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Erin0922
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Infants with feeding tubes?
Erin0922
member
Have a pedi appt in a week, and will ask, but I was wondering if anyone had experience so I could get an idea...
LO is allowed to suck on bottle for 20 min, then has to take the remainder via NG tube (97ccs total). He is "prescribed" to feed every 3 hours.
He's at the point where he is not waking at night to feed as often (every 5 hours or so) and will not stay awake if we physically wake him to bottle feed. So, we have just been NG-ing it all. Babies his age are usually allowed to sleep thru feedings as long as they are gaining weight (which he is) so I am wondering if I should broach the pedi about following his cues now? I am afraid he will get used to constantly having a full belly whether he "needs" it or not.
TIA!
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Re: Infants with feeding tubes?
Does your LO have a diagnosis?
Ds came home with an NG tube. We were not allowed to let him go through the night until 2 months. He never, ever showed hungry cues. We always fed him on a scheduled. I knew based on his weight how much he "should" get in a day and divided it by the number of feeds. What he couldn't take in the bottle went down the tube. He was also on a high calorie formula for a while.
We had the same concerns about him always feeling full and would give him like an hour leway after his scheduled time (every 4 hours). But he never really showed cues like crying.
He has Pierre Robin. Its a cleft palate, recessed chin, and micronagthia. His tongue is sutured to his bottom lip to prevent a choking hazard. He has the NG because it would take him an hour and a half to eat a full bottle, and he has to work harder than healthy babies, so he burns more calories than he intakes.
He shows very obvious hungry signs during daytime. Wakes from daytime naps, if he's fussing and I touch his cheek, he will turn his head towards my finger, wants to "suck" but spits out paci, etc. He does see a dietician (he has a specialist team with docs from 7 dif specialties) but they have deferred the feeding schedule to the pedi.