Blending and Big Siblings.

I know that often, one of the big worries for families of children with special needs, is how an older sibling might feel.  I never want our Beauty's older sister to feel left out, or different.  For a while, our big insisted that she had Down syndrome (even though she actually has a genetic disorder, a second disorder, asthma, and food allergies, all her own), and that she had a g-tube when she was a baby too.  There is a picture of her with an ng tube from the couple of days she spent in the NICU after birth, but she has always eaten by mouth.
So to try to help her out, I did surgery on a baby doll so that she also could feed her baby through her tube.  It worked like a charm.  She loves taking care of her baby, has named her after her sister, and often takes her with us when we go places, or feed her during our meal time.  What could easily be a point of contention with feeling like a sibling is getting something she isn't, or feeling uneasy or scared about her sister's g-tube, has been transformed into something she understands, helps with what she can, and is able to do for her baby as well.

'It's going to be loud.'

                                     

Getting the food into the syringe.

Getting the extra air out.

Hooking baby up to her tube.

Getting ready to feed her.  The actual feeding happened so fast I didn't get it on camera.

Taking her extension tube out.

Picking up baby after she is all done.

Our big now just sees the feeding process as a normal part of our day.  She often wants to know what's in the blend that her sister is getting (lest her sister gets something that she doesn't).  But the feeds are something she sees as completely normal.  There is no fear, no jealousy, and she loves getting to be part of it in some way.