What Kinds of Foods to Offer Your Tube Fed Child
When a child is fully supported nutritionally by their feeding tube, we have no expectation that they will be eating orally. All of their nutritional needs are being met, so there is no expected hunger drive. And no hunger drive, means no eating. But, even in the absence of oral eating, there are some great things we can do to support the journey towards eating, without the actual act of chewing and swallowing.
Weaning’s Impact on Brain Development
“…when it comes time to consider whether or not weaning is safe for your child, naturally, you may have concerns about the way that a wean – particularly one that features the safe introduction of appetite by gradually reducing the number of calories put through a tube – would impact your child’s brain development. So, in an effort to answer these concerns, let’s take some time to understand two important principles.”
Kids Learn to Eat by Eating
There is a common misperception when it comes to determining whether or not your child is ready to begin weaning from his or her feeding tube, and it is this: “Your child must be able to show that he or she can eat substantively before we begin to wean him or her from the feeding tube.”
Please, Just Swallow!
Over the years, I’ve talked with hundreds of parents who have spent hundreds of hours coaching their child to take hundreds of bites, only to watch those bites swirl around in the mouth and be spit right back out. And when all you want is for your sweet, tube-fed kiddo to take, enjoy, and actually swallow something, that experience can be endlessly – and I mean, ENDLESSLY – frustrating! After all, how hard can it be to swallow?
Questions to Ask a Potential Weaning Program
Regardless of where you are in the process of thinking about weaning, and what your personal family goals are, we thought it might be helpful to look at some of the questions that we think should be asked of every weaning program -- and share our answers.
Should I Switch My Child to a Blended Diet before We Wean?
The do’s and don’ts of pre-weaning can be difficult to assess and navigate. In particular, many families wonder about their child’s tolerance of tube feeds and how they might adjust in order to make the experience more comfortable and conducive to oral intake. Blended diets, in particular, spark curiosity, so let’s take a look at how they might factor into your child’s pre-weaning stage.
Swallow Studies: What They Tell Us….And What They Don’t
While swallow studies are a useful piece of the puzzle surrounding whether or not your child is able to swallow food and drink safely, they rarely provide us with an absolute, comprehensive picture of what’s going on during typical mealtimes. So, let’s take a look at how swallow studies are conducted, what kind of insight they provide, and how we ought to interpret their results.
Pre-Weaning Strategies for Toddlers
Being the parent of a toddler is exceptionally fun and rewarding. It can also be exhausting. Developmentally, toddlers are learning to be independent people. Having a toddler with a feeding tube brings its own set of challenges. How do we, as loving caregivers, help the toddlers in our lives with tubes get ready to participate in a wean during this sometimes challenging developmental stage?
Why Won’t My Tube-Fed Child Eat?
What can feel more devastating than initial placement of the tube is that moment you realize that, even though your child’s medical issues have resolved, the feeding tube remains. And the question that most often persists at this stage is simple: Why won’t my child just eat?
Tricks and Treats: How Halloween Candy Can Foster Food Play!
There are so many ways to explore foods – to learn about them and to increase your sensory understanding of them (eventually leading to the sensory experience of eating them). And Halloween provides the perfect opportunity for some messy, candy-filled playtime!
What We Learned During the Weaning Process
Our son is free from the NG tube after only 3 weeks, thanks to the incredible team at Growing Independent Eaters! And now that we’re at the end of our weaning journey, we have to share some of the things we learned in the hopes that it will help some of you to believe that weaning is impossible.
Bonding with Your Tube-Fed Baby
Losing the ability to feed your baby, whether you had planned nursing or snuggling with a bottle, is heartbreakingly hard. However, we can still bond and share togetherness around feeding – by broadening the definition of “feeding” to “proving nutrition so our baby can thrive.”
Working with Your Medical Team
Lead Parent Coach Olga shares some ideas for working with your medical team before and during a wean.