Meet Koda & Kali!: Patient Success Story

Koda and Kali are twins that made their grand entrance into this world thirteen weeks early and spent almost five months in NICU before being released to go home with their mother. While in NICU, they struggled with oral feeding and gaining weight, so they had g-buttons placed to assure they received the necessary nutrition they needed to grow and thrive. Before Koda and Kali were discharged from NICU, they were referred to Therapy 2000’s Baby Bridge Program, which means they began therapy services within ninety-six hours of going home. This made a significant difference in their mother’s confidence in transitioning home because she knew she would have therapeutic support for any feeding concerns almost immediately.

Both Koda and Kali had difficulty maintaining a coordinated sucking pattern and pacing themselves with bottle feeding, so their feeding therapist recommended a frequency of twice a week and focused on parent education, positioning while feeding, and choosing the most appropriate bottle. Their mother participated in all therapy sessions and consistently practiced the strategies with guidance provided by their feeding therapist. As a result, the twins have improved their strength and endurance allowing for coordinated sucking patterns and pacing, and they are now able to finish their entire bottle and no longer have to receive nutrition from their g-buttons!

Feeding should be a positive experience and a time of bonding between a mother and baby, but due to the feeding difficulties caused by extreme prematurity, Koda and Kali missed so many opportunities to bond with their mother this way. After all the hard work in therapy, feeding time was no longer stressful, allowing their mother to enjoy this time with her babies. Their mother is thrilled the twins no longer have to rely on their g-tubes and are steadily gaining weight. Koda and Kali’s feeding therapist attributes their significant and steady progress to beginning therapy services through the Baby Bridge Program as soon as the twins discharged NICU. Now, the twins only need therapy once per week and are starting to progress to table foods.