Pre-Weaning Support GIE

Chestmilk for the Older Tube-Fed Child

Chestmilk for the Older Tube-Fed Child

When we went in for my daughter’s 6-month check-up, the neonatologist was shocked that I was still pumping. She couldn’t believe that my daughter was still being exclusively fed chestmilk because so many tube-fed children are put on formulas for one reason or another very early on in their tube-fed journey. But situations like mine often lead to little ones who are still getting just chestmilk well beyond the point an oral child would have started including other sources of nutrition in their diet.

What Kinds of Foods to Offer Your Tube Fed Child

What Kinds of Foods to Offer Your Tube Fed Child

When a child is fully supported nutritionally by their feeding tube, we have no expectation that they will be eating orally. All of their nutritional needs are being met, so there is no expected hunger drive. And no hunger drive, means no eating. But, even in the absence of oral eating, there are some great things we can do to support the journey towards eating, without the actual act of chewing and swallowing.

Bolus Tube Feeding

Bolus Tube Feeding

Whether using commercial enteral formula or a homemade food blend, bolusing is an efficient method for administering enteral feeds. Bolus feeding requires the use of a syringe to deliver formula or food blends through the feeding tube. The rate of infusion is controlled by how fast the plunger is pushed or by removing the plunger and holding the syringe up, letting gravity take control and allowing formula to flow down through the tube.

Kids Learn to Eat by Eating

Kids Learn to Eat by Eating

There is a common misperception when it comes to determining whether or not your child is ready to begin weaning from his or her feeding tube, and it is this: “Your child must be able to show that he or she can eat substantively before we begin to wean him or her from the feeding tube.” 

Please, Just Swallow!

Please, Just Swallow!

Over the years, I’ve talked with hundreds of parents who have spent hundreds of hours coaching their child to take hundreds of bites, only to watch those bites swirl around in the mouth and be spit right back out. And when all you want is for your sweet, tube-fed kiddo to take, enjoy, and actually swallow something, that experience can be endlessly – and I mean, ENDLESSLY – frustrating! After all, how hard can it be to swallow?

Pre-Weaning Strategies for Toddlers

Pre-Weaning Strategies for Toddlers

Being the parent of a toddler is exceptionally fun and rewarding.  It can also be exhausting. Developmentally, toddlers are learning to be independent people. Having a toddler with a feeding tube brings its own set of challenges. How do we, as loving caregivers, help the toddlers in our lives with tubes get ready to participate in a wean during this sometimes challenging developmental stage?

Why Won’t My Tube-Fed Child Eat?

Why Won’t My Tube-Fed Child Eat?

What can feel more devastating than initial placement of the tube is that moment you realize that, even though your child’s medical issues have resolved, the feeding tube remains.  And the question that most often persists at this stage is simple: Why won’t my child just eat?

Bonding with Your Tube-Fed Baby

Bonding with Your Tube-Fed Baby

Losing the ability to feed your baby, whether you had planned nursing or snuggling with a bottle, is heartbreakingly hard. However, we can still bond and share togetherness around feeding – by broadening the definition of “feeding” to “proving nutrition so our baby can thrive.”