XP: Tube feeders, question about granulation tissue

Justinlove

Hi ladies, DD is not a preemie, but someone on another board suggested I ask here since some of your kids are tube fed.

DD has had a Mic-key for about a month now and we are dealing with our first case of granulation tissue.  We are going to the GI tomorrow to have it treated with silver nitrate, but what have you found helpful in preventing it from growing in the first place?  Thanks!

witt0198

Honestly whatever we could do to prevent the tube from moving around too much and pulling etc to prevent the irritation not only decreased the formation, but actually seemed to allow it to shrink away. It's a bigger pain to care for, but 2x2 spit guazes under tube and on top of the skin every day, on unless bathing. I know of one mom who got some re-usable pads that snap around the site, she said they worked great. I'm not sure where she got them....etsy?

Disconnect the tube when possible. It was easier for us to flush and leave it connected for the next time, but it just causes it to turn and pull funny directions more and seems to irritate things more.

 There are tapes called flexi tracks that you can secure the extention into if you don't like the disconnect option. It too will keep things from spinning/tugging for the most part.

There's an alginate dressing that helped us a good amount, I actually have some extra if you want me to send it to you email witt0198@umn.edu

We had to do a good amount of silver nitrate treatments, and used kenalog cream as well. When we started doing the above things we no longer had to. The granulation tissue just stayed under control on its own. I did not want to use silver nitrate on him if I didn't have to. Sometimes it didn't seem to bother, but others I could tell it hurt some.

mfisher123

I agree with the PP. The less that thing moves around on the skin, the better. We have had to do a few rounds of silver nitrate which usually clears it right up. There is a cream called calmoseptine which has helped us tremendously. It's not a prescription cream, but they do keep it behind the counter. I know here in Alabama, both Walgreens and CVS carry it and it was pretty cheap, under $10. Good luck!