Mum of premature baby thanks Neonatal team who empowered her to care for daughter with NG tube feeding training
When Neonatal baby, Sophina, was born prematurely, weighing just 730 grams, she had to stay in intensive care and needed additional care from specialist neonatal teams. To support her mum Antonia to continue that care at home, colleagues helped train the new mum in feeding tube management, which meant Sophina was able to go home quicker.
Led by the Neonatal Homecare team, the Short-Term Home Nasogastric Tube (NGT) Feeding Service was launched at UHDB in September last year to support babies who are inpatients that require feeding support through a tube.
Antonia Smith was 25 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to daughter Sophina, prematurely. Royal Derby Hospital can only admit babies who are born at 27 weeks or above, as it is a tier 2 neonatal unit, so Sophina was cared for at University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire for the first five weeks of her life, before being transferred to Royal Derby Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where she received care for a further eight weeks.
During that time, colleagues on the unit supported Antonia to become involved in her daughter's care, to support with bonding.
Antonia said: "Sophina needed a lot of support and the NICU team were brilliant, they became like family, but I had the heartache of watching them be my baby's caregiver and doing what I should have been doing as her mum."
All neonatal families are supported to be 'hands on' in caring for their baby, with expert support in changing nappies, positioning of baby, feeding and giving oral medications. Antonia also signed up to receive additional support from the NGT Feeding Service and received training in how to insert, clean and manage Sophina's feeding tube.
Antonia said: "I had spent 15 weeks looking at her empty crib at home, imagining the day she'd be well enough to come home, so I completed the training, to be more involved in her care and get her home sooner.
"It was really encouraging, I felt informed and empowered, but I was scared because she was discharged on oxygen support and needed help with feeding, so it was a lot to learn and manage, but the training definitely helped, and the ongoing support when we were at home."
Sophina, who is now eight months old, is still under the care of the hospital but is doing well at home.
Antonia said: "I am so grateful to the Homecare Team who taught me how to insert Sophina's tube, which has been a lifesaver as she pulls it out quite a lot. Being able to fix it myself means I've avoided many more hospital admissions.
"Sophina is doing really well and is really coming on. She is a smiley, happy baby who just needs a bit of help along the way."
As well as supporting families like Antonia and Sophina to return home faster, other benefits of the homecare tube feeding service include reduced separation from families, reduced financial burden of fuel and hospital parking costs and a positive effect on the mental health of parents who feel empowered to care for their babies' nutritional needs.
Parents also receive enhanced professional support from the team who will visit a minimum of twice a week in the first week of discharge and gradually reduce home visits as appropriate, supporting families for up to six weeks, depending on each baby's individual needs.
Kirstie Daniel, Acting Neonatal Homecare Senior Sister, said it has created capacity on the unit meaning they can support more families and the rollout of the training allows for more timely repatriation to local units for babies previously transferred out to specialist centres for intensive care.
Kirstie said: "This is a fantastic scheme that is really empowering parents of babies on the unit to be involved with their babies' care. We were already offering parents the opportunity to support with tube feeding while they are with us but training them to deliver that care confidently means that they can take their baby home much quicker and continue to be guided by us away from the hospital."
The homecare team act as ongoing support for feeding and parents are required to demonstrate how to tube feed their baby orally three times before they are discharged, with a view of safely weaning their baby off the tube when they are ready.
Kirstie said: "It's completely baby led so parents wouldn't need to push baby and they are able to let baby take what they want without that fear of them not getting enough nutrition. The feedback from parents has been really positive and it is important to us that we are available to answer any questions and alleviate any anxieties, to be able to offer that enhanced care and support they want to be able to take their baby home."