Craniosacral and Kinesiotape

Nathaniel had a fairly good day of eating today per Oma/Opa's report - getting back to pre-NG tube meals/snacks. I, however, arrived home post a long nap and a 4 hour interval between meals and he was CRANKY. I continue to wonder if he is just not getting proper hunger signals and/or does not interpret them well. He had also just bumped his lip, so I had poor timing today. Despite protests that he didn't want to eat, he easily ate 1/2 of a peach prior to insisting on a walk with Oma. We came home and had some "quiet" relax time with his favorite pals and started out dinner ok, but the crankiness returned. So we ended up leaving the table, calming down on the couch, and spending a chunk of time doing some CST (craniosacral therapy) on his head and diaphragm. I have been doing CST treatments to his tummy for a long time and at times it was the only thing that would get him back to sleep when he would wake up distressed (this was a period of time from about 14-18 months when he would wake at night and stay awake for 1-2 hours in what appeared to be pain/discomfort). Tonight it worked again. He rose after several minutes of my hands on his head and moved from distress to happiness and proceeded to eat a grown-up sized handful of his new favorite crackers (Club House Minis - which are thankfully high in calories). We also discovered this evening that he likes the Boost Essentials Vanilla Flavor (Yeah - 240 calories per container). One other benefit to the CST, another bowel movement. It seems lately half of his meals are interrupted by tummy issues in the need to move his bowels. His bowel movements slowed when he was on a liquid diet and since starting to eat more again have increased in frequency - such fun for a little man. He is so much happier when it is done too. I think we'll be back to daily CST sessions during stories at bedtime or our "witching hour" quiet time.

The other thing I decided to try tonight was kinesiotape for his tummy. I have been using kinesiotape with a few different students every week for the past year and a half and have used it on myself and Anthony for various muscle issues, but have not used it with Nathaniel until today. I decided it is worth a try to see if it assists with any digestive issues he may be having, but they have not found medically. I am also hoping it will maybe do something for appetite stimulation.

We will see how it all pans out, but so far tonight I'm hopeful. As one of my fellow positive-minded co-workers says, "it never hurts to try another tool from your toolbox". If any of my other therapist friends/readers have other ideas from their toolboxes to share, please let me know. Thankfully Nathaniel is an easy-going child and very willing to let mommy try new "tools" with him.