this post is going to be all about Auden:-)  Now obviously most babies don’t come on their due date, but doctors and therapists use April 11^th when evaluating Auden developmentally.  This is called his “adjusted” or “corrected” age and is typically used for preemies until they reach 2 years old.  By then, they say preemies have typically “caught up” to their actual age in development.  Or another way you can look at it, there is not really much of a developmental difference between a 24 month old versus a 26 month old (like when comparing a 4 month old to a 6 month old)…the older the preemie it gets less necessary to adjust or correct their age. 

Many people think once preemies are released from the NICU that all their troubles are behind them.  Unfortunately this is not always the case. The rule typically is the earlier the preemie was born the greater the risk for long term issues.  Some of these medical issues can include cerebral palsy, vision and hearing problems, digestive and feeding problems, and respiratory issues.  One of the most common ongoing issues preemies face is developmental delays (as well as learning disabilities) and for that reason preemies typically get developmental evaluations periodically and can qualify for early intervention therapy services when needed.

Auden's latest developmental evaluation was very good.  His gross motor skills were excellent; he was a little ahead of the curve for his actual age (well surpassed his adjusted age).   The average preemie born when Auden was (31 weeks 5 days) starts walking around 16 months old and Auden was taking his fist steps before he turned one and fully walking at 13 months.  Auden's fine motor skills were evaluated somewhere between his adjusted age and actual age which is also good.

Auden is only considered “delayed” in the area of eating.   Unfortunately, like most of you know, Auden has been struggling with feeding issues since he was born.  This is hard to explain to people because he has always gained weight steadily (a blessing indeed but not sure it would be the case without our considerable efforts).  In the beginning, Auden’s feeding problems stemmed from severe reflux that caused painful feedings and even a bottle aversion (he would cry at even the sight of the bottle).  We eventually got through it by lots of reflux medication, the passage of time and finding various techniques that worked for us which included giving most bottles while Auden was asleep (seriously, called "dream feeding") or distracting him while drinking.  When it came time for solid foods we found that Auden had a severe gag reflex which finally prompted us to seek early intervention (speech therapy services) for feeding help.   We have bi-weekly sessions with the therapist and typically her role is to give us helpful tips regarding how develop his ability to chew and what order we should try different types of textures to reduce Auden’s gagging (which usually turned into vomiting).

Something quite amazing happened after Auden's first birthday- the gagging almost completely stopped.  Literally it seemed like overnight he was able to eat every kind of finger food that his gagging prevented him from being able to eat previously.  Our nanny, therapist and pediatrician were all very amazed how quickly things changed as well (as usually it is more gradual). So right now he is eating about 50% "real" food and 50% purée baby food and we couldn't be more pleased!  When we are able to get his quantity up of real food we will decrease the amount of puréed baby food accordingly.  He has also been doing great in the milk drinking department.  We packed away all his bottles last month because Auden now drinks all his whole milk in his straw sippy cup!  Straw cups are apparently better for speech development so it was a huge bonus that this was his favorite type of sippy cup.  So, things have been really good lately with Auden’s recent eating improvements.  However, it still amazes us how much a child’s eating (or lack thereof) can consume your life.

Auden is such an energetic little toddler, he literally never stops moving!  He is a great traveler because his favorite thing is to explore new places.  Auden loves being outdoors more than anything else and even cries when he has to come inside.  His new “thing” is trying to carry objects that are practically bigger than him, see pictures below!  If they are too heavy for him to carry, watch out, he will go into a full on tantrum if he isn’t able to pick them up (and we can’t help not to laugh because he looks and sounds like the Incredible Hulk trying!).  Auden has taken his love for water to another level lately.  When you take him out of the bath he will grip the sides of the tub tightly and try (successfully once) to dive head first back into the water!  It brings us so much joy to watch his little personality develop every month and we just can’t believe how far our little guy has come!