If any of your kiddos are on continiuous feeds at night (as mine is) how do you vent them? We are having terrible Farrell bag issues and looking for other options.

Max has a J tube which we feed him through and also a G tube which we vent and drain him through at night. He is continuously fed through the night. Both are MIC-key style buttons. We use an Enteralite pump which uses 500ml bags. What works best for us is to actually vent/drain his G tube into an empty bag hooked up to the extension attached to his G tube MIC-key button. We pin the bag to the skirt of his crib so it is lower than his tummy. It works pretty well.

Let me know if I didn't explain this properly. Hopefully this is helpful to you. I'm not familiar with Farrell bags.

Vicky

So sorry I missed this post before!! Welcome to the boards by the way!

Shae is fed through the night. I'm not going to be very helpful though unfortunately b/c she has a j-tube, and has never needed venting.

What's happening with your farrell bag?

Thank you both for responding! I was starting to feel very alone :)

We'll have to try that trick w/ the bag, thanks! His Farrell bag just keeps popping out of his g-tube port because of backed up pressure. So he wakes up soaked through and through and so cold!

We are going to have a button placed next week so hopefully that will help somewhat.

So both of your kiddos have j-tubes? How is that? Edison was fed via j-tube in the NICU but then had a NISSEN. Some of his doctors have wanted to go back to the j-tube but our surgeon is resistant because he said they are difficult to manage at home. Have you found that to be the case?

Nope, you're not alone at all. And usually everyone here is very welcoming and friendly. This particular board doesn't see a lot of activity though so you're probably just not getting seen here. You should post and intro or your kiddos story and get to know everyone. Although, they are a little wacky around here. :smt047 HAHA!

I have no experience with farrell bags at all unfortunately, but Shae has woken up soaked frequently over the past few years. At first, her foley catheter would come apart from the extension tube about half way through the night and if we didn't notice and fix it, it would pump all over the crib and her, sigh. Then after she got the button, she'd go through periods of time where the stoma would leak so bad she'd wake up in puddles soaked through her clothes, the sheets, everything. One time I remember her button had worn out and it started leaking from the button, I used to place diapers around her belly covered by facecloths to try to keep her and her bed from getting soaked.

The j-tube was the best thing we did. It does leak a bit more than I'd like and at first it was a huge pain, but we've gotten used to it and it's definitely improving. It's not even a little hard to manage, no worse than the G-tube I can't imagine, from my perspective it's the same thing, a hole in her side with a button sticking out of it. It's helped the throwing up so much I can't even tell you.

If you were going to have a j-tube placed now though it would require another surgery, unless you did a GJ-tube, and I've heard a few complain about those. They can become dislodged frequently I think.

Sorry I missed this before, especially since I'm moderating this forum! :oops:

Of course, I'm not going to be much help anyway since my son does not need overnight feeds or venting. However, I will second Vicky's opinon that the Zevex pumps work well. Daniel has an Entralite Infinity and we use the 500ml bags. Our only issue is that sometimes he chews on his tubing, crimping it and building enough pressure to make the bag tubing and the extension tubing pop apart.

Also, I found the button much easier to manage. There was less pulling on the site, so his skin was no longer irritated after we made the switch. Daniel has a Genie button.

I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen a missed thread. It does not happen often and I apologize. We are a chatty bunch here and even if someone does not know the answer we usually respond. Sorry I missed this too.

As I have no experience with this at all I will just say "hi":hello2: and offer a tea and a comfy couch to sit on and vent if you would like.:wink: I hope the button will be easier for you and Edison. Be sure to keep us in the loop and a good forum for that is the "Updates" forum. Most members look there for news on how everyone is doing.