Reanna M.
Enteral Feeding Pump User Spotlight
My daughter Reanna is a 16 month old preemie twin and has always struggled with feeding issues. She has severe acid reflux (GERD) that led to life threatening apnea spells. This resulted in failure to thrive. Her association with food and pain also affected her desire to eat. At 15 months old she weighed only 15 lbs so the decision was made to perform a surgery for her acid reflux and insert a feeding tube to ensure proper calorie intake.
Since her G-tube has been placed our experience with feeding pumps was extremely frustrating until we discovered the EntraLite Infinity pump. Over the past month of tube feeding she has gained the strength to crawl and move around. She also loves to turn around in circles while sitting on the floor. We tried a couple of pumps that were supposed to be portable but were connected to an IV pole.
I quickly realized that my developmentally delayed infant needed another feeding alternative that wouldn’t prevent further delays. The limited crawl space provided while connected to an IV pole was extremely irritating to her. She was mainly confined to a swing or a bouncer for her safety. The ability to wear her pump in a backpack has reduced her frustration by allowing her to crawl freely around the room and she is able to turn in circles without wrapping her tubing around her neck.
Since wearing the backpack she has made tremendous progress. Not only has this allowed her to be more mobile in our home, she also gets the opportunity to travel more. The IV pole limited our outings because it was difficult to fit it in our vehicle and trying to push an IV pole and a set of twins in a stroller at the same time also presented a challenge. Not to mention if the pump turned sideways we had to pull to the side of the road to clear it’s free flow alarms.
Reanna is really pleased with her backpack. Her twin brother is fascinated with her tubing and thinks it is the best toy ever invented. With the backpack, the tubing visibility has diminished making him less likely to pull on it. Needless to say this makes her a much happier baby when undue pain is eliminated.
Renee M.
Louisville, KY
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