Help! I don't want tube feeding

T

teenie

New Member
Dear all
I went to speech therapist at NUH for my son's feeding issue, he wants to latch on for milk bt reject bottle feed n spoon feed. So i request to see speech therapist

But during my first appt, I was very disappted, instead of giving me hope to help stimulate my son for bottle n solid food, she told me to give tube feeding which is not wht i wanted & schedule me to see her in another month's time as I dun wish to have tube feeding

Anyone can help to solve this issue, any good feeding specialist I can go to
My son can drink milk bt he prefers latch on
he can swallow I assume
so I don't understand y he needs to be feed via tube
 
epicurean

epicurean

Member
Hi teenie,

What reasons/rationale did the speech therapist give for suggesting tube-feeding? Did she observe him feeding during the session to check on his sucking & swallowing skills?
 
T

teenie

New Member
in the first place, its only first session
she didn't offer us solutions or even try stimulation on my child...

yes we tried feed him infront of her
she sat a distance to see
n my son as usual when bottle puts in his mouth will reject and cry

she told us it seems he has no problem sucking cos I told her I latch On
she told me he doesn't drool too much which means he is swallowing...

if he can swallow he can suck
only thing he reject bottle teats or sometimes even spoon
isnt there any other way to stimulate or train him to take bottles????
 
diymummy

diymummy

Moderator
Maybe it's the bottle? Or the teat too hard? What brand of bottle are you use?

You might want to try NUK bottle and teats or Tommee Tippee bottle and teats. NUK has softer teats while Tommee Tippee teats are like mummy's breast shape.
 
C

camom

Well-Known Member
If your child can latch on and swallow, then logically he doesn't have a problem there. I think he just don't want bottles or other modes of feeding. Some kids are very stubborn. My younger one is also like that. Don't want bottles, must choose spoons that he is fed with, etc. In the end we resorted to syringing.

Very stressful when he was younger, that's why the sippy cup was intro the moment he turned 5 mth old.
 
Phoebii Cheng

Phoebii Cheng

Well-Known Member
Is ur bb in a neonatal ward or something?

Cos' I remember tht time when my son was in neonatal ward, they hv to bottle feed him, and he has to hit abt 30ml per feed (I think), my son tht time could not bottle feed too, so in the end they had to feed him using a green tube...and he only drank 5ml per feed. The nurses & his PD at KKH were very strict unless he drinks & gain the amt of weight tht they think is acceptable then he can be discharged....so my son was discharged a week later.....
 
T

teenie

New Member
hi mummies
thanks for all suggestions
my boy was drinkin from bottles v well till when he's 2 months old he started to reject till nw (he's currently 5mths plus)
imagine we have changed so much teats, yes currently using nuk teats for him, he can bite the teat, milk flow out he can push the milk out of his mouth leh ( i dunno why, I tried similac at ist, then NAN then goat milk)

may I know sippy cup, how they suck it, they must know how to suck then water can flow rite???

and syringe feeding, he cries then hw to feed
use syringe can feed hw much??
we ever try small syring bt he cries and struggles
we no heart to do it
same goes to spoon feeding

my caregive and I have tried lots of methods
we are still trying every day
 
Y

yummymummy

Member
teenie said:
Dear all
I went to speech therapist at NUH for my son's feeding issue, he wants to latch on for milk bt reject bottle feed n spoon feed. So i request to see speech therapist

But during my first appt, I was very disappted, instead of giving me hope to help stimulate my son for bottle n solid food, she told me to give tube feeding which is not wht i wanted & schedule me to see her in another month's time as I dont wish to have tube feeding

Anyone can help to solve this issue, any good feeding specialist I can go to
My son can drink milk bt he prefers latch on
he can swallow I assume
so I dont't understand y he needs to be feed via tube
Click to expand...
Teenie,

Does your boy have any underlying medical condition? Did he have any aspiration before? If you think he can swallow, why do you need to see a feeding specialist? They are to help kids who can't swallow to learn how to swallow. Why are you in a hurry to switch him to bottle when he prefers you?
 
C

camom

Well-Known Member
I use syringe the same way I feed med. I use the small 3ml syringe, the bigger 5ml one is too hard to operate singlehandedly. He used to take 90 - 120ml at that time. The milk will be warmed up in vol of 30ml each. Very tedious.
 
KJ mummy

KJ mummy

Member
My son who has been finally discharged yesterday from the hospital becos of bronchities is now on tube feeding.

We were intially very very upset about this tube feeding especially he was drinking from bottle and eating from spoon before this admission. Initially when he was admitted in the hospital, the docs put him on tube feeding becos they explained that they did not want to stress him on the swallowing when he was down with bronchities which would cause him to be breathless. They also said that to let his lungs rest and recover well from the infections and could go back to bottle feeding afterthat.

However, during one of the sessions when the speech therapy came to see my son, they told me his swallowing is not good and is at high risk of getting the milk or food into his lungs if he were to continue to feed through mouth. After that, they arranged for an xray kinda of thing where they fed him milk and rice cereals in different consistency and xray his swallowing. From the test, they could see some small amount of milk actually went to te wrong tube and into the lungs. He would give out a cry each time the milk or rice cereal went to the wrong side..aspiration. After the test, they stopped us from giving him the bottle but to continue on the tube feeding until the next assessment on his swallowing.

We were very sad upon hearing that becos all these while he has no problem with his swallowing and we have been following up with the speech therapy and was always assured that he has no problem with his swallowing. We felt much better when his neurologist and gastro doc came to explain that his swallowing can be retrained when he is much better. We were also told that the test was not a fair test to him cos they did the test when he was sick.
So now we just continue with tube feeding at home and yes, I have learnt to tube feed him and insertion of the tube when heis due for change.
 
T

teenie

New Member
first my boy is scheduled for MRI scan due to his devt delay plus he has mildly dilated ventricular issues on his brain found during my third trimester scan.

secondly the reason i need to wean him off breast milk becos I am working full time, but currently due to this issue I am on half days (from my maternity leave balance) so after march I will be back on full time again
and also his weight gain is very slow as his milk intake nt much n maybe my milk ss also nt tht much

thirdly i heard fm this forum a speech therapy at nuh called mr vasu very good, has he nw left for pte? is it xpensive to see him to help? or in nuh can i asked to change another therapist or there's onlly one?

KJmummy, I can understand yr upset, imagine a tube coming out fm their body to feed them, when she told me this, I was very very upset too and no matter wht I feel i shld try wht i can first, to see if he can be weaned off to bottle rather than go straight to tube feeding w/o trying w/o stimulating

Phoebii, I only try rice cereal on him once, but I mentioned he dun like spoon as well.... so he cried n like didn't swallow we stopped

camom, I think i will try syringe again if he rejects bottle when i go to work
wht to do
 
A

Ashbaby

Active Member
DS has cleft, we were asked to use special bottles, maybe u can try on those special bottles.

But I gave up on the special bottles due to water retention my hand has no strength to squeeze the bottle. Now I syringe feed him, he can drink up to 80ml per feed compared to bottle feeding only 40-60ml.
 
F

florencepoh

New Member
Hi, I used syringe feeding for my 3rd daughter too. She had low birth weight, severe reflux and also prefer latching on and refused bottle, so we had to use syringe for a while. But what we do was, always try bottle first (for fussy bb, I used NUK latex teats which is softer) to get her to familiarise with it. Then when she reject, we then syringe feed her, and she will always cry too so do it slowly bit by it... It's very time-consuming and stressful... so good luck! O ya, when trying to bottlefeed or syringe feed, you have to stay real far away as bb can smell their mother's milk from far!

You should try back rice cereal as it's a matter of time to wean baby. Do it 2 hrs after you have bf him so he's not too hungry or full. Try 1 tablespoon 1st and increase slowly.

hope it helps...
 
A

Ashbaby

Active Member
teenie said:
ashbaby

when you put the syringe n inject inside yr baby's mouth, did he struggle or cry??
Click to expand...

Hi Teenie,

Yes initially will struggle, I swaddle him when I feed him. Slowly he get used to it. Now we dont swaddle him anymore, but he still will struggle occasionally. Be patience, it take me 0.5 hours to feed abt 80-90ml. But I think its worth it cos he is finally putting on weight and we see him getting more chubby.
 
Last edited:
R

rae

Member
hey mummies...

juz wanna add tat dun feel too upset if your child has to resort to tube feeding. for our children who already have medical probs and are at risk of aspiration, the docs will sure play safe and request for tube feeding. but tube feeding does not mean you stop trying to feed thru the mouth, provided there is no lung probs at the same time. for our babies, the most impt thing at this stage is to gain weight, then all their muscles will improve, including the mouth/throat muscles, and they can swallow better. if they dun gain enuff weight and grow at this stage, it might affect their muscles developement later on.

my ger was on tube feed, then button in the tummy, but i hv no regrets now. from day one, the docs already told me her heart condition might need surgery anytime, so the most impt goal for her was to gain weight and stay healthy, so i juz hardened my heart and follow. eventually, she did outgrow many of her medical conditions which the docs also cant explain why. but one thing i regret is not continuing to oral feed. we juz din want to stress her cos its already hard for her to breathe, dun noe how to make her swallow at the same time. now at 5 years old, we finally cleared the heart but she is refusing anything in the mouth, so we juz gotta try and try.

you can find out more abt vasu here : Communication for Life he is one of the best speech therapist in sgp, so says his fees! :p
 
KJ mummy

KJ mummy

Member
Hi Rae,

Thanks for sharing with us on your experiences with tube feeding and the recommendation for a good speech therapy.

I have called Communiucations for Life and unfortunately I have to wait up to 1 month before Vasu can see my son. Yes, he is that popular. As I want my son to start on the speech therapy on an urgent basis, I have also done some research and found another speech therapy clinic - Integrated Speech and Swallow Work Pte Ltd ( [FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']http://www.issw.com.sg/swallowing-therapy.html ) The doctor, Dr Radika returned by call withiin a day I called her and found out from me more about my son's condition. She actully offered home therapy service (charges slightly more than clinic appointment) esp for patients who are not convenient to travel to her clinic due to medical reasons.[/font]

[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Can anyone share your feedbacks on ISSW and Dr Radika for swallowing therapy? She sounded a very nice doctor over the phone.[/font]
 
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