How to manage and care for a G Tube site

We thought it would be nice to share our care process for keeping Amayah's g tube site clean and trouble free. We can't guarantee that our solution will work for you but it's worth a try if you are looking for g tube care solutions.

Amayah has had a g tube since she was about 6 months old (can't remember the exit date!). Heart babies tend to struggle with feeding and in retrospect this was a much better solution than the ng tube. Well we say better in bit of a selfish way I think (for another blog post) because it makes our lives a little more easier.

Onward to the care process.

Some general points:
- We clean the site everyday no exceptions
- Tugging and movement of the g tube are the biggest factors in infection or trauma caused to the site
- We make sure that Amayah knows not to play with the tube or site as often as we can. This means that she for the most part stays away from tugging or touching of her site
- We lay Amayah flat down on her back facing one of us (the person cleaning the g tube) on a plastic sheet (very helpful if the baby decides to test out their arm swings on the nearby water!)

Stuff you will need:
- Hypoallergenic, dye and fragrance free Dove soap
- Two soft cloths
- One small towel
- Two containers (we use round stainless steel containers) for water
- Warm water for the cleaning (we use tap water)
- Cotton ear buds (2 to 4 based on the site condition)
- Rubbing alcohol compound (should have 95% ethanol)
- Cotton swab (1 to 2)
- Hypafix Surgical Tape
- Vaseline® Petroleum Jelly (unscented)

Cleaning process:
- Start by soaking the cotton swab into the rubbing alcohol.
- Swab the Hypafix that is holding the g tube down. We have found rubbing alcohol to work the best in taking of the glue from the Hypafix and removing it from the skin with the least amount of pain (We would venture to say no pain at all). We will provide details on the Hypafix dimension and application at the end of this blog post.
- Once the rubbing alcohol has soaked into the Hypafix (again just a few seconds) use the cotton swab and gently pull it off the skin. At times if the swab has too much rubbing alcohol on it you may have to use a tissue or the towel to clean the area with lite dabs to take away any excess alcohol.
- Take the small towel and tuck it under the right side of the child's back to catch falling water.
- We then squeeze a little soap water (warm) on the site and let it soak for a few seconds.
- Use one wash cloth for the soap application and one for the clean water clean. With the soapy wash cloth start from the inside of the g tube site and clean outward. Let the soap sit on the site for a few seconds again.
- Then take the clean water wash cloth and squeeze a little water on the site and let it roll off to the small towel at the side.
- Place the warm cloth on the site and leave for a few seconds. Then start cleaning from the inside out making sure to clean the cloth in the standing container water and reuse.
- Once the site is clean of all soap take a cotton ear bud tug at the cotton slightly and use it to clean around the g tube site lightly to take off any discharge, dead skin, infection etc... (Sites that get infection or traumatized will need other forms of cleaning that we will cover in another post).
- Then take the small towel and dry of the area again from inside outward making sure the entire site is as dry as possible.
- Rotate the g tube to it's next position and secure with Hypafix.
- Take a little (very little) Vaseline and apply it on the area that was covered by Hypafix and should be a little red after the cleaning. Make sure not to go to close to the g tube site with the Vaseline. We always think of a little square around the g tube site that only get's cleaned by water and soap and nothing else gets next to it.

Hypafix application:
- We use a 3.5x2 inch wide Hypafix rectangle as the based to hold the g tube on the skin and a 2.5x1.5 inch rectangle at the top of the larger piece to protect it from moving much based on general movement. We use Hypafix as it doesn't give Amayah a rash or cause her skin any issues.

That's it, it may seem daunting if your reading this as a parent who's just starting off on your g tube journey but trust us when we say it becomes easier as you practice. As always be aware of how your child reacts to your cleaning/care process and tweak as needed. It's funny how they will make sure to tell you if your not doing it right, you just need to be aware.

The Lobo's