When we brought Jenna home from the hospital, our pediatric surgeons strongly recommended a surgery to place a “button” for gastronomy feedings. We resisted, naively believing that her feeding issues would resolve in a few months and that we could manage nasogastric (NG) feedings (a tube inserted in the nose that goes to the stomach) until then, avoiding the need for surgery. It wasn’t long until we realized that NG feedings were very hard to manage with a wiggly infant. Placing the tube took two of us and was a horrible and tension filled ordeal; the tube had to be taped to her face, which resulted in raw, broken skin; she would pull the tube out (accidentally or purposefully), which meant starting all over again and created huge issues when there was no one there to help me; she eventually started gagging up the tube, so that even after it was placed correctly, she would essentially cough it up so it was going in her nose, but coming out her mouth - not good. So, we decided to have the surgery for g-tube placement and decided to use a low-profile, Mic-Key gastronomy tube from Kimberly Clark. Here’s a link for a video that shows how the button sits so close to the skin that you can barely see it under clothes, and how it works.
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Psychmamma is the contributing editor for Special Medical Needs. She writes at Psychmamma where she covers life with Jenna, her "spunky little two year-old who was born with a triple intestinal atresia." Her blog is also the home of Special Needs Sundays.
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