Today we had a follow up appointment at CHLA with Gastroenterology and a Dysphagia and Swallowing Therapy session. We learned different mouth muscle stretches, inside and outside the mouth, and different ways to get me interested in food such as playing with it. 

Fun fact: did you know that more than 30 nerves and muscles work together to receive food into the mouth, prepare it, and move it from the mouth to the stomach? Eating and swallowing seem like easy actions human beings do naturally but it’s a challenge for me since I haven’t had much practice intaking food by mouth coupled with the fact that being a preemie may have resulted in these muscles not fully developing.