G-tube Awareness

Gastrointestinal Tubes (feeding)

Oh, the joy of learning how a gastro tube works! Both of my boys have a feeding tube.  It is the only nutrition that they can receive because feeding by mouth is not an option. The reason in not eating by mouth is because their esophagus is small and portions of food they would eat by mouth would cause them to choke and also their body does not produce the calorie intake of food that a typical person’s body usually takes in. Therefore, they could eat all day long and not gain. A swallow test is then ordered and given through a Specialist that can do these types of test through a CT scan in following the digestive tract while giving the child different types of textured foods.  The best way in keeping your child the healthiest as possible is having a great communication relationship with your Nutritionist.  We have an awesome nutritionist that we see with our GI doctor. We have regular yearly appointments and everything is stable for the time being Praise the Lord!

This description below is the feeding system that we use.  It looks exactly like an IV fluid bag and we use a feeding pump because the stomach cannot tolerate a full bolus (gravity) feeding so, we have the pump that will go at a slower rate so the body will absorb in the calories and the tubing that we use to go into the feeding tube button.