[tri-med] Re: What do you do - feeding pump broke at night!

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Therese Ann"
>>I really don't fuss
> much and the quick feeds are what Natalia is use too...

LOL - that would be fussing around here, we dont bother pulling air out. 
Alex always had a slow push with a syringe because we used pureed real food 
not formula and that was too thick to let gravity feed it as a bolus. I 
would push it in 5 - 10 cc's at a time (my idea of a mouth full) count to 10 
and then add another 5 - 10cc.  But by the time Alex was 2 he was feeding 
himself, with the g-tube.

I would load up the 60cc syring with food and hand it to Alex. He would 
attach it and then see how fast he could squirt it in. He would hand it 
back - I would load it again and repeat. A 60cc flush with water would end 
the feed and then I would push the last little bit of water through the 
button so that there was air not water sitting in it - and that was that.

Once upon a time I worried that Alex was doing it too fast - but if he didnt 
gag and he didnt mind who was I to argue. I dont know that he would have 
gotten away with it if it was a thin liquid like formula - but even now with 
his meds it seems like a case of how fast he can squirt it in. And thats why 
I don't use small syringes anymore. The smaller the syring the more pressure 
he can get up with one push on the plunger.

And as a PS Theresa - when you wash a syringe dont let the plunger dry 
outside of the syringe part - let them dry together. It stops the plastic 
from swelling and makes them run smoother and last longer. But the oil is 
good - we do that as well. New syringes actually have a drop of silicone oil 
in them when you open them. Thats why the plunger is never all the way to 
the top. When you get a new syringe you are supposed to depress the plunger 
to let the oil coat the top of the plunger, then you draw it back to load.

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-- Victor Hugo

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 /Karen \
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