Bard Button

We have not been thrilled with this feeding tube. It seems that if anything much thicker than cough syrup is pushed through it, the valve in the tube gets stuck open and it leaks. We have to include Diet Pepsi in the regimen of medicines each night just to clean the valve. I’ve tried to find other suggestions for how to use this thing, but it seems that most parents are reporting less than stellar performance for this particular feeding tube. We could dilute things with more water to thin them out, but she can’t handle much volume right now, so increasing the volume increase the opportunity for nausea and vomiting. That increases opportunities for aspiration and choking. So far the button has leaked both nights we have been home (of course it never did while we were in the hospital) and she has not tolerated food nearly as well as she did in the hospital. After 29 ml of formula yesterday afternoon her stomach suddenly became distended. She looked like she was 6 months pregnant. We decompressed her and got 85 ml of formula off of her. We were thankful that the decompression actually worked that time. She only got 200 ml yesterday out of her normal 800. We just pray she keeps hydrated enough and doesn’t have to go back into the hospital. We pray that this silly button starts to work properly.