Tube Feeding: How to NOT Feed the Bed at Night

When Nick was fed overnight (for years & years), this is how I attached the tubing to his Mic-Key Low-Profile Gastrostomy Feeding Tube and diaper so that it didn’t disconnect or twist & kink. 99% of the time, we made it through the night without a beeping pump and we NEVER fed the bed

We had to use the 24 inch feeding tube, not the 12″. He’d wind up with the hard connector at his hip with the 12″. Not good! He’d have little bruises, and you can be sure that it would be just one more reason for him to wake up in the middle of the night.

If the tube that you are using has a medicine port with little flaps used to grip the plug and make it easier to open, cut those little flaps off. They can get snagged on something and open the port sometime during the night. And if the person being tube fed just loves to play with the tubing, these little flaps could become a little too interesting to them. Just make sure you don’t cut them so close to the plug that you compromise the effectiveness of the plug.

I would attach the feeding tube to the button, twisting it around as far as it would go (locked in). Just make sure that you pushed the feeding tube all the way into the button. It’s easy not to, thinking that you have. Double check by pinching the head of the feeding tube with your fingers and gently try to pull it out. If it’s not locked in, it will come right out.

I would then turn the button if necessary so that the tube runs from the button, outward toward his side a tiny bit (same side that the button’s on, not the opposite), looped up just a bit, run across his middle, and down the opposite leg. He wears diapers, so I would use duct tape to keep the tube attached to his diaper. Not too far to the side so that his leg would wind up laying on the hard part that connects to the feeding bag tube, but not in the crease above his leg where it would get kinked, either. Make sure the tape’s stuck to the tube well, or you’ll wind up with not enough slack running to the button. Not too much slack across his middle, or his hand/arm might catch it. But enough slack so that he could move & twist without having the taped tube pull on his button.

I kept the tubing under his shirt. Now that I had the feeding tube connected to him, I needed to connect the feeding bag to the feeding tube. I would then run the tube for the feeding bag up his leg, under his jammies. You connect the feeding bag to the feeding tube by just giving it a good firm twist into the feeding tube. This would be the time to make sure the medicine port is still closed! I didn’t make the mistake of not closing it more than a couple of times.

If he wore sleeper jammies, I would just cut a little hole down by the ankle and run the tubing up his leg that way. Sleeper jammies were the best because he couldn’t get at the tubing, and sleeper jammies kept his diaper from falling down Poor kid has not butt! If anyone else is running into this diaper issue, homemade onesies were my answer to the problem when it was too warm for sleeper jammies.. I got lazy and just used an undershirt (boy’s extra large or men’s small) and would use a diaper pin at the crotch. Once he was in a small adult diaper with the 2 strips of tape on either side, his diaper stopped falling down!

Anyways, the whole tube thing was kind of in the shape of the letter p, but the bottom of the loop starting closer to the right, not touching the left line (his button’s on his left, my right).

Oh, and to keep the tube attached to his button so that it doesn’t twist and disconnect or kink, I would buy that self adhesive wrap, cut it into little strips (not too small) and just wrap the feeding tube to the little flap that is usually plugging up the button when you’re not using it for feeding (see the image below). In the morning, I would just slide it off the flap part and cut it off the tube. It was too difficult to try to unwrap it. So that I didn’t have to cut strips of the self adhesive wrap every day, I used to cut 1-1/2″ x 1/2″ or so sized strips of the stuff and stick them to the roll so I’d have enough cut to last me a long time.

Eventually I stopped buying the self adhesive wrap in the first aid isle and started buying it at the tack shop. They make the same stuff to wrap a horse’s leg, only heavy duty, and less expensive. If you DO buy the stuff for horses, just check to see what it’s made out of and watch for any skin reaction since it’s made for a horse, not a person.

And to protect the skin from that inevitable stomach acid leakage, I have recently discovered Calmoseptine Ointment. I wish I had found this stuff 12 years ago! It protects better than anything else I have used. You can also use it like you would Desitin. I had to have the pharmacy order it, but it’s also available on Amazon. No prescription needed.

I hope this helps someone sleep better. 

Anyone that is responsible for giving prescription medications should read Prescription Medications: Avoid Mistakes and Get Organized. It also includes information about giving medicationss via g-tube.

Comments are closed.