{"id":5552,"date":"2011-02-07T21:31:11","date_gmt":"2011-02-08T03:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/?p=5552"},"modified":"2011-02-07T21:31:11","modified_gmt":"2011-02-08T03:31:11","slug":"feeding-tube-awareness-week-our-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/07\/feeding-tube-awareness-week-our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeding Tube Awareness Week: Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It is Feeding Tube Awareness Week<\/a>, and I’m excited to share some information about feeding tubes and what it is like to have a child that needs to be fed via feeding tube.\u00c2\u00a0 Today I’ll share the story of how we got to this point, and in the next few days I’ll share more details about what life with a feeding tube is like, the details of what it looks like, how we use it, and how it has changed our lives.<\/p>\n

Our story: Why The Littlest Apple has a feeding tube<\/span><\/p>\n

The Littlest Apple was born small (4 pounds, 9 oz, which is tiny even for 36 weeks) and spent 10 days in the NICU.<\/p>\n

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5 days old<\/p><\/div>\n

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As an infant and toddler, he struggled to gain weight.\u00c2\u00a0 He was diagnosed with reflux, FTT (the dreaded “failure to thrive” label) despite his high energy level, and later, food allergies (milk and eggs) and severe eczema (as a result of the food allergies).<\/p>\n

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The Littlest Apple developed oozing patches of eczema on his cheeks and head (mostly hidden here). You also can't see the socks over his hands to keep him from scratching himself!!<\/p><\/div>\n

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We got the food allergies and eczema under control, but he continued to struggle with gaining weight, and after tests, tests, and more tests, at around 18 months (Jan 2009), he was diagnosed with gastroparesis <\/a>(delayed gastric emptying).\u00c2\u00a0 His stomach empties extremely slowly, so he’s never hungry and never eats much.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, and he’s super picky<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 But still VERY active!<\/p>\n

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around the time of gastroparesis diagnosis<\/p><\/div>\n

After a long and desparate year and a half<\/em> of trying everything under the sun (changes to diet, medicines, etc) to help him gain weight, we finally decided it was time to move forward with the feeding tube option. In early May 2010, when he was 22 pounds at 32 months old, we started with an NG tube<\/a>, just to see if this method of feeding would work for The Littlest Apple (because it doesn’t work for everyone!).<\/p>\n

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shortly after NG tube placement. still not on the charts for weight.<\/p><\/div>\n

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We wrestled with the NG tube for 5 rather miserable months (more on that here).\u00c2\u00a0 Then just after The Littlest Apple started preschool-September 2010…<\/p>\n

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Tired and apparently all wet (?) after his first day of preschool, Sept 2010. Month 5 of NG tube<\/p><\/div>\n

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…The Littlest Apple had surgery for a g-tube placement.<\/a><\/p>\n

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2 days after surgery<\/p><\/div>\n

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We couldn’t be happier with his g-tube (from here on out, I’ll refer to it as his “button”)!\u00c2\u00a0 Progress has been slow and steady, but he is finally (barely) on the charts now.\u00c2\u00a0 The Littlest Apple, age 3 1\/2, currently weighs 27 pounds and is 36 inches tall.<\/p>\n

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taken yesterday. Licking the brownie batter bowl after helping Mom. (and sporting a new haircut)<\/p><\/div>\n

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That’s the short version.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve written quite a bit about our story before, so check out these posts if you want more details….<\/p>\n