Virtual and In-Person Assessments, Care and Support
Our team will help your child develop physical coordination and swallow skills to eat and drink by mouth. When the time is right, we work together to remove the feeding tube.
Detailed Readiness Assessment
To find out if your child is ready to stop using a feeding tube, our team completes a detailed assessment. We measure your child’s:
Heart stability, including:
- No symptoms of heart failure
- Stable heart rhythm
Swallowing safety and readiness, such as:
- Able to swallow safely
- Established outpatient feeding therapy
- Parental communication on therapies and education
Nutritional adequacy and hydration, including:
- Stable growth
- Nutrition-focused physical exam
- Stable reflux and bowel regimen
- Good hydration status
We also communicate with your child’s other care team members, including their primary care doctor, cardiologist, and other clinicians and caregivers involved with feedings.
Your child may be a good candidate for a tube wean if they have:
- Approval from a cardiologist, dietitian and speech therapist and are medically stable
- Good head control
- Gross motor skills to physically feed themselves
- Safe swallow skills and oral readiness
Weaning from Home
Our robust telehealth system allows you to complete the tube weaning process from home with assistance and support from your care team. Advantages of tube weaning from home include:
- Your child remains in a comfortable environment.
- We watch and observe your child interact and eat at home through virtual visits.
- We provide tips to help you and your child be successful at tube weaning.
- We recommend certain bottles, sippy cups and spoons to help your child drink and eat by mouth.
Remote Patient Monitoring for Extra Support
Our clinic partners with the Remote Patient Monitoring Program at Cincinnati Children’s to make it easier for you to complete tube weaning at home. When you use remote patient monitoring you receive a scale, training and 24/7 access to supportive care.
The program uses an app that allows you and your child’s tube wean care team to communicate and document your child’s daily progress. The app tracks all necessary data, such as your child’s weight, consumption and voiding.
Support from Parent Advocates
We understand that tube weaning your child can be overwhelming and stressful. We want you to know that you are not alone. We connect you with other parents who have successfully completed tube weaning their own child.
Our parent advocate provides support, listens to your concerns and shares insight with you.
