You think you've got trouble with a kid who won't eat? Walk a mile in this mother's shoes. She's been waiting 10 years -- TEN! -- for her daughter to even pick at her dinner, much less heartily dig into anything she has been served.
Tia-Mae had been hooked up to a feeding tube since she was born prematurely and with a gap between her esophagus and her stomach.
While feeding tubes aren't that uncommon, a 10-year dependency on one certainly is. Her mother had tried to get her to eat real food since she was a baby, always offering her bits of this and that to see if she'd make the transition. Tia-Mae always refused.
Then, not long ago, she offered her daughter a yogurt and the most unexpected thing happened: Tia-Mae ate it. The whole thing.
Now, in addition to daily yogurts, she also eats ice-cream, custard, mousse and semolina. She still gets added nutrients via the feeding tube, but the mother hopes that, as Tia-Mae adds new foods to her diet, she'll eventually be weaned.
There was no medical reason for the girl to be eating from the tube for so long and comments about the article in the Daily Mail are harsh. But I wonder what I would do -- it can't be easy to watch your daughter waste away while crossing your fingers that tough love will prevail.
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Photo: DailyMail.co.uk
