Feeding and Nutrition Post-Transplant

Enteral feeding (feeding to the intestine either by mouth or by tube feeds) is tried with the appearance of gas and effluent (liquid, stool) from your child’s stoma. If tube feeding is initiated, the rate is usually started slowly and then increased as tolerated by your child. Oral intake may be introduced as the tube feeds are being advanced. It is common for children to have oral aversions to feeding as they often have not learned to eat or when they did eat in the past, it was associated with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. If your child is struggling with the introduction to oral feeding, trained occupational therapists or speech therapists will be consulted to help your child learn the skills to eat.

If you would like more information about feeding therapies and learning to eat, please visit this site. 

To read more about the definition of feeding disorder visit this page  or read this article.

After transplant, patients are generally able to achieve linear growth, maintain adequate muscle and fat stores, and transition to an oral diet. Many children are able to achieve positive growth velocity. (3) Your child will be continuously monitored by the transplant team’s dieticians for growth and the ability to maintain body weight throughout the post-transplant period as well as periodic bloodwork measurement of serum trace elements and vitamins to ensure your child is maintaining sound nutritional status.