Jo and Charlotte’s story (speech pathology submission)

Charlotte was born at 37 weeks and was tiny – she wasn’t on the weight charts and barely on the height chart. Unsurprisingly, the neonatologist / paediatrician whacked a nasal gastric tube (NGT) in her straight away and started milk feeds. My milk hadn’t come in as...

Tube Feeding (Part 1)

One of the lesser known (and obviously less frequent) consequences of severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is the need to tube feed some children. Babies can learn very quickly that the act of feeding hurts and as a result will refuse to feed. Despite the notion that feeding should be instinctual, there are some instincts that take precedence, like preserving oxygen flow or avoiding pain.

Janet & Charlie’s Story

Charlie arrived at 31.2 weeks weighing in at 1.3kg. His parents were a 17 year old girl and 15 year old boy. Charlie was born with haemolytic influenza (a type of bacteria). By 3 weeks of age he started taking small amounts of formula via nasogastric tube (NGT, a...