Wisdom shared by EA/TEF parents is a cornerstone at Different Dream since 2011 when it first dedicated most of every January to EA/TEF Awareness Month. Each year, moms and dads volunteer to share their stories and strategies to raise awareness and to encourage young parents caring for EA/TEF babies. Today’s post is a round up of several articles from the recent past, along with a reminder of how to easily access all posts from past EA/TEF awareness months. May these stories from families around the country and the world increase your understanding of EA/TEF, inspire you to raise awareness in others, and bring hope to those just beginning to navigate the unexpected and precious world of parenting a child with EA/TEF.

• Last year, musician and mom Janae Copeland compared raising her daughter with EA/TEF to a bittersweet symphony. She describes the melody that arises from the chaos and the beauty of raising her daughter.
• Also in 2017, Jill Seaney shared her 4 greatest mom fears as a parent. Her post resonated with readers then, and it will now. Ironically, Jill was planning to write a 2018 post, but her son is in the hospital with one of the respiratory illnesses so common to kids with EA/TEF.
• A year ago, Kristen Horten’s son was a few months old when she wrote about their family’s unexpected but blessed EA/TEF journey. She’ll be back in a week or 2 with an update about how her little boy is doing, so now is a good time to catch up on his early days.
• Lori McGahan founded EA/TEF Awareness Month and also the Bridging the Gap Facebook page. She’s contributed updates about her son Brandon in the past, and last year she did it again. Her story about how a kid with EA/TEF finds courage will have you cheering Brandon on from the sidelines.
• Different Dream founder, Jolene Philo, has been an EA/TEF parent for over 30 years. In 2017, she wrote a post about how treatment for the condition has changed since her son was born and how it’s stayed the same. If you believe history contains lessons not to be forgotten, give it a read.
• When kids are born with EA/TEF, their parents are faced with a steep learning curve.2 years ago, Nanette Lerner contributed a cheat sheet of warning signs so new parents could be slightly more prepared.
• In case you want more, this 2015 post about everything you want to know about EA/TEF but are afraid to ask has plenty of links to wet your whistle.
• Last but not least, you can access all of Different Dream’s EA/TEF Awareness Month posts from the past in a couple ways. First, type EA/TEF in the search bar and see what pops up. Second, find the Archives button in the right sidebar and select any January from 2011 through 2017. Not every January post is about EA/TEF, but you can scroll through and find posts that are.

There you have it–a look at wisdom shared in past years. If you have more wisdom to share, please leave it in the comment box!

Do you like what you see at DifferentDream.com? You can receive more great content by subscribing to the quarterly Different Dream newsletter and signing up for the daily RSS feed delivered to your email inbox. You can sign up for the first in the pop up box and the second at the bottom of this page.