An infant presented with a feeding tube in his nose because he refuses to have anything in his mouth. He won't touch his mouth and a bottle in his mouth is almost immediately refused. He had to have the nasal tube inserted a few months ago to get him nutrition so he wouldn't die.

After the second visit the mom said that that morning before the office visit, he had taken a whole bottle without stopping. They even took a video the day before of him feeding himself crackers!

I was thinking about his being "disconnected" from a body part. I asked his body "do you have a mouth?" The answer was "no." I had the mom put her right hand on the baby's heart and her left hand on his mouth (he hated it!) and adjusted what came up.

I then had his mom say phrases like "you can get all your nutrition by mouth" and cleared what OD presented, also correcting for his being afraid of his mouth.

Update: He started care January 4. By January 18 the nasal feed tube was out. He had brief relapses requiring reinsertion after illnesses in the following months, but each time the tube was removed quickly, and by later that year he was doing great with eating and off all medications.