Did your kids grow faster with G tubes?

[Laurie]

Hi Everyone,

We are trying to figure out if we should give Evan a G-tube. Â*He is 15 months old (11 months corrected age) and is trached for bad lungs, but does not have a feeding tube. Â*We worked hard to get him to eat by mouth so we could remove the NG tube he had in the hospital, and he came home 6 months ago bottle feeding. Â*He did great with weight gain during the first 3 months, but then his gaining really slowed down. Â*There were reasons for this: he had couple of trach infections, he learned to crawl and stand, and is working on walking (yay Evan) but his doctors are not pleased with how slowly he is growing. Â*He is on the normal charts for an 11 month old, but barely: 5th percentile in weight. Â*He does better with height: 30th percentile.

He gets about 800 calories a day taking a bottle 5 times per day and eating baby food 3 times per day (I feel like we feed him constantly), but he takes less volume than a healthy kid would, so maybe there is room to add even more with a Â*tube. Â*However, we worked really hard to get him to eat, and we are worried he won't eat with a G tube, because he feels full. Â* Also, I have talked with a couple of parents who say their kids don't grow very fast, even with a G tube. Â*I don't want to do more surgery if a tube won't help his growth, and will set us back with oral feeding. Â*But, I do think more growth would help us get the trach out sooner, and that sounds like a good reason to have tube. Â*By the way, his eating was poor and he threw up a lot with the NG in, so I'd rather do a G tube than an NG. Â*Any advice?

[christyw]

Laurie,

I just don't know. On one hand I think that if gaithy was eating like Evan and all, I wouldn't even want to hear the word g-tube. However, if you do go the gtube route, as long as he remains eating by mouth, nothing should change for the worse. One of the neonatal nurse practitioners that we are still friends with from gaithy's NICU days also had a son who was premature, had BPD - didn't end up with a trach or vent tho. He is about 12 years old now. However, for most of his young childhood his metabolism was so high that he was pretty skinny and small, and I know this can be common with preemies. The NNP said unusually high metabolisms were common with preemies with BPD.

For us, the gtube had to be done in order to lose the NG, and then come home from the NICU, because gaithy was not learning to eat at all. It wasn't a matter of growth then. Our growth issues were due to high resp rate, work of breathing, etc... Good luck with your decision.

christy

[J&Jsmomee]

I wouldn't do a tube either. 5th percentile is still the normal range and everyone can't be the 50%. We fought with the docs on this for months and finally agreed to put the tube in only because they were doing surgery on his intestines and would already be in there. Well, overall his growth velocity hasn't improved much if at all. My biggest concern is that Joel, who only gets night time feeds and eats normally during the day, is going to become depended on getting a large % of calories while sleeping. This to me makes them become dependent on it.
I think that it sounds like your little man is eating great as well. You may just want to be creative with increasing the calories of what he's already eating. We add different oils to his baby food. Olive oil and safflower are good. Interesting I found that the more variety he gets, the better he grows. When I limited his diet to the highest calorie baby foods he didn't do as well. Now I add oil to the variety and he does great.
Another important thing to remember- there can be a big difference between weight gain and being healthy. For example, the formula that they wanted to pump Joel with was mostly sucrose- table sugar! I told the docs no way- that I would give him Kool Aid if I planned to do that!!! I have lots of ideas if you'd like to e-mail me. Some of the ideas, I got from the wonderful people on this board- it would just take to long to write them all here!! E-mail me if you'd like! JPsmomee@sc.rr.com

I am fighting constantly to keep the NG out and keep the DRs away from the G button conversation. Joey is eating all by mouth and growing like a weed, not gaining the weight they want but he was sick and loss almost a lb in hospital now he is gaining back and more. I think if they can eat by mouth they should. Not all babies can be in the 50 %. Joey is a 6%weight and 75-90% height. He may never be a pudge because he is so tall. I say try everything you can to keep him eating by mouth. They told me even adding melted margarine to his formula. I haven't done this yet.

Good luck

[Judy]

We have 3 on feeding tubes. One will probably come off hers before the end of the year. Personally, I love them. We use them as supplemental feedings. Having a G-Tube does not mean your child will no longer be fed orally. Now, one of ours can NOT be fed orally so all her nutrition is put through her J tube. Kimberly is fed all she will eat during the day, which granted is very little, and then the rest is put through her tube at night. Do not be afraid of the G Tube (or J in some cases). Your child can still eat orally but will gain the necessary weight to be healthy. Hang in there. God Bless You.

Judy and the 5 special Angels

[nicksmom]

Nicholas has had his g-tube since he was 2 months old and we are very thankful for it!!! Â*It has created a few minor problems, mostly he likes to pull on it and use it as a chew toy while teething but for feeding it has been a blessing. Â*He wasn't eating well and was not gaining weight at all. Â*We are also doing the higher calorie food and formula but it just wasn't enough. Â*He likes to eat, just not enough. Â*It seems like he eats enough to coat his stomach and than wants nothing to do with food. Â*We worked with the speach therapist who explained to us that eating with a trach is like eating with Â*your nose plugged. Â*The taste is minimal so its basically the textures. Â*Since the g-tube he still eats by mouth enough to coat his stomach and the rest we put through his g-tube. He gained 2lbs. this month!!!!

I would recommend the g-tube. Â*Don't use it during the day if you don't want to (we don't much any more). Â*Use it at night to get extra calories in. Â*Nicholas is feed continuosly through the night, he sleeps GREAT and always wakes up in a good mood. Â*This has been a great help!

I too was against it in the begining but now am very thankful for it.

Good luck
Carrie

[Colin's mom]

Colin is also in the 5% for weight. He has always fluctuated between 5 and 10%. He's perfectly healthy. Like you, I used to fret over him being twin. Then his pediatriatrician would remind me that neither myself or my husband are big people. So, I should'nt expect my child to be. Plus, she asked if either of us were thin babies. I checked my baby book. As it turns out Colin has pretty much paralelled me as a baby in weight gain! So, when I realised that I felt a little better. It's also been explained to me that she would only be concerned if he suddenly dropped way off his curve (not growing in height or weight).
Also, from what I've read it's normal for kids to slow down in growth after their first year. Developmental factors also play a part, like you said. Colin just gets so busy he does'nt have time to sit in his highchair for very long like he did as a baby. You know, so many things to get into and so little time in a day! It seems like I'm constantly feeding him snacks because he seems to eat so little at mealtimes!

Hope this helps!

[indiemum]

Indie is in the 75th hieght percentile and 25th weight percentile. She is very "slight" compared to her sis at the same age. Even with the G-Tube, our issues are reflux and vomiting still at almost 2. I dream about getting the G-Tube out. Unless Evan falls right off of the curve I would not get the tube. One of our nurses has 3 "normal" kids (I hate that word) anyway her youngest had no feeding issues but was ALWAYS 5th percentile and her sister's were always 100th. I would just keep up the good work. If you come off of the curve you could reevaluate your decision. Good Luck

Kellyxo

[christyw]

hello all - I just wanted to note that I realized this post is originally from back in May...and Evan already has a gtube, I believe.

christy

[Olga]

When Grace was first born she wasn't even on the percentile chart. She crept up to 2% then hovered around 9% for ages then leapt up to 25% and then up to just under 50%, but it took a long time. As my husband and I are both tall and skinny it would be unrealistic to expect Grace to ever go above the 50%. If your child is fit and healthy I would go with your instincts. Olga