G-tube procedures for hot weather
MummyGruetzie
member
We're on the tube 24 hours a day and have never been through Summer before. Our regular dr. doesn't know about G-tubes and our in-home nurse isn't sure about what to do either. . . .
During bad heat when we go out to the car our pump has been malfunctioning. We're obviously not keeping DD in the heat any longer than necessary, but sometimes do have to walk a few feet in the heat for whatever reason. . . like going to the doctor or pharmacy.
Did your pump come with a special set up for this sitauation... Insulated bag or something else? If not, are you supposed to have an icepack near the pump or food bag? Will it mess up the pump if I put one next to it and the machine gets cold? I don't really want to refrigerate the bags before I set them up, because cold food causes gas and we have plenty of that already.
Thanks in advance!
Re: G-tube procedures for hot weather
First of all, I would check with you GI doc to see if you can up the rate a little bit and have her off feeds for a couple of hours. We have Carter on feeds for 20 hours and off for 4. It sure makes life easier!
Also, I have never had the pump malfunction in heat, but the nurse said to put an ice pack next to the formula if we wanted to put enough formula in the bag to feed him all night long without the formula going bad. So, I think attaching an ice bag would be fine. We did it a couple of times when he first got home a year ago and it worked just fine. I actually just used a rubber band to keep the bag of ice right next to the food bag.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the advice. I spoke with them at the end of last week and asked about bringing the rate up. We're going to do it gradually at my discretion and see where we end up. And I'll try the ice-pack trick.