Matilda’s Mum raises awareness of feeding tubes

There are misconceptions surrounding why people might need a feeding tube or even judgement.

Matilda’s Mum Brittany, encourages people to spread awareness of Feeding Tube Awareness Week to educate others on babies, children, young people, and adults with feeding tubes.

For some, feeding tubes are life-saving, but it can also be a way of ensuring people don’t become malnourished.

Sometimes, feeding tubes give people a better quality of life or help very severe symptoms that are difficult to live with. There are many health conditions and reasons as to why a baby, child, or adult requires feeding tubes.

They are a way of providing nourishment to the body when a person is unable to eat or drink or cannot eat or drink enough. There are different types of feeding tubes that deliver nutrition directly into the stomach or small intestine.

Just like Little 17 month old Matilda from Telford. Matilda has required an NG (Nasogastric Tube) from 4 weeks old. Matilda is underweight and failure to thrive and also has a health condition called Dysphagia, which is an unsafe swallow.

This is when food and / or liquid enters the windpipe or the lungs, known as aspiration.

Matilda is currently awaiting surgery for a long-term Feeding Tube called PEG (Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) which is a tube passed into the stomach.

Pic: Matilda