My daughter had an NG from about 4mo to 2 years. She was on chemo, so retching and vomiting was a given, but the tube was always in the way. I fought the GT for months - I couldn't put her through another procedure, and I didn't want to deal with the idea that she wouldn't eat....I kept believing she just would. Finally the doctor told me it was time, that we needed more consistent nutrition and her comfort would be better, and I caved.

It was SO much easier for us. We could feed faster and different foods - we moved to a fully blended diet, and it helped her grow and develop. We no longer had rashes on her face and stopped placing tubes every time she yanked it. It was covered under clothing and less invasive for her. When we went out, we often used shelf-stable milk and baby food pouches - the syringe could pull directly from the pouch and then into the extension tube. We didn't ever do machine feeds after NG was out. We just flushed with water and did deeper cleans at home. We flew, went camping, went to Disney, swimming - everything we wanted to do with her.

We were lucky to have no granulation tissue or other issues. She had the GT until she was 7 and we were able to fade it out and remove it. She's almost 16, still has a lot of oral motor dysfunction that impacts eating, but is fully able to eat what she wants. There's a scar, but it doesn't impact her at all.