The Dreaded Wean

This weekend we will need a bit of prayer! Any heart moms reading this will sympathize when I say that we are about to start a "weekend wean" with Trenton. Weans are very difficult and emotional for all of us, and honestly, it could probably even be considered cruel and traumatic for Trenton!

Here's what a wean is all about: Because he doesn't eat, Trenton is fed formula through a g-tube in his stomach about 6 times a day and continuously by a feeding pump throughout the night. Because of this eating schedule, we are confident he doesn't understand the feeling of hunger, which will be a vital lesson along his journey of becoming an eater. Sarah, his feeding specialist at Riley, helps us come up with safe ways for him to learn all about this strange hunger thing! So the plan is to replace his daytime formula feeds with the same volume of water (that way his stomach will not "shrink," and he will still be getting the fluids he needs), and replace his nighttime feed with a half formula, half water mixture. We start the wean tonight, and it lasts for two full days. Needless to say, our sweet little boy will be a cranky, hungry child for a couple of days! Along with the weaning of formula, we'll be sitting him down more often to eat regular foods (about 6 times a day), with the hope he'll start to associate eating foods with eliminating his hunger!

You may already be figuring out how difficult this is! Even on his best "non-wean" days, Trenton rarely wants to eat anything. So imagine a cranky, hungry kid 2 year-old who has no concept of how to fix his hunger pangs -- the last thing he wants to do is put some scary, strange food into his mouth. It's honestly an entire weekend of tears (for all of us!), frustration, and exhaustion! We have tried weans in the past before his last surgery, without much progress made, so we are praying that this one will be different. I have hope that with the help of Matt and Karie (and even Trenton's cousin, John!), we will have some success.

With or without success, we are scheduled for a 5 day wean starting next weekend. Yes, FIVE DAYS. I shiver just thinking about it! This learning-to-eat thing is going to be a long journey. I am confident that Trenton will not be a teenager feeding himself by g-tube while his friends eat pizza! I am just not sure what it's going to take to get him there. Lots of patience and prayer, I guess!

Here's Trenton showing off a ladybug sticker. His mic-key button below (where he is fed by tube into his stomach) is just a normal part of his life!