Feeding device helps Keynsham baby to go home

A KEYNSHAM couple are the first parents to be supported by a new scheme to help premature babies go home earlier.

Katy Lamin and Jake Eades are able to feed their baby Hallie with a new device introduced by the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust’s neonatal care unit.

The RUH’s Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care is one of only four units in the South West that have introduced the initiative, which means parents can feed their babies through tubes at home, supported by the hospital’s outreach nurses.

Katy said: “Being able to go home had a really positive impact on my mental health, after spending a few weeks in hospital.

“Going home made the transition from nasogastric feeding to breastfeeding much easier because we were able to feel comfortable in our own environment and welcome Hallie into her new home earlier.

“The support we’ve received from everyone at the RUH’s neonatal unit and the outreach nurses has been fantastic.”

Mary Spence, neonatal outreach nurse at the RUH’s Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care, said: “I’m delighted that we were able to get Hallie and her parents back home as soon as possible.

“Not all of the babies we care for will be able to have at-home tube feeding, but for those that can, it means we can reduce their length of stay at the RUH and get them back to the comforts of their own home as soon as possible.

“I know how pleased Katy and Jake were to get Hallie home, and this will be the first of many families we can support in this way.”

Nasogastric feeding is for babies who are unable to take in enough milk on their own.

They are given milk through a small tube, which passes through the baby’s nose, down the back of their throat and directly into their stomach.

The tube is taped to the side of their face, near their nose. The milk is carefully transferred into the feeding tube by a syringe.