If you are currently dealing with any type of disease or medical condition that prevents you from eating or drinking through your mouth, you might need a feeding tube and a feeding bag. Some most common diseases or medical conditions in which a feeding tube and a feeding bag become necessary are bowel obstruction, intestinal failure, and even gastrointestinal cancer.
But remember that feeding tools are used only for the short term as they can’t be used to feed you for a lifetime. If you are dealing with a long-term illness that completely prevents you from eating or drinking from your mouth, the doctor will perform a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. This surgery allows the insertion of the tube directly inside the stomach to deliver liquid formula.
If you are a medical professional or if you have been searching for the right kind of feeding tube and feeding bag, you have come to the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss everything you need to know about a feeding tube and a feeding bag.
What are feeding bags and feeding tubes used for?
- Provide nutrition
If the person requires any kind of nutrition in the form of liquid but is unable to take it from his mouth, a feeding bag attached to a feeding tube is used to deliver the nutrient in the liquid form directly inside the body. The continuous supply of nutrition in liquid form fulfills the protein, fat, and carbohydrate requirements of the body.
- Decompressing the stomach
A feeding tube is not only used to deliver food and liquid to the body but it is even used when air needs to be removed from the stomach and it is done by doctors only. There is a special kind of suction attached to the feeding tube that is used to remove excess gas and this is what allows the person to get rid of bloating and distention.
- Provide medication
Apart from providing nutrition in liquid form, a feeding bag attached to a feeding tube is also used to deliver medication inside the body since the person who can’t take liquid and food from their mouth can’t even take oral medications. The content of medication is powdered and then mixed with liquid. After that, it is filled in the kangaroo feeding bags.
- Deliver fluids
There are many medical conditions that prevent a person from even taking fluids through his mouth but at the same time, the person needs to be kept hydrated otherwise the situation can haywire. In such a case, a feeding bag attached to a feeding tube is used to deliver fluids. This is the most common use of a feeding bag.
- Get rid of stomach content
There is a medical condition in which undigested food starts accumulating in the stomach and this is what results in stomach pain, vomiting, nausea, and even bloating. In such a case, a feeding tube is used along with a suction to remove the undigested food from the stomach.
What is the main reason to use a feeding bag attached to a feeding tube?
The body performs better whenever the food is delivered directly into the gut rather than having fluids and artificial nutrition sent through an IV and directly into the blood vessels. Using kangaroo feeding bags attached to a feeding tube is a safer and healthier option to deliver nutrients and fluids to the body and that’s why it is always the first preference of any doctor.
If a person finds it difficult to swallow or if his mechanism to swallow foods and liquids is not working, he can choke on any food material and this can be fatal. The food and liquid can even end up in the wrong pipe, especially the windpipe and in some cases, the food or the liquid can be inhaled directly into the lungs rather than being sent to the esophagus which leads to the stomach. This can result in serious illness and can worsen the current medical condition.
There are many diseases out there that prevent a person from swallowing and even in cases of serious illness, when a person is on a ventilator, only a feeding tube attached to a feeding pipe can be used to send nutrients directly into the body. Even a fully alert person can lose his ability to swallow. For example, in the case of oral cancer, swallowing food and liquid through the mouth becomes a herculean task and this is where feeding bags and feeding tubes are used.
There are many situations where a person can’t be fed through the mouth or can’t even take oral medicines. In such conditions, only a feeding tube attached to a feeding bag can be used to deliver the fluid, food, or medication directly into the gut.