Anyone with LOs on continuous feeds?
MummyGruetzie
member
Our doctor has just moved us from continuous feeds at night and boluses every three hours in the day to 24 hour continuous feeds as a trial to see how it helps DDs vomiting spells.
My question is, before I wouldn't do tummy time right after a feed during the day, but still had a two or so hours to get some good exercise in with out feeling like the pressure from being on her stomach was going to make her sick. She has global delays and is way behind motorically (functioning between a 2-8 month level on different motor tasks). She has made amazing progress, with tons of work, though. I'm afraid to lose the time that we were spending exercising.
Even if I took the tube out to give her a break, she would have just come off of a feed and have a full belly.(fully belly + on tummy + throw up all the time = not good)
Do your LOs do tummy time with their tubes in? What does it look like? Ie. Do you have on of the backpack things for the pump and have them carry it around? At what age/weight were they able to handle that? How do you get exercise in?
Thanks!!
Re: Anyone with LOs on continuous feeds?
Robbie could do tummy time with his tube in. The tube wasn't a problem. The vomiting could be. You'll probably just have to wait and see how she does with the continuous feeds.
We never did true continuous feeds, but there was a time when every feeding took about 90 minutes to get in. (so he was about 90 minutes on/90 minutes off) to keep him from puking.
Hopefully the cont. feeds will keep her from feeling sick and you won't have the vomit like you do now. It definitely helped Rob. He went from puking approx 20 times a day to more like 2-3. Still a lot compared to a typical child, but it felt like heaven to us.
Robbie is now almost 2 and only gets a drip at night. But being 2, he's all over the place, sleeps on his stomach etc etc. The tube doesn't bother him at all.
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i would lean back in recliner and put him on my chest. that helped his head/neck support. oviously that wont help w/ rolling over/crawling etc. GL
1ht
My son is on continuous feeds, but for 20 out of the 24 hours a day. So, we try to have PT when he is off feeds. But, he has done PT with feeds on and has been fine. Also, my son has a GJ-tube and is fed through his J-tube, which means he is fed into his intestines and not his stomach. This is also a difference.
My son does not carry his backpack, as he is not mobile enough yet. So, he is just hooked up to the pump on the IV pole. When he gets mobile, hopefully he will not be on a feeding tube anymore, but if he is we will have to try the backpack.
Hope this helps!
What we did was we got an adjustable IV pole and lowered it way down to the ground and kept as much slack as we could on the tube. Then we just put DS in the floor with the tube on a padded area (blankets over a rug) that way if he puked or pooped (was sitting by that point), we could just change blankets. While on continuous feeds, we never had a problem with the puking, I guess because it was such a small amount in the continuous feeds. Just keep an eye on her so she doesn't lay on the clamp (can be sharp on her belly) or accidentally pull the tube out. And I'm mainly talking about the tube from the feed bag, though it is possible to pull the g-tube itself out, it's not likely -- we've had the bag tube come out on several occasions, then you have to clean up stomach contents AND formula, but don't worry, you'll know as soon as it happens because the smell is soooo sickening and strong!
Once DS got mobile, bless his heart, he learned to drag his pole with him, and that's when we decided to move him gradually to a very quick bolus. Now when we have to do a feed, he will sit still and we'll put a Yo Gabba Gabba episode on and he'll sit and watch it while it's running.