Hi All

My daughter who was preemie has been fed by an NG tube since birth in January. She always seems to be very mucousy to me and gets a lot of catarragh - have other people experienced this with tube feeding. I am assuming that it must be the bodies natural response to produce more mucous in response to a foreign body being passed in it. She seems to salivate a lot more at night which makes her cough in her sleep and sometimes when she throws up on her pump feed during the night its quite mucousy. Her chest has always been clear and she has not had any infections. Has anyone any experiene of this? Looking forward to hearing from you. Nikki

Hi Nikki -- My son was a preemie, too -- a 28-weeker. He needed an NG tube initially then we got him to bottle feed with great difficulty, then we went back to the NG and finally a G tube. Daniel was definitely way more mucousy with the NG tube. His nose never stopped running and we were constantly changing the tape. However, his vomit didn't seem mucousy. But I also felt the NG caused him to vomit more. He'd start to reflux a little, then feel the tube move in his throat, then throw up for sure.

So she's used an NG tube since January? I hate to bring this up because you may not want to hear it, but our GI said the NG should be for temporary use only. Does her doctor plan to continue using it indefinitely?

When my son had his NJ tube in he was defenitley more muscousy all the time. He also produced alot more saliva also. I do hope that things improve for you and your child soon.

Melanie

The NG tube really irritated Sam. He had a lot more mucous with it. He does much better with the G-tube. How much longer do you think he will need it--I did not think it could be used for so long????

Hi All

Thanks for the replies about mucous and NG Tube - it helped to know that the tubes do make a difference to mucous and saliva production.

We are due to see the GI guy on 23rd November - I think he may bring up the possibility of G tube. In the UK the GI's seem to allow NG tube to be in for longer. Isabel is fed by boluses and the kangaroo pump. She was taking solids really well but yesterday we had the long awaited Video Fluoroscopy to assess her swallow function etc and the x-ray showed that she was aspirating small amounts when eating pureed food. We have been told to only feed her small tasters of food to maintain the idea of eating orally and to feed her by pump or bolus until we see GI and possibily respiratory guy to review her respiratory health (which so far has been good - never had any chest infections etc).

She doesn't have any neuro problems so at a guess her prematurity and general muscle tone may account for abnormal swallow function but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it.

Has anyone else had tests revealing their little one was aspirating and did it get better. We were given an indication by the SALT that she could outgrow it.

I don't know much about the G tube other than it is a reversible procedure and sometimes GI's do it at the same time as the nissan fundo. What are the pros/cons and are there any tips anyone has. Does anyone feed orally as well as using GI tube and what impact does it have on reflux episodes. Grateful for any advice anyone has.

Nikki :D :?

We found out Alexys was aspirating from a chest xray. She still does on occasion, but thickening her liquids (so thick they will stick to a spoon) has seemed to help a lot.

Sam was aspirating as well. We are trying to get him eating thickened baby food but he only takes small amounts and is not very consistant with it at this point. We will repeat his swallow study soon.

The G-tube is much easier than the NG tube in my opinion-no tape on the face, less chance of getting pulled out and do not have to keep re-inserting. Sam is also bolus fed, I find it easier to go out with the g-tube. If tube feeding is a long term thing, it is the way to go

Hi All

Thanks again for all your responses, its really helping me to make a bit of sense of where we are with Isabel and what the way forward may be on the long refluxer road.

This question is specificially aimed at Becky (Daniel's mum) but if anyone else has any experience or knowledge of it, I would be really really grateful for your reply.

Becky - you previously when I joined the site mentioned something about vitalstim (swallow therapy). I have been on the internet and printed off lost of information about it and it I think it may be something that could help Isabel particularly as she aspirates small amounts of food when eating solids and her swallow has been classified as abnormal as she has to do extra amounts of tongue pumping to get the bolus of food to the back of her throat and down into her esophagus which is leading to a bit of incordination. As she doesnt have anything neurological wrong with her I am thinking that it must be a muscular/maturity issue as a result of her being so premature and soo tiny at birth. It seems to me that swallow therapy to improve the muscles may be of help to her. How did Daniel get on with this and how long was his treatment?

I am struggling to find any info on the internet about Vitalstim in the UK - is this breakthrough treatment something that is exclusive to America? Please could you advise.

Thanks so much everyone for all your help.

Nikki :D