while feeding the baby is it worth keeping the nasogastric tube continuously or intermittently that is insertion only during the feed

Srinivas

Dear srinivas,

Insetion of NG tube is a painful procedure for the baby hence it is always better to leave the tube rather than inserting it every time you feed .

A Daniel

Al Ain Hospital

UAE

In my NICU unit we insert a nasogastric tube in premature infants shortly after admission to keep stomach decompressed. As soon as possible we start feedings even those infants on oscillators. We change the tubing every 3-5 days. We try our best to give expressed breast milk. We start out with intermittent feeds of 1 ml q4h. If the infant tolerates this, and goes to full feeds for gestational age and weight we switch to continuous feeds to prevent reflux.

I think it is cruel and painful to insert a NG or OG tube for each feeding. BluelightRN

It is not only cruel to reinsert NG tube every time before feeding but also technically very dangerous proposition also because if in case tube is not completely inserted into stomach the chances for aspiration are very high and is life threatening.So it is wise to place NG tube on admission to NICU

In one of the nicu where i am working as a visting consultant , the practice has been to insert orogastric tube, and leave it there and fixing with micropore tape on face. The nursing staff and residents feel very comfortable and so are babies. As soon as sick babies show sucking activity ., spoon feeds are statred . This nicu has mothers participation for spoon feeding ,chnging napkins and stimulation . May be other units can try it, as orogastic tubes do not interfere with breathing

In the NICU where I work the policy is to leave the N/G in place until the infant has been able to nipple feed AD Lib for 24 hours. We use a silastic feeding tube which can stay in place for 30 days.