How To Combat Lipid Loss In Premature Infants

Holding a newborn child is sure to give unprecedented joy to a mother. However, the joy tends to be short lived when the baby is born prematurely and needs special care. The chances to regain life become brighter with weight gain of an infant. Proper nutrition may be a problem at the onset though and the professionals do not waste time to employ feeding tubes that deliver the required nutrients along with the medication to the tiny body.

It is essential to source quality feeding tubes offered by the best medical equipment suppliers in town therefore. Indeed, studies have established the fact that the lipid loss associated with the best enteral tubes and oral syringes used for feeding is at 6%, an amount that is thought to be too less to be of consequence.

Sadly, feeding a child remains an issue even today. Doctors try their utmost to meet the challenges by using a number of means for providing nutrition to the concerned child. Putting nasogastric tubes into the body of the child may solve the problem to a great extent, however. It is best to understand the underlying causes for inserting an alien object into a young child’s body first though.

What is it?

A nasogastric tube, also known as a NG tube happens to be a thin and pliable tubing that is inserted directly into the child’s nostrils and passes into the stomach through the back of the throat and esophagus. Inserting the tube is not a complex procedure nor does it take hours. While the tube is usually inserted by a professional health care provider when the patient happens to be a newborn infant, the older children can have the tube inserted at home by their parents or a trained home caregiver as well.

Reasons for using a NG tube

This is a form of feeding tube that is utilized to administer nutrients and / or medications to a child. It becomes imperative to opt for nasogastric feeding process when the child is:-

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  Unable to suck and swallow food

  
  


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  Not eating enough and the diet remains woefully inadequate

  
  


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  Not ready to swallow the medicines or resists every effort to push it down the throat

  
  


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  Bloated or has toxic contents within the stomach. The contents are flushed out by way of a nasogastric tube so that the stomach becomes empty.

  
  

Insertion Tips

The entire procedure takes an inordinately short period of time and will not hurt the child in the least. However, the young child may be scared and will be prone to resist all attempts to insert the tube inside the nostril making it difficult for the individual trying to do it. The difficulties can be overcome considerably by:-

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  Using a dummy preferably a sucrose solution along with a pacifier to help a baby remain relaxed. Swaddling the baby warmly will also help in comforting and confining it at the same time.

  
  


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  Keeping a young child distracted with toys and other activities while the tube is passed through the nostrils.

  
  

It is advisable to tape the tube to the child’s face gently in order to administer the nutrients and the medications properly.