The Feeding Tube Awareness Foundation is working to raise awareness, so that parents in this position will have the information they need, and feel less alone. There are a number of common misconceptions about tube feeding. He also got sick less often, which meant fewer trips to the hospital.Įven though there are about half a million people in the United States (with about 20% of which are children) 1 who have feeding tubes, very little is known about them. His growth and development improved dramatically, he visibly felt better, was happier and slept better. When we finally got on the right combination of feeding tube (there are different kinds), formula, and feed schedule, there was a dramatic change. For much of his first year, we struggled for him to gain weight, even with tube feeding.
Qfeed for tube feeding nares full#
My son didn’t get his umbrella diagnosis of a rare genetic syndrome until he was 20 months old, a full year and a half after he began tube feeding. But, if a child isn’t fully understood (even if they already have an umbrella diagnosis), then it may take some time to hit on what works best for them. If a child is fully diagnosed and their medical conditions are well understood, there may be an easier path. What is being fed and the how often it is being fed can take some time to work out. The benefits of seeing your child gain weight, grow, thrive again outweigh any inconvenience posed by a feeding tube. What we hear most often from parents who were reluctant about tube feeding, some even putting off the decision is that they wish they had done it sooner. But, if your child hasn’t been able to catch up and isn’t able to maintain growth and development, your decision is made. If there is a path for your child to catch up on their own by safely eating and drinking, then you do not need to begin tube feeding. Does my child have a medical condition that will make it more difficult for her to maintain a healthy weight?.Is my child using too much energy to eat and drink?.Will my child be able to catch up on necessary weight gain on his own?.Is my child safely able to eat and drink enough to grow and develop appropriately?.If you are faced with the decision to tube feed, here are some questions to consider: Tube feeding can be a scary prospect for parents, but it doesn’t have to be.
Qfeed for tube feeding nares professional#
The primary goal of your medical professional may be to get the child adequately nourished and hydrated, with the full focus on weight gain. Moreover, those who are undernourished are more susceptible to illness and will take longer to recover. Malnutrition can have long-term effects on growth and development. Malnutrition and dehydration aren’t to be taken lightly, particularly in young children.
Tube feeding is often the last resort, and very rarely a first-line treatment option.
But, a child may be spitting up or vomiting, experiencing diarrhea, and they may increasingly refuse food.īy the time you discuss tube feeding many things have already been tried.
Attempts are often made to make food more caloric, to encourage more eating or drinking. A child may not gain or grow for months at a time during periods of more rapid childhood development, or make too little progress. Doctors may talk about “falling off their curve” referring to the percentiles on growth charts and where they expect a child to be. However, it is commonly judged by failing to gain enough weight to support expected growth. There isn’t a standard definition of what constitutes FTT. Often that child receives the Failure to Thrive (FTT) label. They have a child who is eating and drinking orally, but not enough to gain weight. We discovered just how poor his suck response was when we tried to do thickened feeds by bottle.Ī number of families enter into tube feeding without having a choice, when there is an obvious issue that prevents feeding – to name a few broad categories: genetic conditions, neurological conditions, structural issues, pulmonary, and cardiac conditions.īut, many find themselves faced with a true decision. He was 2 months old when we added on the Failure to Thrive label and moved to tube feeding. My son was aspirating food into his lungs, he had laryngomalacia (floppy airway), severe reflux, he couldn’t coordinate eating and breathing at the same time and he was turning blue. Who does? Our decision to get a nasal gastric feeding tube (tube that runs through the nostril down the esophagus to the stomach), wasn’t much of a decision. As a new parent, I didn’t anticipate feeding and medical challenges. When my newborn son first started having issues with feeding, I didn’t even realize feeding tubes were an option.
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