Nursery care for baby being tube fed. Is return to work even possible?

[CHOCOLATEPEANUT]

My friend had a little boy in Feb 5 weeks early and cut cut a long story short has had a terrible time inc open heart surgery to repair holes and struggles with weight gain/feeding (hes feeding by tube)

We have had a long chat today, she has been through it and continues to with the relentless hosp visits and 'oo has he gained any weight' comments from every health professional she sees (he weighs 10.5 lb)

She met with a manager from work the other day that was encouraging her to return saying that she should get him into works creche and if his tube pops out se can run over and sort it

i am also a manager (but off at the moment recovering from op) and have advised her to take all the time she needs before returning.
She said she would like at some point to return part time as it would be good for her and baby but neither of us knew if any nursery would be able to accomodate baby with the tube feeding.

Can anyone help/have any advice I can pass on?

thanks x

I don't know about nurseries but as a childminder I would consider looking after a tube fed baby, maybe she could make some enquires along those lines.

certainly think its possible but staff would need to be trained to do it right.
I would say to take longer if possible, as she wont get that time back and work and hospitals appointments are hard to juggle.

my friend had a baby that was tube fed, and he went to a day nursery when he was younger.

The staff had training on how to deal with it.

It's definitely possible, I know of a number of people who have done so. however she should just be extra sure when choosing a nursery. There is support available to train nursery's and almost certainly extra funding to provide the extra care but she will need to find out how it works in her area. I think the Special Needs HV should be able to help with that. If not I have always found the paediatrician to be helpful in knowing who to talk to.

Does she have Portage? If not and she thinks that there are any, even mild, developmental delays it is worth self referring to the local portage service. They almost always have a good knowledge of local daycare nursery's as well as preschools and may be able to help.

Chocolatepeanut - I was in this same situation with dd 15 years ago. I really struggled and in the end my mum looked after her for me two days a week because I couldn't find anywhere/one suitable.

I took an extra month unpaid mat leave but dd was stuck with her tube for well over a year and work were less than accommodating. She really needs to call round and check out the local nurseries and see which one feels most sympathetic to her cause and then see if she can arrange some tube feeding training via her paeds district nurse team (if she has one). I'm sure these days there are laws around them having to accomodate but some places do make you feel like you're asking the world and certainly I didn't want to leave dd in anywhere that was less than welcoming.

Also ask her to come join us on the Heartline message board here if she isn't already. Tell her to jump straight in and introduce herself and she'll get loads of support.

Thanks

I will pass that on. Shes had a diffocult time and feels alone and I have pointed her in this direction but she has yet to put her toe in the water

i know from when i lost my dd how invaulable support from people who have been through the same is.

x

she should be able to take her parental leave at the end of her maternity leave if this helps?

My cm colleague has a child, one of twins who is tube fed. She sets up the feed etc, the baby is waiting to have a peg put in to make it easier.

Most childminders will happily cope with it.