The Feeding Plan

Ok – so I figured I just do one long post on what Rowan’s feeding plan looks like. 

Rowan has an NJ (nasojejunal) feeding tube.  This is a tube that goes in the nose and down into the stomach, but then goes into the Jejunum (I know that wasn’t in high school anatomy so here’s a picture!)

So his tube currently follows the TEAL line and goes a little past the stomach. 

He first needed to reach a goal of 30mL an hour of formula that contains 20 calories per ounce.  He did that last night.

Today he will switch to getting 30mL an hour of formula at 22 calories per ounce, and provided that goes well, switch to getting 30mL an hour of formula at 24 calories per ounce. 

The next step is to take that NJ tube and magically change it to an NG (nasogastric) feeding tube.  This is done by pulling the tube back a little so that it is just the BLUE line in the above diagram.

When that happens, Rowan will need to tolerate having food in his stomach and will then need to move it to the Jejunum on his own. 

*At this point he can go home*

From that point, he will work with a Speech Therapist to do swallowing assessments and determine if he is ready to try getting food in his mouth and down to the stomach.  He will keep the NG tube until he is capable of receiving all of his foods orally.  This allows us to basically give him a bottle, and put whatever he doesn’t finish down the NG tube to keep him gaining wait.

Time Frame for This Process: Easily a month or two, largely dependent on how he does with food in his stomach.

Time Frame for Going Home: Next week is what the doctor today told us she though was doable.  It’s what we are hoping for.  I just really hope that his stomach is ready to get a move on.