babies coming home on tube feeds?

[the_original_duchess]

i was wondering if any of you hubbers have had your babies come home on tube feeds?
i ask coz this might be an option for little hayden so i wanted to know did you find it difficult?
what was involved with it?
would you have prefered to have your bubs stay at home until they were on all suck feeds? or did this way work for you?
TIA for all replys
Danielle

[MountainGirl]

Hi Danielle,.. I have nothing to say about Tube Feeding,...just that I am really pleased that bubby is coming home so soon,.. that is brilliant news!:hugs:

[fozzie]

Hi Dannielle

We weren't allowed to bring Sam home until he was on all bottle feeds. Although my friends in the UK had there baby home on tube feeds and said once you get the hang of changing the tube it's fine.

Sorry not much help.

Michelle

[Lunar]

I have plenty of friends who's babies either are or were tube fed and once you get the hang of it its easy.
I would much rather have bubby home then in hospital. But if he needs to be there then it's the best place sometimes right?

[Pobblebonk]

Hey Dani! Mr Chicken was tube fed for 1.5 months of his life.

I 'bollus' (sp?) fed him, eg. 'gravity feed'. You're lucky he's so young. He might not tend to pull his tube out so much. It's HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE to see them have to get it put back in.

It was easy enough to do. I had a bit of a set up where Mr Chicken would be on my lap in the rocking chair, with everything set up on a table beside it so that I could reach it all, and rocking him kept him still while it was going on.

I remember doing a 200ml feed for him took about 20mins, on a 4 hourly roster over a 24 hour period.

I don't have very fond memories of doing it, simply because I hated seeing that tube in his d@mned nose.

If you want to ask me more about it, feel free.

[BlessedWithBlue]

We preferred to bring them home once they were having all suck feeds. But after being in the hospital for two weeks (not all that long but long enough) we just wanted them home and were prepared to learn how to feed them by gavage.
Luckily for us they started having all suck feeds the day before we went into the parenting suite so we bought them home the next day on all suck feeds. I honestly don't know if i could have handled having their tubes coming out i hated seeing the tubes in their little noses:crying:
I watched the nurses feed my boys and they showed me how to do it, it wasn't difficult just a little upsetting imo:hugs: to you.

[the_original_duchess]

thanks for the replies, hopefully he can be home if his recent tests come back ok. they will start to teach me tmoorrow how to replace the tubes, and do the feeds etc.

[Pobblebonk]

Oh god. They tried to get me to learn how to put the tube in his nose, and I suppose that would have saved many a trip to the hospital, but I just couldn't PHYSICALLY do it, and since I was a SAHM at the time, it was me that had to do it.

If you can learn how to do that, and bring yourself to do them, you're even STRONGER than I first thought, because that's something that I could NEVER bring myself to do, Dani.

Watching and being there when someone else was doing it was bad enough for me. Broke my heart every single time. And sometimes they'd make him bleed... I couldn't handle it. It's making me upset even thinking about it now.

[the_original_duchess]

i used to be a nurse, back before the kiddlets came along, and it was part of my job to put the feeding tubes into the patients in the nursing home(i worked in palative care). i figure its pretty much the same thing, except only littler.

[Nowhere]

Yep vetran tube feeding mum here

Im sorry to here he isnt doing well,

Although it is nice to have bubs on oral feed when they come home its not always posible and if they are stable enough to ba at home and the only thing holding them back is tube feeding then things are put in place to make it happen, i am so glad we could brring our DD home on feeds other wise we would have mised out on so much, as long as you are confident in it then its great idae

There is a few ways of doing it one is with a nasogastric tube the other with a PEG wich is straight into the tummy a peg which way they go depends on the consultant but if surgery is risky which in a lot of Neos it is then they will go with a nG for a while

Its not very dificult to Tube feed especaily if you get a pump which most hospitals supply b4 they you the nurse will teach everything there i to know about tube feeding and work out a feeding programe weather its continous feeds or bolus feeds depending on how his vomiting is going if he is vomiting the bolus feeds generaly they wil do slow continuos feeds which is a bit for anoying then hard as it means you have to cary a baby and a pump around 24 7

they also have visting nurses that come to your house and do checkups on them, the hardest part with the NG tubes is if they chuck it up or pull it out an it needs to go back down as its not nice to watch as it can be distressing, the other unpleasent thing is changing the tape but you get the hang of it after a while and any distress caused is quickly fixed with a cudle from mum
If you need any more info PM me and i wll help in any way i can

big hugs to you i know you are having such a hard time try to stay strong

[Sheer Bliss]

Glad to hear that he may be able to come home soon! :yelclap:

DD & DS only had tube feeds for a few days in hospy, but a friends bub has troubles with his swallowing and has been on tube feeds his whole life (he is almost one now). He came home after 5weeks (i think) and they did it all for him. I think to start with it was pretty stressful, but they were glad to be home as they were sick of doing the hospital run & sitting about a depressing hospy all day. I know the mum was VERY grateful to be home. They left the tube in most the time, and it wasnt' until he was about 6months that he started to pull it out often.

If you have a nursing background it will hopefully be a bit easier to handle. :fingerscrossed: Little Hayden will be home with you soon.