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ng vs gtube?
without going into a long story- ds is 3m old, he was born with small kidneys. he was in the nicu for a month. his eating/appetite is affected by his low kidney function so in the nicu we started using an ng tube. he still attempts to bottle feed EACH feed, which is very important to me. although he only takes 1/3 of what he needs per feed. the dr is starting to mention a gtube, we fought it alot in the nicu because he already had surgery and i just dont want to place anymore tubes on/in him right now while we are using the ng and it is working fine. they ultimitly do the same thing so i dont see what the big deal is. yes id looooove to see his little face without a tube coming out of it but besides that what is the benefit of a gtube over an ng? this was supposed to be short term but his feeding isnt getting any better so i know eventually we will need a gtube. i just dont know how much long i should argue with it.
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Re: ng vs gtube?
Since it is going to be more of a long term thing, the gtube is much more comfortable for your child (less nasal, throat and facial irritation). Many kids with ng tubes have a harder time with oral feeding than those with gtubes because of the irritation the ng tube can cause to the throat. As your child gets older, curious little fingers might start to pull and tug at the ng tube causing issues. A gtube is set and so there is no risk of having the tube in the "wrong" place when feeding as there is with an ng tube.
Honestly, LA has a gtube and it is the best thing for her!
Have you asked your doctor how long they suspect your son will have feeding difficulties? This may be a good question to start with.
Before we left the NICU we were given the opportunity of going home with an NG or G-Tube. At the time our DD, Lilith, was taking about 1/3 her volume orally, twice a day. The doctors were certain that she would need feeding assistance for several months. We decided to go with the G-tube for two reasons: (1) Lilith hated her NG tube. She would pull it out at least twice a day, and I truly could not imagine constantly fighting with her, trying to re-insert the NG tube (we already have to do so much to care for her Trach). (2) Lilith was obviously experiencing a high level of oral aversion from being on a ventilator for 14 weeks (hence her refusal to eat). MH and I believed the NG tube was making it harder for her to eat (think about trying to eat with a lump constantly in your throat). And, if we were ever going to get her over her oral aversion, then we would have to make her feeding sessions as developmentally appropriate as possible (i.e. we had to get rid of the tube that was constantly down her throat).
It has been a month and a half since Lilith got her G-tube. We saw an improvement right away. Today, our DD takes about 80% of her daytime bottles orally (5 bottles), and about 50% of her total feeds orally (we don't offer a bottle at night because she is sedated for an unrelated matter).
Obviously every story is different. I understand your concerns about having your DS go through another surgery. It is one concern I battled with while we were making our decisions. Hopefully you can come to a resolution that you are comfortable with.
ditto the PP.
A gtube is dramatically more comfortable for the babies. Any surgery is scary and it's only natural to want to avoid it, but honestly an NG tube is awful. And as your baby gets older, he will be pulling it out frequently. Robbie pulled his 2 or 3 times a day sometimes. And putting it back in at home is horrible.
Robbie only had an NG at home for 4 weeks and he got to the point that you couldn't touch his face w/o him screaming, he was so scared you were going for his nose again.
It causes a lot of nose & throat irritation and makes it very uncomfortable to swallow.
The Gtube doesn't come with any of that. It does have its own concerns- they can leak or have granulation tissue to be cared for, but in terms of affecting ability to eat and enjoy food, and not develop aversions, it's a huge difference.
Personally, I don't think an NG should be used more than a month, max. If it's going to be short term- an NG is great. But anything longer and I absolutely would go with Gtube.
FWIW, my son was a 26 weeks preemie born with an incomplete diaphragm and a hiatal hernia. We had a lot of stomach issues. He got his G tube at 10 months old and we were just able to remove it permanently shortly before his 3rd birthday.
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