Just another peg question..

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Phil M

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Joined
Dec 28, 2008
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599
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
5/2008
Country
US
State
Ga
City
Snellville
For those who use the gravity feed bags......how long does it take to get a couple cans of formula down the hatch? I'm tired of fumbling around with syringes, and the bag sounds much easier, but I'm hoping it does not take a long time...thanks!
 
I have never used the bags because they were too slow and had to be cleaned, too much bother. We use a syringe, with the plunger out, and use it like a funnel. I get my meals in a minute. Have you tried that?
 
Phil- Ray uses a gravity bag. He used to do what Joel explains, but he found he was feeling bloated all the time.
It depends on how fast you set it. Ray does his feedings over night. He gets two cans of formula and one can of milk and it lasts probably 6hours. But it could be faster if we set it faster. It all depends on how much fluid your stomach can handle in said period of time.
 
Joel, I am trying to continue feeding myself as long as possible. My left hand is worse than my right, and I don't think my coordination is good enough to do the funnel thing.
My stomache feels like its under pressure I think....if I open the end, and clamp on my tube...it tries to spew! does that mean gravity feed will not work well?
 
Phil, I think you and I are in about the same condition. My arms are not obeying my commands and my box of formula weighs about 60lbs when I try to pour it and god my syringe with my other hand. I was also thinking of the bag and I remember when I first got my tube I did it that way for about two days till I realized that the syringe was way faster and easier. The bags I used had a very small tube so I seen to remember it taking about 1/2 hour to do what the syringe does in under ten minutes.
Are you using the syringe as a funnel and pouring stuff in now? If you are I think the gravity will work.
 
We always added water to 2 cans IsoCal (and added coffee in the mornings if my husband wanted it) to the gravity bag so it was pretty thin. If the valve was opened up all the way, it would go into his stomach in as little as 10 minutes, which was way way too fast and it made him feel sick. We usually regulated the valve to a drip and he would finish in 45 min to an hour, sometime faster if he was hungry, or sometimes slower.

Gravity bags are so easy to use. We only used syringes to flush the tube with water afterwards and for feedings when we were out and about with nowhere to hang a bag.

Rinsing the bag is easy. We had a plastic hook that hung from the top of a cupboard by the sink. After rinsing, we filled the bag with clear water, hung it on the hook, and let it drain through the tube into the sink and it would be ready for the next feeding.

When we traveled, we also took a hook like that with us. Easy to hook over a door or something in hotel room when we didn't have IV pole with us.

Good luck! I loved using the gravity bags & it was less stress on Dave.

Lisa
 
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