I have finally found a community of moms/parents I can share stories, ideas, and challenges with. It is a virtual group: a page on Facebook. But it is my lifeline and a place of comfort. Today a mom posted that her baby just came home from the hospital and part of her is devastated that her baby is tube fed. How brave of her to post what ALL of us have felt/are feeling. We all had hopes, dreams, and plans for how we would feed our babies. I wanted to be a strict breastmilk mom. While pregnant, I dreamed of bonding with Lyra while breastfeeding her. It was going to be my selfish time with her. Something only I could give her. While I was able to pump for 2 months and at least give her breastmilk, it ended up being that my milk was not what was best. As I have written previously, I was heartbroken.

Not being able to give my daughter a bottle. Praying that she keeps her formula down. Being covered in puke for the third or fourth time in a day. All of this has brought me to tears many times. All of the parents I have exchanged with in this group have been there, or are there. Some days are easier for me, and some days just suck. These people have helped me see one thing: Fed is best.

While this term has been used most recently to try to calm the formula vs. breastmilk and bottle vs. boob battles, it has special meaning to tubie parents. While part of us will always feel sad that this is how we have to feed our child, we also become overjoyed that we CAN feed our child. Because of these tubes, our children are with us. As tubie parents, we should take pride in the time and care we put into feeding our children. We know EXACTLY how much they have had to eat that day. We carefully measure each drop and monitor every bag, bottle, and syringe. We lovingly mix formulas to exacting calorie counts, prepare blended diets, or do a number of other things I don’t even know about yet because Lyra isn’t there. We lose sleep over feeding EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. We should take pride in everything we do to feed our little ones because FED is best. It is also beautiful.

So here is to my tubie family for helping me see the positive, and understanding me. Thank you for sharing your stories and your photos. Thank you for giving me your time and support.

Lyra being fed at night back when she still had an NG tube