The resident NICU doctor called us around 10 AM this morning to tell us that they are going to start to use James’ G-tube to feed him Pedialyte. If everything goes smoothly and there doesn’t seem to be any issues with the G-tube, they will start breastmilk later today or tomorrow.
James gets a feed every 4 hours. The goal is to get him up to 85 milliliters (ml) for each feed. They started out slow with about 20 ml of Pedialyte and didn’t have any issues. The next feed they bumped it up to 25 ml, and then 30 ml for the feed after that. There were not any issues with leakage around the G-tube site and James didn’t seem to be in any discomfort so for the next feed they gave him 35 ml of breastmilk. So far everything seems to be going well. Fingers crossed we continue in the right direction.
Just as a side note, because James is not getting full feeds yet as they are testing his G-tube, James has a PICC line to give him the extra calories and nutrition he needs. A PICC line, or peripherally inserted central catheter, is like an IV but thicker and longer. Through this PICC line James is getting lipids (essential fatty acids) and vitamins.
