Hey Tubie Mom' s, I just have a few questions if you have the time. I would rather hear from you that have experience than the doctors....sorry medical professionals.
How long did it take for your kiddos to get used to the feeds. Luke's stomach still doesn't allow for the 5 feeds of 6oz every 3 hours. He just has slow motility and were sitting at 4 feeds as of now. Also, the past two nights he has gotten sick an hour or more after his last feed and throws it up...and mean all that is there. He is pooping, so I know it is going through him, but still not getting there.
How do you add baby food to the equation? The doctors just want formula, but he loves his food and I don't want to lose what he likes and knows how to eat.
Also, how do you give it? Luke has a wandering hand that likes to grab the tube and then hurts himself. I'm trying to balance giving it slowly, water to flush, and watching his quick reflexes...not always working out.
How fast do you give it? I feel like I'm taking my time, but then its tops going all together. I don't want to make him sick. He doesn't seem to mind it, but I don't want to do it too fast.
I knows lot is trial by error, but any useful tips would be great at this point. Thanks in advance
It's been a year or so, but I will try to answer using our experience.
ReplyDelete1) Jack really never got used to the feeds. He almost always puked at least once a day. I was totally used to cleaning up puke, it was just part of the territory for us. Jack never tolerated more than 5ish ounces at a time. We were doing bolus feeds. Because of this, Jack was pretty tiny for the first two years of his life. He only started to gain weight when we went to a tube weaning clinic and got him off Pediasure.
2) It was very hard to add in baby food.. I hear ya! You don't want to waste precious formula calories, but you also want them to get practice with solids. I say take a day here or there and just focus on solids and give his gut a break with formula. He will be totally fine. Just make sure to keep up on water for hydration.
3) That's a hard one, too! We normally tubed Jack while he was watching a movie so he was distracted. Not everyone agrees with this approach, but it worked for him. We also made sure to feed him on his non-dominant side. So if your kids is right handed, go to the left.
4) We usually broke the feed up over an hour. So if the goal was 6 oz, we did 3 at the beginning of the hour (over about 10 min) and then 3 at the end of the hour. Giving about 50 min break. Jack really puked a lot, so we had to space it out.