Home › Forums › Feeding Issues › Tube Feeding › Alimentum through an NG anyone?
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May 9, 2007 at 8:52 pm #32759AnonymousInactive
You know, if she has had the NG since birth, i would say it is about time you get the Gtube! Do you have/can you get a second opinion? The US doctors (i find) are pretty strict about the time that they leave the NG in… i have heard anywhere from 4weeks to a couple of months but most are happy to switch to a Gtube if the problem has no way of resolving within a few weeks.
Yes, the feeds may be too much and too fast. Matthew got his NG when he was 5months old and for a while, he could only take small feedings overnight. A ton of babies i know from another board are like this… rates have to be low and volume too, so lots of people end up doing the continous at night and then some boluses during the day. As she progresses/grows/her stomach stretches, then you increase the volume of boluses during the day and decrease night feedings. At least that is what we did and it worked wonders for Matthew. But it is a long process and yes, you may want to do the pump… i had a similar discussion with Leo a few days ago about trying to slow down the feedings for Kendra… let;s see if things have improved for her.
Also, when Matthew was about that age, 4months or so, his reflux was just horrible i guess. At least, the throwing up iincreased significantly and we had to be really careful with feeding upright etc and then when we got the tube, with feeding on continous for a while. Reflux for us was like that… then at 8months things got a little worse again and then i think we got in under control (except for now we had no oral skills to work with his feedings).
Good luck to you
May 11, 2007 at 8:41 pm #32939AnonymousInactiveYeah I really do think its time for a G-tube. I dont even know when speech therapy is going to start they havent called me. I am just going to wait a few weeks and see. 🙂
May 11, 2007 at 10:46 pm #32958AnonymousInactiveI haven’t read all of your posts here, but here’s my input and some of the questions may have been answered……
Owen had a continuous drip at night and he did vomit and I don’t mean spit up I mean had to change the bedding in the middle of the night and clothes and sometimes my clothes. I think it was because the volume was tooooooo high. I wanted to go to lower volume with a calorie fortified milk, but we never got to that point because after 10 weeks with the NG, he finally took enough orally and had gained enough that the doctor said I could pull the NG.
If she is only taking small amounts by mouth and she has trouble emptying, there really is no point in my mind to force so much by boelus, but my doc wanted me to do the same. And I know how STRESSFUL it is to constantly be feeding a tube feeder!! All the placement checks and tubes and cleaning out the syringes!!
You really just have to find the right combo for each kid, but my doc wanted 30 oz in 24 hours in Owen and I just finally told him I would do what I could and usually I got 15 oz in during the day and did 8oz at night. He was gaining quickly at first and then tapered off, but we were lucky that he eventually took off with the oral feeds.
Also if she’s only taking small amounts orally is it a nipple aversion, or could it possibly be the taste of the formula??
Owen fought me to the end to eat the Neocate unless he was falling asleep and I finally figured out it was a taste issue. Luckily he was able to tolerate goat milk and I mix it 50/50 with neocate and he eats it like a charm! My doc was TOTALLY against it until I told him that he was eating 30 and more oz per day with the goats milk.Just some ideas and hang in there, every one of these babes are different and I know you just want to be normal! Do you have other little ones? I know how time consuming and how much this is a major stresser!Hugs to you and baby!
May 13, 2007 at 12:51 am #33081AnonymousInactiveThanks!!! Well yes I also really think that the volume is WAY too much for her. I just do it because thats what her Pedi tells me. I notice when I give her less she spits up less or dont at all!! Also I think that her DGE is another reason why she refuses the bottle. I think shes not even hungry!!! She spits up 3 hours after a feed and I feed her every 3 hours so it’s time for her to eat again but shes still spitting up the last feed!! Ahhhh!! I notice when she spits up a lot!!! 3 Hours later she is hungry abviously because her tummy is now empty and other times it isnt! Most of the time she only takes the bottle when shes really tired. I try to wean her from the tube to try to avoid the g-tube, but every time I do she goes really long without taking the bottle! One time she went 8 hours and still wouldnt take it. I know I shouldnt have waited that long! What a bad mommy. So I then put the tube in. The weird thing is sometimes she dont even care, she dont cry to eat!! She cries because I try to put the bottle in her mouth!
May 14, 2007 at 12:58 pm #33149AnonymousInactiveWell, she may or may not be hungry and she may or may not know what hunger is!! Some of these kids just learn to ignore the hunger and it takes a long time to relearn what hunger is… but there is hope — Matthew can now recognize it and when he is hungry he goes to his high chair and tells us he wants to eat…. but this is after a lot of therapy and a lot patience…..
May 14, 2007 at 1:17 pm #33155AnonymousInactiveWow thats wonderful. I cant wait until this is all over and my baby eats like normal!
May 14, 2007 at 1:43 pm #33170AnonymousInactiveHooray for Matthew!!!
I hope tube free days are not too far off for Cassie.
May 1, 2011 at 10:19 pm #68316AnonymousInactiveWe have use Alimentum and also Neocate with our son.. With the Alimentum he cried the whole time. And also had some trouble with the feeding tube clogging. We current use Ready to feed formula. He does great with it and it does not clog. If you go to coupons.com and print off a 3 dollar off coupon and then copy it and you should be able to use it as many times as you like. Atleast I have been able to use like 12 of the same copied coupon at walmart before!
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