The problem with my grand plan though is that she's now at a stage where she wants to start playing with different food textures. If we hold off on this we risk her developing sensory issues with food. Sophie had these as a baby - she hated anything hard or lumpy or rough. It took a long time to get her to enjoy her food, and I don't want to go through that again if I can help it.
So I reached a compromise. Ellie has two main meals a day - lunch and dinner. For lunch she has some sort of fruit purée and cereal, and for dinner it's veggies and rice. These are nice and smooth, just like she'll be allowed post-op. she has finally mastered the solids - hardly any gets projectiled across the room in the form of a food sneeze anymore. She can poke it out her nose all by herself though, isn't she clever.
But for some excitement and experimentation in her day, she now has toast for breakfast. And she thinks it fantastic! Especially with apricot jam. Through out the day we might also give her a cookie or a chip, something she can hold on to and gum away at by herself. Hopefully this will be enough to stop the sensory issues when she's finally allowed to unleash herself on "real" food.
Non-puréed food is a whole new experiment for us. Chunks get stuck in her palate, and although they don't upset her like the early purée days, it's obviously annoying. She sits there rubbing her tongue over the roof of her mouth, and makes these rasping noises, like an old man trying to clear his throat. I'm hesitant to stick anything in there and clear it out, but when there's a lump of bread still lodged hard after three bottles I have to get a cotton bud and give it a hand to shift.
I'm glad that I decided to start giving her a few bigger things though. If I'd waited until after her repair I would have missed this stage, and as hard as it can be sometimes to hold your baby down and pry food out of their nose, it's all just another part of the cleft journey.
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